What I learned today in my research from an excellent historical analysis by Jacob Darwin Hamblin titled "'A Dispassionate and Objective Effort': Negotiating the First Study on the Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation, Journal of the History of Biology, 40(1), 147-177, 2007:
1. The first BEAR (Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation) study on the effects of radiation published in 1956 was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
2. Although the study was published under the auspices of the National Academy of Science, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) controlled access to classified information on atomic effects, controlled access to the media, and indirectly controlled the final version of the report that was published in Scientific America, aimed at public consumption. There were key AEC members in the study.
3. There was a strong conflict in the genetics sub-committee for the report because two prominent scientific members - Hermann J. Muller and A. H. Stuttevant -- felt that there is no safe threshold for exposure and therefore the idea of a permissible dose, as set by the government, was unconscionable. These scientists' concerns were greatly tempered and censored in the derived versions of the report that showed up in Scientific American and The New York Times (and in the final version of the report, as well).
4. A trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation owned The New York Times when the report was completed. The trustee could thus dictate what information from the report showed up in the paper. The New York Times' version of the report only featured 6 of the scientists and the two strongly dissenting geneticists were not included, nor were their concerns. It was titled "Text of Genetics Committee Report Concerning Effects of Radioactivity on Heredity" July 13, 1956 and stated that all fallout that had occurred from atmospheric nuclear testing was safe, despite considerable discussion of the damaging effects of ionizing radiation on DNA and the dangers of inherited mutations. see http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/burdening-species-with-genetic.html
5. Despite the report's acknowledging the role of DNA in producing mutations that can be transmitted across generations, the Secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission went on to deny harmful effects from "low levels" of exposure to radiation (since in the AEC's view, radiation was essentially just sunshine--beta and gamma didn't calculate in their universe).
6. One of the dissenting scientists, A. H. Stuttevant, was so irate about the idea of a permissible dose that he wrote an essay published in Science titled, "Social Implications of the Genetics of Man" (Sep. 1954 vol 120), in which Stuttevant demonstrated the fallacy of permissible dose (p. 406). The final sentence of Stuttevant's essay is a direct challenge to Chairman Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission and reads as follows:
"I regret that an official of such responsibility should have stated that there is no biological hazard from low doses of high-energy irradiation" (407)
Narrative Version (based on my reading of Hamblin's essay)
The history of research on radiation
exposure may be among the most politicized body of public health research
because both the nuclear industry and governments with nuclear weapons’
programs have a shared vested interest in trivializing the effects of ionizing
radiation. Indeed, Jacob Hamblin describes how the first major study on the
biological effects of radiation conducted by the National Academy of Science
(NAS) in 1956, the BEAR study, was fraught with disputes between (1) geneticists
who saw all levels of ionizing radiation as increasing harmful mutations and (2)
other atomic scientists, especially those connected to the Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC), who found no conclusive evidence of long term damage from
atmospheric fallout (147-148) and persisted in equating nuclear fallout with
natural background radiation (152). The Rockefeller Foundation that funded the
study also helped control media dissemination of its major findings, shaping
public opinion about atmospheric testing specifically, and radiation safety,
more generally.
Hamblin explains in his essay the
conflicts within the committee between those who promoted the idea that fallout
was safe and those who saw it as posing long term health risks to human
populations. The NAS group was more concerned about effects, but had less
access to classified AEC data on fallout and secret studies and had less access
to the media. The study’s geneticists were particularly divided on whether they
accepted a threshold of safety for radiation exposure, with several rejecting
as safe any level of exposure (156), in direct contradiction to the AEC
appointees and to Shields Warren, the Chairman of the Committee on the
Pathological Effects of Atomic Radiation.
