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Health Canada “negligent” on Fukushima nuclear-radiation threats, Liberal MP Joyce Murray claims
Last year, Joyce Murray dyed her hair red to honour cystic fibrosis fighter Eva Markvoort; now, her hair is on fire over the government's response to potential radiation threats to Canadians.
The Vancouver Quadra Liberal MP has criticized Health Canada’s “negligent” job informing Canadians of potential health risks relating to radiation levels following Japan’s Fukushima disaster.
“I think they have been negligent from the perspective of being clear and transparent with Canadians about this issue, right from the beginning,” Joyce Murray told the Georgia Straight by phone.
“And during the election, there were people in Vancouver that were concerned because they couldn’t get the straight story from Health Canada’s website. They felt that the monitoring was very inadequate and there was not clear messaging from Health Canada. I think people do deserve to have a straightforward assessment. If there’s little risk, that should be backed up.”
In his story in today’s (August 4) Straight, Alex Roslin noted that despite sustained levels of iodine-131 that far exceeded allowable levels, “government officials claimed there was nothing to worry about”.
“The quantities of radioactive materials reaching Canada as a result of the Japanese nuclear incident are very small and do not pose any health risk to Canadians,” Roslin quoted Health Canada as saying on its website. “The very slight increases in radiation across the country have been smaller than the normal day-to-day fluctuations from background radiation.”
Health Canada did not respond to Roslin’s requests for an interview.
Murray said: “I think it’s important that the Straight is raising this issue.”
The two-term MP and one-time provincial MLA said she understands that “Health Canada doesn’t want to create panic where it’s not necessary”, but she said she has a number of concerns.
“I think it’s fair enough to say that it’s possible that there is risk from drinking milk products or drinking rainwater and that, certainly, vulnerable people might want to reduce their consumption,” Murray said.
“The idea of radiation-related toxicity in salmon, I think, is very worrisome, and it’s incumbent on Health Canada to either test or explain why it’s not necessary [to test]. Now, I don’t know salmon’s cycle. It may be that the salmon that are in the area that’s closest to Fukushima won’t be being consumed for a certain time period. So it’s best to test at a different time. I don’t know that, but if that’s the reason, they should be clear.”
Murray claimed that part of the reason things have got to this point is because of the ruling federal Conservatives’ priorities.
“We have never seen them have any priorities on the issue of health,” Murray said. “What are their priorities? Well, they’re on building maximum-security prison cells. There is a different set of priorities by this government.”
Murray said Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has to step up. The Straight contacted the minister’s staff in Ottawa but received no reply today (August 4).
Yes, radiation levels increased and probably slightly exceeded some regulatory limits for releases. But it's a darned good thing those reg limits are set hundreds to thousands of times lower than the levels that would pose any health risk!
Murdoch and the media in general sees itself as the
establishment, and the elite. corruption between government
the media and corporations, a traid of tyanny
the main constituency of politicians is business
look where its taking us
what is responsible government and who are they responsible to?
Nuclear radiation is what comes instantaneously from an external radioactive substance or nuclear fission or fusion. It takes quite a bit to kill you, or to even make you sick. You get it from (among other things) your granite countertops and from cosmic rays during high-altitude flights. It is most often of a kind called "gamma radiation," which passes right through most tissue without impact.
On the other hand, nuclear contamination enters your body and becomes incorporated in its tissues, continuously irradiating nearby tissue, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year by year. It is most likely "beta radiation," which strikes nearby tissues with high-energy electrons, causing free radicals and random chemical changes, including changes to DNA and other molecules that control and mitigate stuff like cancer.
Nuclear apologists will direct you to fancy charts that speak of "sieverts" and other whole-body dose measurements. They won't direct you to sites like the American Cancer Institute, which, if you are of roughly baby-boomer age, will calculate your increased risk of thyroid cancer from I-131 released during atmospheric nuclear weapons testing.
In particular, I-131 contamination has a very high correlation with infant death, stillbirth, and spontaneous abortion. And yet, the BC Coroners Office blames "poor parenting practices" for the recent spike in infant deaths, which for the first half of 2011 are already 38% higher than for ALL of 2010.
No matter your politics, no matter how you personally feel about Joyce Murray, nuclear contamination is insidious, and the government is criminal for overlooking it.
The bunch that promoted the dead babies scenario in California were almost immediately dismissed for selecting data that suited their contention and rejecting that that didn't.
Not one of you antinuclear warming deniers has every been able to explain the low cancer rate in Ramsar, Iran where background radiations levels and that of associated ingested dust are hundreds of times higher than western standards.
seth
How many years you want to wait? Caesium-137 has a half life of 30 years, not to mention the longevity of all those plutonium "fuel fleas" from the exploded MOX spent fuel at Unit 3.
Re: the big explosion: If Unit 3 spent fuel really was a "prompt criticality" on 14 March as postulated by Arnie Gundersen, then the US, the Chinese, the Russians, the Brits, the French all know that for a fact, because their Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty sensors aboard every GPS satellite would have detected it within seconds. we don't get told, just left exposed to die of cancer. see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwNIHQvTOzs
hey everyone make http://enenews.com/ your home page to keep up-to-date on the Fukushima disaster.
Then you don't have to rely on anyone's word or be subject to manipulation by the media.
I think it would be very educational for you to see how many things are naturally radioactive. For example a 1 cubic metre granite boulder contains approx 25 grams of natural Uranium. Seawater contains 3.3 milligrams of Uranium per cubic metre.
Bananas are naturally radioactive as are the bones in your body.
A radiation detector would help you put things in perspective and I hope give you some peace of mind.