Higher quality diet associated with reduced risk of some birth defects

Republicans want to cut back on WIC (Women, Infant, Children nutrition) programs to save money, but this could lead to higher costs in the future.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/jaaj-hqd093011.php

Public release date: 3-Oct-2011
Contact: Erin Digitale
JAMA and Archives Journals
Higher quality diet associated with reduced risk of some birth defects

CHICAGO -- Healthier dietary choices by pregnant women are associated with reduced risks of birth defects, including neural tube defects and orofacial clefts, according to a study published Online First by the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The authors state in background information that folic acid supplementation and food fortification has been effective in preventing neural tube defects, but folic acid does not prevent all birth defects. "Nutrition research on birth defects has tended to focus on one nutrient (or nutritional factor) at a time," the authors write. "However, the reality of nutrition is much more complex."

[...]

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Vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients

www.eurekalert.org

Public release date: 3-Oct-2011
Contact: Beth Bukata
American Society for Radiation Oncology
Vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients
Predicts advanced disease

Miami Beach, Fla., October 2, 2011 – More than three-quarters of cancer patients have insufficient levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) and the lowest levels are associated with more advanced cancer, according to a study presented on October 2, 2011, at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Public release date: 3-Oct-2011
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Contact: Beth Bukata
bethb@astro.org
703-839-7332
American Society for Radiation Oncology
Vitamin D deficiency common in cancer patients
Predicts advanced disease

Miami Beach, Fla., October 2, 2011 – More than three-quarters of cancer patients have insufficient levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) and the lowest levels are associated with more advanced cancer, according to a study presented on October 2, 2011, at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

[...]

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Tainted nuke plant water reaches major NJ aquifer

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37022728/ns/us_news-environment/

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
updated 4:42 p.m. ET, Fri., May 7, 2010

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Radioactive water that leaked from the nation's oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state's environmental chief said Friday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

Tritium is found naturally in tiny amounts and is a product of nuclear fission. It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

"There is a problem here," said environmental Commissioner Bob Martin. "I am worried about the continuing spread of the tritium into the groundwater and its gradual moving toward wells in the area. This is not something that can wait. That would be unacceptable."

The tritium leaked from underground pipes at the plant on April 9, 2009, and has been slowly spreading underground at 1 to 3 feet a day. At the current rate, it would be 14 or 15 years before the tainted water reaches the nearest private or commercial drinking water wells about two miles away.

But the mere fact that the radioactive water — at concentrations 50 times higher than those allowed by law — has reached southern New Jersey's main source of drinking water calls for urgent action, Martin said.

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The radioactive water leaks were found just days after the plant got a new 20-year license in 2009 that environmentalists had bitterly fought for four years. Those problems followed corrosion that left the reactor's crucial safety liner rusted and thinned.

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Sting planned on radioactive wasp nests at Hanford nuclear reactor

Does this mean wasps might replace humans, instead of coakroaches?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/256/story/69909.html

Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009
By Annette Cary | Tri-City Herald

In Washington, Hanford workers are going after some of the nuclear reservation's most bizarre waste this month -- radioactive wasp nests.

There are so many radioactive nests spread over six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that six to 12 inches of top soil are being dug up to remove the nests.

And another 50 to 60 nests built by mud dauber wasps are spread over about 75 acres.

"We can hand dig those with a shovel and buckets," said Dave Martin, radiological engineer for Washington Closure Hanford.

The nests all were built in 2003, when a one-time series of conditions aligned. A circle about a mile wide surrounding H Reactor is the only place at Hanford believed to have the problem with radioactive mud dauber nests.

"Fortunately, they don't fly far," said Todd Nelson, spokesman for Washington Closure.

Elevated Leukaemia Rates Near Nuclear Facilities

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070718113939.htm

Leukaemia rates in children and young people are elevated near nuclear facilities, but no clear explanation exists to explain the rise, according to a research review published in the European Journal of Cancer Care.

They found that death rates for children up to the age of nine were elevated by between five and 24 per cent, depending on their proximity to nuclear facilities, and by two to 18 per cent in children and young people up to the age of 25.

Incidence rates were increased by 14 to 21 per cent in zero to nine year olds and seven to ten percent in zero to 25 year-olds.

Radiation Degrades Nuclear Waste-containing Materials Faster Than Expected

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110181212.htm

"Minerals intended to entrap nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of
years may be susceptible to structural breakdown within 1,400 years, a team
from the University of Cambridge and the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory reported today (Jan. 11) in the journal Nature.
...
This could lead to swelling, loss of physical strength and possible cracking
of the mineral as soon as 210 years, well before the radioactivity had
decayed to safe levels"

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