If there was someone who is willing to give up their breast milk (~1L), eats a lot of spinach or drinks a lot of milk, and, (this is important) has tracked, more or less, what they have eaten in the last few weeks,..., then I agree, this would be interesting. If there is anyone (hopefully local) out there that meets these requirements, please post or email me.
Submitted by HotCaviar (not verified) on Mon, 2011-04-18 18:41.
Breast milk sounds like an excellent idea to add to other fluids for monitoring since there are alot of mothers with plenty of milk available. I wonder why the CDC isn't considering it?
For population monitoring I'd be willing to offer both blood and urine samples with lists of foods consumed month to month if any university in my area (since I'm in Reno, NV it would be University of Nevada, Reno (UNR)) Long term monthly or quarterly testing over the span of the next 5 to 10 years would probably yield some telling results.
In the 1950's and 60's health departments took blood samples to determine levels from atmospheric nuclear tests, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Now, the islanders in the Marshall Islands are checked via urinalysis see: https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/plutonium.php
Also, as a side note: a number of years ago when I lived in Pleasant Hill, CA I ran across a reference set of around 10 identical black, leather bound books that had a declassified stamp on the inside coverleaf that was a chilling military medical documentary with photos of victims of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and detailed records of monitoring.
In light of the fallout from that time, I now wonder especially with relatives on my as well as my husband's family as long term San Francisco, Antioch/Brentwood area, Sacramento and Folsom residents who are now in their 80's and 90's with great grandparents living to their 80's and 90's just how much nuclear waste they ate and drank and WHY no history of cancer in the families since the level of agricultural and materials we have now was not available then?
-Off my menu: All Seafood! Why? because the oceans have become the prime military and industrial sewer and the last thing I want is to inadvertently ingest enough nuclear material to invite some horrific terminal disease such as leukemia, lymphoma,lung,breast or other cancers known to be more common since 1946...
FYI: http://socket.kongshem.com/2007/10/farallon-islands-nuclear-waste-dump.html photo of bay with map and short video at site.
The Farallon Islands Nuclear Waste Dump
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may be surprised to learn that "more than 47,800 drums and other containers of low-level radioactive waste were dumped onto the ocean floor west of San Francisco between 1946 and 1970." (Source: The U.S. Geological Survey, a bureau of the Department of the Interior.)
Just 25 to 30 miles offshore from the Golden Gate bridge -- in a marine wildlife sanctuary, no less -- the ocean floor is littered with rusting 55-gallon barrels of radioactive waste. The U.S. Navy shipped this toxic cargo from the Radiological Defense Laboratory at the Hunters Point shipyard in San Francisco and dropped it in the sea near the Farallon Islands -- creating the first and largest offshore nuclear waste dump in the United States. Navy gunners were instructed to shoot holes in the barrels that didn't sink right away.
Nearly 50,000 drums of nuclear waste sounds bad enough, but the ocean floor around the Farallon Islands is host to even more toxic garbage: Namely, the radioactive wreck of a ten-thousand-ton aircraft carrier, used as a nuke target during the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests.
Eager to learn what might happen to a warship when an atomic bomb explodes nearby, the U.S. Navy placed the USS Independence within one-half mile of ground zero during the "Able" atomic bomb test of July 1, 1946. This was the first of two atomic bomb tests conducted on the Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads:
Highly radioactive but still afloat after the blast, the bombed-out hulk was then towed to San Francisco's Hunters Point shipyard for decontamination experiments.
After five years of fruitless sandblasting, the Navy lost interest in the useless wreck. In 1951, the Independence was towed out of the bay and sunk near the Farallon Islands as just another (albeit quite large) chunk of radioactive waste.
The California State Lands Commission shipwreck database pinpoints the exact location of the radioactive shipwreck of the USS Independence as: Latitude 37deg 28'24'N, Longitude 123deg 07'36'W. This interactive map shows the position of those coordinates:
comments:
brigham said...
wow, why did they choose the islands? are there other such sites off the coast?
December 21, 2009 10:49 PM
James Stevens said...
