BRAWM Info., Common Sense, Medical Awareness and Staying Informed...

To those such as John Q. Public who offer gripes, criticisms and pejoratives about nuclear energy yes, internal emitters cause direct damage to cellular material, yes, radiation whether it is internal or external (including geologic source ie: radon, solar and cosmic)IS cumulative. Nuclear energy is here, research to improve it is not going away, nobody is working on anything quite like Nikola Tesla's powerful vision of harnessing free energy and it would probably take another 50 years before nuclear is perfected or traded off for something like cold fusion or something better and equally as powerful and inexpensive unless something catastrophic sends mankind back a few centuries.

The BRAWM Team IS providing data as quickly as it can within the limits of the available equipment for detection. Fukushima is an accident that none of us asked for. The nuclear testing that occurred since 1945 was before many of us reading here were born and we ALL exist within the same environment:the Jet Stream/atmosphere contains residue of ALL the nuclear events that have occurred since that time. YES this results in cellular changes, mutations, damage and even cancers at rates higher than was known before the first ever nuclear materials were manipulated by humans.

OK, YES I am not happy that Sellafield, Chernobyl, Fukushima and all the other nuclear events have made my environment a potential invitation to lethal cancerous diseases (mind you, I was 22 when Chernobyl had their disaster and was 30 when diagnosed with a mildly low thyroid AND since I'd lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from age 3 a few other women like myself who lived ALL of their lives there also had thyroid problems diagnosed within the same time frame (5 and 7 years respectively-one aged 32 at time of her diagnosis had low thyroid with benign growths, the other had thyroid cancer and was only 19 when diagnosed which means she was only 11 when exposed to Chernobyl fallout.)

Now, my BEST advice to all reading this in the interest of preserving HEALTH and SANITY is:

1)You need to see a medical doctor at minimum of once per year and have a full panel blood workup including liver panel. Ideally, if you have the luxury of it:get your full physical every 6 months. My father was a professional pilot for PanAm and this is what they did for them, also, there was data sharing with CDC and even he knew they were compiling data related to radiation exposure, he knew he was BREATHING nuclear particles and to add insult to injury, this was in the days when smoking was permitted by all passengers which led to the statistical estimation that for each 8 hours of flight pilots, crew and passengers inhaled the equivalent of a PACK of cigarettes. What happened with my dad was vascular disease, common with pilots was to die of heart attacks from 50 to shortly after retirement, he lived to age 76 and my best guess is that since most in my family live to their 80's and 90's his career shortened his life by almost 20 years.

2)If you cannot afford visits to a Dr. for checkups, you can do what informed people do in between their checkups: Go to any college campus bookstore and purchase an anatomy and physiology text replete with good graphics and photographs. Next, as long as it is a good text, it will explain common diseases to each of your body's systems (physiology) When you learn about your own anatomy you will KNOW how to palpate vital areas where lymph glands are in your neck, armpits, torso and groin-you should feel these daily whenever you are showering:if there is ever anything irregular shaped, gritty like sand or small rocks or abnormal thickening compared to the opposite side of the body:ie:left breast/armpit vs. right then it should be investigated by a Dr. Next, you should have your partner or anyone who can help you to look at your skin both front and back for any suspicious skin growths or changes to moles if you have any (you only have to do the skin check once per month to note anything.) Your blood pressure can be checked at any pharmacy that has a cuff blood pressure machine, do the blood pressure check once every 1 to 3 months is smart. Of course, it goes without saying that natural body functions of elimination should be looked at whenever you do them:any blood in feces or urine should be checked out (of course for menstruating females, there's bound to be some blood that leaks out so don't get that confused with blood in urine occurring at times other than menses.) The idea with self examination is to catch anything suspicious before it gets beyond management and cure and, if you have symptoms such as irregular bowel movements, belly pain etc. that go on for more than 5 days get help immediately because medically speaking, you definitely need professional help. Other things such as chest pain or unusual headache may be vascular problems and generally need professional attention/invstigation within the hour. Also, I went off and on with suffering coldness, tiredness (being more tired waking up than when going to bed), messed up abnormally heavy periods, dry patches on elbows, hair shedding abnormally for 3 months before realizing something was VERY wrong-better to have caught it within a few weeks of the weird symptoms but per my Dr. not always possible by patients especially if working 60 hour plus weeks.

3)Allow 6 months to deal with lessening consumption of 'hot' produce if you live in a Western state (I'm in Reno, NV so you know I'm doubly concerned with higher levels of exposure since the jet stream during this El Nina year is more than happy to 'bring it on' my way more than others AND almost all our produce comes from California.) I'm stocking up and eating canned fruits and veggies for now along with the beans, legumes, grains and rice I already have on hand. Dairy products: well, I know water is used in the almond milk and coffee creamers we're using AND that Cesium-137 IS water soluble, my guess, probably less of it in water than dairy products such as milk,yoghurt and soft cheese since they are known concentrators. Fukushima will take a year or so to complete cold shut down so I anticipate that I'll still limit produce consumption up to that time AND wines vinted from 2011 to 2015 from our West States we are self banning since they will be carry higher densities of unwanted radionuclides. Also, it goes without saying, SEAFOOD is history unless you have your own geiger counter and want to do your own inspections and still take the risk. For us, we're sticking to fresh water fish if and when we want fish.

4)Stay informed and pass the info. along to others.

Signed,

HotCaviar

-Off my menu: All Seafoods because the oceans really are a military and industrial sewer! Yes, I will miss Anchovies on my pizza, fishsticks, red snapper, tuna (even 'chicken of the sea' is no longer 'worthy,'crab, fake crab (made with Pollock, an ocean fish), clam chowder, Nori Seaweed,Caviar etc... See: http://pstuph.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/can-ocean-currents-transport-radi...