I have been on break for almost a week now. I have had some time to decompress and it is really rather nice. First my drummer passed on to quite possibly a much better place on the night of the big tsunami. John was Japanese and one heck of a good drummer. He will be greatly missed.
Secondly, we watched the devastation unfolding on the television every night for days. I was horrified at the destruction and the plight of those thousands of people who never had a chance to flee the horror of the event. This was followed up by the problems the country was having with its nuclear reactors. Even now, we are finding trace evidence of radiation in our milk in Washington State. It is hard to believe, while we’re being assured everything is fine, that it really is. Maybe years from now, we will see an increase of thyroid cancer; but for now all we can do is hope we are being told the truth.
Years ago, when I was living in Utah and attending the University of Utah, one of the towns in Utah called St. George was said to have experienced an increase in several types of cancer. It was exposed to radiation when a Nevada Test Site unleashed a 32 Kiloton atomic bomb into the atmosphere in 1953. The fall out passed through St. George on the winds. The US Atomic Energy Commission reported there was an increase in these cancers in 1962. Whether or not there was indeed a statistically significant link to the fallout and the testing of atomic weapons in the desert, we may never know for absolute certain.
It may take many years to know whether the children of Japan will suffer similar fates because of the nuclear incidents there. We already know and it is common knowledge that low levels of radiation have consequences. For example, hospital employees who take x-rays are protected by lead shields in the x-ray rooms of our hospitals. In fact we know, there are no levels of radiation that are safe and we do not know when cancer will strike. Even in the face of this we use radiation to kill cancer cells. In conclusion, we do not know enough about cancer and radiation to set a safe limit on levels of radiation. What we do know is we’re being bombarding by radiation every day, at so called safe levels. Furthermore, thousands and/or millions of people are given radiation treatments to cure or control cancer every day.
I think the bottom line is pretty simple, the best we can do is let the experts continue to test radiation levels and research the effects of radiation on humans and especially children. A trip to the Seattle Children’s Hospital could have the effect of changing people’s minds about how much radiation we are really willing to be exposed to. We might want to reconsider using nuclear power to produce electricity and weapons. Years ago concerned scientists tried to warn us of the dangers of using this form of power for weapons and for energy sources. If you are concerned about this threat to our survival you may want to join forces with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Staying informed is a good way to contribute to the effort we are making to understand the power of nuclear energy in our world.
JOYSTECHTOOL 