Scientists: American public being poisoned by radiation once thought harmless

Scientists: American public being poisoned by radiation once thought harmless: "'Science for the Vulnerable: Setting Radiation and Multiple Exposure Environmental Health Standards to Protect Those Most at Risk,' released Thursday, the protection standards for cancer-causing radiation in the United States are so low, only the strongest people are protected.

'A central principle of environmental health protection -- protecting those most at risk -- is missing from much of the U.S. regulatory framework for radiation,' said study co-author Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

The federal standards that limit radiation -- such as what may be found in contaminated soil -- are based on protecting 'Reference Man,' a theoretical white male of Western European or North American habitat or custom, aged 20 to 30, weighing 154 pounds, and standing 5 feet 7 inches tall. Unfortunately, these standards do not apply to women and girls, who are at higher risks of cancer, especially thyroid cancer. A female infant drinking contaminated milk is 100 times more likely to contract thyroid cancer -- and a woman has a 52 percent greater chance -- than an adult male drinking the same milk. The study also found evidence that the offspring of fathers exposed to radiation around the time of conception are at an increased risk of leukemia.

'I've never known a woman to give birth to a full-grown, 154-pound 'Reference Man,'' said Mary Brune, co-founder of California-based group Making Our Milk Safe (MOMS).

The report found that cancer was not the only adverse affect resulting from radiation exposure. The tritium found in water supplies can cross the placenta of a pregnant woman and cause miscarriages and birth defects. "