In 1979, I happened to be in the library at Scripps Institute of Oceanography involved in a research project. While there, I ran across a report detailing the dumping of 1,200 barrels of nuclear waste at the Farralons. Similarly to your report above, the barrels were incased in concrete. However, the report diverged from the story above in the following respects. This report concerned the dumping of Plutonium waste from the Hanford, Washington site and which was anything but low-level. It expressed grave concerns about the environmental impact of leakages on the Pacific bioshpere with theoretical scenarios over a period of twenty years, the length of time the report predicted would lead to degradation of the concrete containers. The extreme toxicity of the waste as well the quanitity of it would eventually lead to a major ecological collapse, the report concluded. The information contained therein was in explicit detail with charts of radioactivity levels, salt water dispersion rates, directional sub sea current data indicating likely spread patterns and again, concluded that the eventual effect of the toxicity levels would be the interuption of plankton life cycles over a large geographic scale compromising the ongoing integrity of the entire Pacific biosphere. It ended with the commentary that from an engineering perspective, little or nothing could be done to prevent that collapse which, they concluded, was inevitable.
December 21, 2010 4:55 PM
simon752 said...
I'm originally grew up in Fairfax, Marin county, and not only heard but saw the large amount of Breast Cancer victims within the bay area. Could this be the cause?!?
February 7, 2011 8:35 PM
BigWhiteDog said...
I'm sorry but to tie this to any Marin county cancers is one heck of an irresponsible leap. If such clusters were found in Sonoma, San Fran, Alameda and San Mateo Counties then maybe.
If your premise was correct then there should be corresponding clusters in Farallones researchers, fishermen who frequented the area before it was closed off, and persons living right on the coast.
I'm more interested in the fact that a radioactive ship was being sandblasted at Hunters Point for 5 years. What happened to the sand and other waste and what is/was the health status of those workers.
April 8, 2011 9:35 AM
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-04-20 10:47.
A citizen's group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.
Not sure if I could do 1L
Not sure if I could do 1L but I am nursing on a restricted diet and could easily identify what I've been eating for the past few weeks.
If there was someone who is
If there was someone who is willing to give up their breast milk (~1L), eats a lot of spinach or drinks a lot of milk, and, (this is important) has tracked, more or less, what they have eaten in the last few weeks,..., then I agree, this would be interesting. If there is anyone (hopefully local) out there that meets these requirements, please post or email me.
i can get breastmilk... Do
i can get breastmilk...
Do you really want it and where do I send it?
Breast Milk and Bodily Fluids Testing for Nuclear Fallout Levels
Breast milk sounds like an excellent idea to add to other fluids for monitoring since there are alot of mothers with plenty of milk available. I wonder why the CDC isn't considering it?
For population monitoring I'd be willing to offer both blood and urine samples with lists of foods consumed month to month if any university in my area (since I'm in Reno, NV it would be University of Nevada, Reno (UNR)) Long term monthly or quarterly testing over the span of the next 5 to 10 years would probably yield some telling results.
In the 1950's and 60's health departments took blood samples to determine levels from atmospheric nuclear tests, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Now, the islanders in the Marshall Islands are checked via urinalysis see: https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/plutonium.php
Also, as a side note: a number of years ago when I lived in Pleasant Hill, CA I ran across a reference set of around 10 identical black, leather bound books that had a declassified stamp on the inside coverleaf that was a chilling military medical documentary with photos of victims of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and detailed records of monitoring.
In light of the fallout from that time, I now wonder especially with relatives on my as well as my husband's family as long term San Francisco, Antioch/Brentwood area, Sacramento and Folsom residents who are now in their 80's and 90's with great grandparents living to their 80's and 90's just how much nuclear waste they ate and drank and WHY no history of cancer in the families since the level of agricultural and materials we have now was not available then?
-Off my menu: All Seafood! Why? because the oceans have become the prime military and industrial sewer and the last thing I want is to inadvertently ingest enough nuclear material to invite some horrific terminal disease such as leukemia, lymphoma,lung,breast or other cancers known to be more common since 1946...
