Not-so-secret atomic tests: Why the photographic film industry knew what the American public didn’t by Tim Barribeau.
From the post:
It’s one of the dark marks of the U.S. Government in the 20th century — a complete willingness to expose unwitting citizens to dangerous substances in the name of scientific advancement. It happened with the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, with the MKUltra mind control project and with the atomic bomb testing of the 1940s and 50s. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) knew that dangerous levels of fallout were being pumped into the atmosphere, but didn’t bother to tell anyone. Well, anyone except the photographic film industry, that is.
Photographic film is particularly radiosensitive — that’s the reason why you see dosimeters made from the stuff, as they can be used to detect gamma, X-ray and beta particles. But in 1946, Kodak customers started complaining about film they had bought coming out fogged.
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“Kodak complained to the Atomic Energy Commission and that Government agency agreed to give Kodak advanced information on future tests, including ‘expected distribution of radioactive material in order to anticipate local contamination.‘“In fact, the Government warned the entire photographic industry and provided maps and forecasts of potential contamination. Where, I ask, were the maps for dairy farmers? Where were the warnings to parents of children in these areas? So here we are, Mr. Chairman. The Government protected rolls of film, but not the lives of our kids. There is something wrong with this picture.”
Senator Harkin’s remarks about dairy farms and children reveals the dark side of this story. It’s not enough that the AEC was knowingly releasing fallout into American skies, but that one of the side effects they were aware of was that it could enter the food supply, and potentially cause long term health problems. The I-131 would fall on the ground, be eaten by cattle through radioactive feed, and through their milk, be passed on to the public. Your thyroid needs iodine to function, so it builds up stores of iodine from the environment, and high concentrations of I-131 are directly linked to higher risks of radiogenic thyroid cancer — especially from exposure during childhood. And that’s exactly what happened to thousands of American children.
It turns out there’s a relatively easy way to prevent thyroid cancer after exposure to I-131 — standard iodine supplements will do. But if you’re unaware of the fallout, you wouldn’t know to take the countermeasure. The atmospheric tests have been linked to up to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer in the U.S. alone. To this day, the National Cancer Institute runs a program to help people identify if they were exposed, and between 1951 and 1962, it was an awful lot of people.
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If the story weren’t disturbing enough, consider the closing note from the editor:
[Ed. note: This piece ranges far from our normal digital photography fare, but we found it an interesting historical note on a moment in time when the photo industry, military development and public health all intersected, and on how an earlier era viewed citizens’ rights and safety.]
Really?
The atomic test piece was published in 2013.
In 2015/16, it is discovered that the entire city of Flint, Michigan was deliberately poisoned by state government. New information is appearing on a daily basis as the crisis continues.
The present era has little concern for citizens, their rights and safety. If you don’t believe that, consider all the reports of bad water elsewhere that have begun to surface. Mark Ruffalo: We’re Heading Toward a National Water Crisis.
To demonstrate her lack of concern for the citizens of Flint, Hillary Clinton wants to incorporate them in the planning of the recovery process. To “empower” them.
Pure BS. Every citizen in Flint wants potable drinking water and safe water for their families to use for bathing, laundry, etc. Empowerment isn’t going to do any of those things.
Let’s stop harming people first and play privilege/power shell game later, if we have to play it at all.