ENGLAND: Plutonium from Sellafield in all children's teeth

[Guest guest]

>

> Plutonium from Sellafield in all children's teeth

>

> Government admits plant is the source of contamination but says risk is

> 'minute'

>

> Antony Barnett, public affairs editor

> Sunday November 30, 2003

> The UK Observer

>

> http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1096570,00.html

>

> Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria has

> led to children's teeth across Britain being contaminated with plutonium.

>

> The Government has admitted for the first time that Sellafield 'is a

> source of plutonium contamination' across the country. Public Health

> Minister Melanie Johnson has revealed that a study funded by the

> Department of Health discovered that the closer a child lived to

> Sellafield, the higher the levels of plutonium found in their teeth.

>

> Johnson said: 'Analysis indicated that concentrations of plutonium...

> decreased with increasing distance from the west Cumbrian coast and its

> Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant - suggesting this plant is a

> source of plutonium contamination in the wider population.'

>

> Johnson claimed the levels of plutonium are so minute that there is no

> health risk to the public. But this is disputed by scientists, MPs and

> environmental campaigners who have called for an immediate inquiry into

> how one of the world's most dangerous materials has been allowed to

> continue to contaminate children's teeth. There have long been claims of

> clusters of childhood leukaemia around Sellafield.

>

> In the late 1990s researchers collected more than 3,000 molars extracted

> from young teenagers across the country during dental treatment and

> analysed them. To their surprise they found traces of plutonium in all

> the teeth including those from children in Scotland and Northern

> Ireland. Alarmingly, they discovered that those living closer to

> Sellafield had more than twice the amount of those living 140 miles away.

>

> Plutonium is a man-made radioactive material and the only source of it

> in Britain is from Sellafield. The plant, which reprocesses nuclear fuel

> from reactors, still discharges plutonium into the Irish Sea.

>

> The original research was carried out in 1997 by Professor Nick Priest

> who was working for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. At the time the

> conclusions of the research received little attention because the study

> concluded that the contamination levels were so minuscule they were

> thought to pose an 'insignificant' health risk.

>

> But earlier this year the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from

> Internal Emitters, looking at health risks posed by radioactive

> materials, examined Priest's study. Some of the committee's members have

> now cast doubt on the conclusions that plutonium in children's teeth

> posed no health risk.

>

> Professor Eric Wright, of Dundee University Medical School, is one of

> the country's leading experts on blood disorders and a member of the

> committee. He believes that the tiny specks of plutonium in children's

> teeth caused by Sellafield radioactive pollution might lead to some

> people falling ill with cancer.

>

> He said: 'There are genuine concerns that the risks from internal

> emitters of radiation are more hazardous [than previously thought]. The

> real question is by how much. Is it two or three times more risky... or

> more than a hundred?'

>

> Wright believes that, while the plutonium contamination is unlikely to

> pose a health risk to much of the British population, it might be a

> problem for some individuals.

>

> He said: 'If somebody has a bad collection of genes which means their

> body cannot deal with small levels of internal radioactive material,

> then there could be an issue.'

>

> Wright's comments, coming on top of the admission from the Health

> Minister, have led to calls for an independent inquiry. Liberal Democrat

> environment spokesman Norman Baker said: '[This] stinks of a cover-up.

> They have known for six years that Sellafield has contaminated the

> population with plutonium but done nothing. Yet the plant continues to

> discharge plutonium into the Irish Sea. It shows the wanton disregard

> the nuclear industry has for public health and there needs to be an

> independent inquiry.'

>

> Janine Allis-Smith of the campaign group Cumbrians Opposed to a

> Radioactive Environment said: 'There is no safe amount of plutonium. The

> plant must be closed down immediately.'

>

> However, Priest, who is now professor of environmental toxicology at

> Middlesex University stands by his original conclusions. He said: '[The

> plutonium in teeth] was at such low levels that it was toxicologically

> insignificant. There really is nothing to worry about.'

>

> A spokesman for BNFL, which runs Sellafield, said: 'What is not clear is

> whether the plutonium recorded in this study originated [from

> Sellafield] or from nuclear weapons testing fall-out.'

> --

> Posted for educational and research purposes only,

> ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~

>

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