The presence and privileged status of
AEC personnel shaped the final report in significant ways because of their
insistence on a threshold for “safe exposure,” their institutional privileges,
and their access to, and visibility
within, in the public spotlight ,as
contrasted with NAS members, particularly the NAS geneticists who did not
participate in publicizing the report’s findings. The summary report published
in Scientific American was written by
the committee chairman with no other members having a role in its production
(165). Thus, the thesis “no harm done” prevailed.
The Rockefeller Foundation, which
financed the BEAR study, controlled news media accounts of findings. A
Rockefeller Foundation trustee owned the New York Times and thus influenced
reporting in that news outlet. None of
the geneticists who supported the no threshold position, especially Alfred H.
Sturtevant and Hermann J. Muller, contributed to The New York Times story, which will be discussed in the following
section. The “no effects” message from nuclear fallout thus dominates the final
report and in its dissemination, although threaded with concerns about genetic
mutations.
The conflict persists today between geneticists
(and epidemiologists) who see no threshold for the damaging effects of ionizing
radiation and those scientists, often funded by Department of Energy grants,
who see no effects below particular thresholds. Today the idea that there is no
safe threshold for exposure to ionizing radiation is referred to as the linear,
no threshold model. Although it has come to be widely accepted, Department of
Defense funded research persists in arguing that thresholds exist for gamma
exposure.
Part of the ambiguity in the
issue of threshold stems from the type of radiation at issue. Although the AEC
scientists argued that all ionizing radiation is equivalent to “background”
radiation, or sunshine units, other scientists strongly disagree, arguing that
the high speed electrons and atomic beta particles emitted by elements such as
cesium, uranium, and plutonium have
specific dose effects that are not equivalent to gamma (electro-magnetic
radiation), especially when the emitters (e.g., plutonium) are ingested or inhaled....
ADDITIONAL SOURCE FOR FURTHER READING
Paul Langley on his website has described as the “two hidden debates” in US radiological
research (June 7, 2012) http://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/there-are-two-hidden-debates-going-on-in-the-usa-related-to-radiological-safety/
a. The Linear No Threshold model
(risk proportional to dose) vs hormesis and its “good” and “bad” thresholds.
b. Internal emitters and hot particle
impact vs external dose as the only predictor of harm.
The politicization of these debates can be demonstrated by
contextualizing historical
understandings of ionizing radiation and by looking at dose-effect findings
across a variety of research contexts.
Nuclear Controversies by Vladimir Tchertkoff; Released in 2003, 51 minutes
30:20 – According to Professor Yury Bandazhevsky (former director of the Medical Institute in Gomel), "Over 50 Bq/kg of body weight lead to irreversible lesions in vital organs" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8746168177815160826#
30:20 – According to Professor Yury Bandazhevsky (former director of the Medical Institute in Gomel), "Over 50 Bq/kg of body weight lead to irreversible lesions in vital organs" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8746168177815160826#
BLOG POSTS ON INTERNAL EMITTERS
Thanks majia, for working to expose the truth. I knew something about the lies of the AEC re bomb-testing, but you have found more details about the coverup.
ReplyDeletePlowboy
Some time ago I visited the radioactive beaches of Guarapari Brazil. The levels there are very similar to those in the forbidden zone of Chernobyl (that I visited as well) and very similar to those of Misasa Japan, Kerala India and several other locations. The health research in these areas has never shown any problem resulting from the radiation. In Ramsar some people live happily under a 'load'of 250 milliSievert, that is huge. How should I then interpret a report from 1956 which is mainly based on fruit fly research with radiation levels that are way above what people experience in real life. You apparently favor the LNT-hypothesis, but if you simply ignore the arguments from the other side ( Google Çalabrese Hormesis) than you reduce the whole thing to one of political choice. I want proof that radiation is harnful at low doses, and you do not give it.
ReplyDeleteI do give it in other locations. I have written about it in my published work on Fukushima. I have also discussed radiation health effects in research presentations, many of which are online.
DeleteI've discussed radiation health effects extensively on my blog as well
Some discussion here
Deletehttp://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/mutations-germ-line-mosaicism.html