FYI:
http://socket.kongshem.com/2007/10/farallon-islands-nuclear-waste-dump.html photo of bay with map and short video at site.
The Farallon Islands Nuclear Waste Dump
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may be surprised to learn that "more than 47,800 drums and other containers of low-level radioactive waste were dumped onto the ocean floor west of San Francisco between 1946 and 1970." (Source: The U.S. Geological Survey, a bureau of the Department of the Interior.)
Just 25 to 30 miles offshore from the Golden Gate bridge -- in a marine wildlife sanctuary, no less -- the ocean floor is littered with rusting 55-gallon barrels of radioactive waste. The U.S. Navy shipped this toxic cargo from the Radiological Defense Laboratory at the Hunters Point shipyard in San Francisco and dropped it in the sea near the Farallon Islands -- creating the first and largest offshore nuclear waste dump in the United States. Navy gunners were instructed to shoot holes in the barrels that didn't sink right away.
Nearly 50,000 drums of nuclear waste sounds bad enough, but the ocean floor around the Farallon Islands is host to even more toxic garbage: Namely, the radioactive wreck of a ten-thousand-ton aircraft carrier, used as a nuke target during the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests.
Eager to learn what might happen to a warship when an atomic bomb explodes nearby, the U.S. Navy placed the USS Independence within one-half mile of ground zero during the "Able" atomic bomb test of July 1, 1946. This was the first of two atomic bomb tests conducted on the Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads:
Highly radioactive but still afloat after the blast, the bombed-out hulk was then towed to San Francisco's Hunters Point shipyard for decontamination experiments.
After five years of fruitless sandblasting, the Navy lost interest in the useless wreck. In 1951, the Independence was towed out of the bay and sunk near the Farallon Islands as just another (albeit quite large) chunk of radioactive waste.
The California State Lands Commission shipwreck database pinpoints the exact location of the radioactive shipwreck of the USS Independence as: Latitude 37deg 28'24'N, Longitude 123deg 07'36'W. This interactive map shows the position of those coordinates:
comments:
brigham said...
wow, why did they choose the islands? are there other such sites off the coast?
December 21, 2009 10:49 PM
James Stevens said...
In 1979, I happened to be in the library at Scripps Institute of Oceanography involved in a research project. While there, I ran across a report detailing the dumping of 1,200 barrels of nuclear waste at the Farralons. Similarly to your report above, the barrels were incased in concrete. However, the report diverged from the story above in the following respects. This report concerned the dumping of Plutonium waste from the Hanford, Washington site and which was anything but low-level. It expressed grave concerns about the environmental impact of leakages on the Pacific bioshpere with theoretical scenarios over a period of twenty years, the length of time the report predicted would lead to degradation of the concrete containers. The extreme toxicity of the waste as well the quanitity of it would eventually lead to a major ecological collapse, the report concluded. The information contained therein was in explicit detail with charts of radioactivity levels, salt water dispersion rates, directional sub sea current data indicating likely spread patterns and again, concluded that the eventual effect of the toxicity levels would be the interuption of plankton life cycles over a large geographic scale compromising the ongoing integrity of the entire Pacific biosphere. It ended with the commentary that from an engineering perspective, little or nothing could be done to prevent that collapse which, they concluded, was inevitable.
December 21, 2010 4:55 PM
simon752 said...
I'm originally grew up in Fairfax, Marin county, and not only heard but saw the large amount of Breast Cancer victims within the bay area. Could this be the cause?!?
February 7, 2011 8:35 PM
BigWhiteDog said...
I'm sorry but to tie this to any Marin county cancers is one heck of an irresponsible leap. If such clusters were found in Sonoma, San Fran, Alameda and San Mateo Counties then maybe.
If your premise was correct then there should be corresponding clusters in Farallones researchers, fishermen who frequented the area before it was closed off, and persons living right on the coast.
I'm more interested in the fact that a radioactive ship was being sandblasted at Hunters Point for 5 years. What happened to the sand and other waste and what is/was the health status of those workers.
April 8, 2011 9:35 AM
yes someone is testing not the govt though
A citizen's group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86719.html