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STUDIES OF RADIATION LINKED DISEASE
AROUND PILGRIM
Infant Deaths - Sternglass, 1986: A Massachusetts state task force found an unexplained 38% "spike" in the infant death rate (IDR) in Boston from 1981 to 1982. This was the first increase in the IDR in 9 years, and the largest in 17 years. A June, 1986, study by Dr. Ernest Sternglass, professor emeritus of radiation physics at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, connected the increase with large radioactive releases from Pilgrim during June, 1982.
Myelogenous Leukemia – Cobb, 1987: An epidemiological analysis of five towns around Pilgrim shows a 60 percent increase in leukemia rate, excluding leukemias not caused by radiation exposure. - Dr. Sidney Cobb, et.al., Lancet, 1987. The rate of myelogenous leukemia (the type most likely to be triggered by exposure to radiation) among males in the 5 towns around the Pilgrim reactor was found to be 2 1/2 times greater than the statewide average. - Dr. Sydney Cobb, et al., "Leukemia in Five Massachusetts Coastal Towns", Abstract for the American Epidemiologic Society, March 18, 1987; and, Clapp RW, Cobb S, Chan CK, Walker B Leukemia near Massachusetts Nuclear Power Plant, letter. Lancet 1987; 2:1324-5.
Adult Leukemia - Massachusetts Department of Health, 1990: Adults living and working within ten miles of the Pilgrim reactor had a fourfold increased risk of contracting leukemia between the years of 1978 and 1983 when compared with people living more than 20 miles away, according to a 1990 study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The report stated "a dose-response relationship was observed in that the relative risk of leukemia increased as the potential for exposure to plant emissions also increased." - Morris MS, Knorr RS, Southeastern Massachusetts Health Study 1978-1986, Massachusetts Department of Health, Southeastern Massachusetts Health Study, Oct., 1990. Archives of Environmental Health, Vol. 51, p266, 1996, July-Aug. #4).
Recommendations Made by MDPH’s Southeastern Massachusetts Study and their Implementation, as of 2004
1. That a system of real-time monitoring of radionuclide emissions be implemented so that reliable and timely data are available by which exposure can be assessed more precisely; (not done – bogus system put into place instead – see Monitoring section, Sage System)
2. That a state air quality standard more stringent than that currently in use by federal regulatory agencies and other states be developed and implemented; (not done)
3. That the DPH continue its surveillance of cancer occurrence in the Plymouth area through data collected by the Massachusetts Cancer Registry; (Massachusetts Cancer Registry data available however the Registry does not have data refined to see patterns of disease at the neighborhood level; no registry for birth defects and reproductive disorders)
4. That, based upon the availability of resources, interviews of the families of childhood leukemia cases be conducted. (not done)
Denial: Response to MDPH’s Southeastern Massachusetts Health Study
The Southeastern Massachusetts Health Study was conducted, peer reviewed, and made public during the Dukakis Administration. The department (MDPH) began the process to address the first two recommendations – monitoring and establishing a more conservative radioactive air emission standard.
However, there was a complete about face in November 1990 when Governor Weld took office. December 1990, Governor Weld sent his Executive Secretary to accompany Pilgrim’s Vice President and Pilgrim’s Health Physicist to visit Massachusetts’ Interim Commissioner of Public Health, David Mulligan.
At that meeting Pilgrim gave their wish list. Pilgrim, the implicated industry, would be allowed to appoint a second peer review panel to re-review the Southeastern Massachusetts Health Study; and, until their own peer review panel decided whether the study was credible all the study’s recommendations would be put on hold.
The second peer review panel could find nothing wrong with the study’s methodology. The re-review panel stated clearly in their Executive Summary that, “The [original SMHS] study team adhered to generally accepted epidemiologic principles…” and “the findings of the SMHS cannot be readily dismissed on the basis of methodology errors or proven biases…”
But somehow they just couldn’t believe it - given Pilgrim’s emissions.
However for emissions data, they relied on data collected and provided by Pilgrim - not surprisingly it indicated that Pilgrim hardly emitted any radiation.
The story gets worse. Massachusetts Department of Public Health allowed Pilgrim, the implicated industry, to provide all the sound bites, press releases and public announcements about the re-reviews findings and refused to let their employees, who conducted the original study, speak to the press.
Once again, we see political science used to re-write real science on behalf of industry.
The Southeastern Massachusetts Childhood Leukemia Study,
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
The study was funded and in the planning phase, 2002. However, the project was cancelled because funds appropriated were insufficient to perform a study that would be statistically significant.
More
about radiation health effects
PilgrimWatch.org
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