Congressional Record

Congressional Record PDF

Author: United States. Congress

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 696

ISBN-13:

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The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program

Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-10-01

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0309096103

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The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was set up by Congress in 1990 to compensate people who have been diagnosed with specified cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to nuclear-weapons tests at various U.S. test sites. Eligible claimants include civilian onsite participants, downwinders who lived in areas currently designated by RECA, and uranium workers and ore transporters who meet specified residence or exposure criteria. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the screening, education, and referral services program for RECA populations, asked the National Academies to review its program and assess whether new scientific information could be used to improve its program and determine if additional populations or geographic areas should be covered under RECA. The report recommends Congress should establish a new science-based process using a method called "probability of causation/assigned share" (PC/AS) to determine eligibility for compensation. Because fallout may have been higher for people outside RECA-designated areas, the new PC/AS process should apply to all residents of the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas US territories who have been diagnosed with specific RECA-compensable diseases and who may have been exposed, even in utero, to radiation from U.S. nuclear-weapons testing fallout. However, because the risks of radiation-induced disease are generally low at the exposure levels of concern in RECA populations, in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout was a substantial contributing cause of cancer.

Radiation and Reason

Radiation and Reason PDF

Author: Wade Allison

Publisher: YPD-BOOKS

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0956275613

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This is a positive and accessible account of the effect of radiation on life that brings good news for the future of mankind. For more than half a century the view that radiation represents an extreme hazard has been accepted. This book challenges that view by facing the question "How dangerous is ionising radiation?" Briefly the answer is that radiation is about a thousand times less hazardous than suggested by current safety standards. For many this will come as a surprise and then quickly raise a second question "Why are people so worried about radiation?" This is the out-of-date result of Cold War politics combined with a concern about radiation that was appropriate in an earlier age when the scientific understanding was limited. In the book these answers are explained in accessible language and related directly to modern scientific evidence and understanding, for instance the high levels of radiation used to the benefit of health in every major hospital. Four facts illustrate the need for a new understanding. 1. The radiation levels in the nuclear waste storage hall at Sellafield, UK are so low (1 micro-sievert per hour) that anyone would have to stay there for a million hours to receive the same dose that any patient on a course of radiotherapy treatment receives to their healthy tissue in a single day (1 sievert or gray). 2. The radiation dose experienced by the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs caused 0.6% to die of radiation-induced cancer between 1950 and 2000, that is about 1/20 of the chance of dying of cancer anyway and less than the chance of being killed on US highways in that period. 3. The wildlife at Chernobyl today is reported to be thriving, despite being radioactive. 4. The mortality of UK radiation workers before age 85 from all cancers is 15-20% lower than comparable groups. The case for a complete change in attitude towards radiation safety is unrelated to the effects of climate change. But the realisation that radiation and nuclear energy are much safer than is usually supposed is of extreme importance to the current discussion of alternatives to fossil fuels and their relative costs.

Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease

Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease PDF

Author: John W. Gofman

Publisher: Committee for Nuclear Responsibility

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 720

ISBN-13:

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Medical X-rays, including fluoroscopy and CT scans, are a major cause of both cancer and coronary heart disease, according to this new study. This reader-friendly work uses no complex statistical operations. It shows each step between raw data and conclusions, and defines basic terms and concepts. Startling conclusions are supported by detailed reviews of medical studies from the 1940s through the 1990s. The author recommends X-ray procedures at much lower dosage levels. Includes a booklet summarizing conclusions of the study. The author is a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley, and has investigated the effects of medical X- rays since the 1960s. Paper edition (unseen), $27. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Greenhouse Warming and Nuclear Hazards

Greenhouse Warming and Nuclear Hazards PDF

Author: Peter Fong

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9812564225

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This book is a rebuttal of the common belief that grave environmental consequences are associated with the issues of global warming and nuclear hazards.Firstly, it is argued that after 25 years of research no-one has actually found evidence for greenhouse warming. Instead, the heat has caused the evaporation of ocean water to increase cloud coverage, reflecting more sunlight away, cooling down the earth and nullifying the effects of greenhouse warming. The author describes this revolution in climatology through new scientific discoveries that solve the longstanding mystery of the ice ages and explain the enigma of the missing greenhouse heat. The solution of the ice age problem is a far most important scientific accomplishment.In the second part of the book, the author argues that the effects of low-level radiation can be beneficial rather than damaging. Evidence is presented proving that low-level radiation in the US from both natural sources and human activities such as nuclear bombs tests actually reduces death rates from cancer and other diseases and increases longevity. In the Indian State of Kerala life span has been shown to increase 10.5 years due to the natural radiation from thorium mines. The book proposes that primitive life forms must have developed immune systems to counter the harmful effects of natural radioactivity and that low-level radiation from nuclear waste may one day be transformed from trash to treasure.Nature has always been kind to humans. But our self-aggrandizing species has mistaken blessings for disasters and spoiled the otherwise splendid 20th century.

Hereditary Effects of Radiation

Hereditary Effects of Radiation PDF

Author: United Nations. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation

Publisher: The Committee

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13:

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The 2001 report completed a comprehensive review of the risks to offspring following parental exposure to radiation. The review included an evaluation of those diseases which have both hereditary and environmental components. The major finding is that the total hereditary risk to the first generation following radiation is less than one tenth of the risk of fatal carcinogenesis following irrradiation. The Committee concluded that a sounder basis now exists for estimating the hereditary risks of radiation exposure. This is due to advances in molecular genetics, and in the evaluation of multifactorial diseases, such as coronary heart disease.