Solar and Wind Power for Homeland Security
Clean Crusader: Charles Bigelow’s on a mission to promote alternative energy
By Laura Oleniacz
The Winchester Star,
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Charles Bigelow’s official title is the founder, chief executive officer, and president of Boyce-based Light Speed Power Inc. Unofficially, he’s known as a solar evangelist and a renewable-energy rebel.

For the past seven years, he’s been preaching the gospel of energy independence — designing, installing, and maintaining solar- and wind-power renewable-energy technologies for private homes.

To read the full article click here.

Michael Moore’s ‘SiCKO’
by Janette D. Sherman, M.D.
The San Francisco BayView
July 11, 2007
Contrary to what many of us thought, Michael Moore’s film, “SiCKO” is not about the nearly 46 million of us who have no insurance. This film documents some of the 250 million Americans who do have insurance. It becomes clear that care – or lack thereof – is controlled by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, abetted by Congress and the president.

To read the full article click here.

Bullets, bombs and nuclear power plants
by Janette D. Sherman, M.D.
The San Francisco BayView
April 11, 2007
Solar and wind power technology is already available with lowered costs. How much are we willing to spend to spare our families the tragedy of cancer? Are we willing to stop bomb testing and nuclear power plants? Will we do it, given the economic and political power of what President Eisenhower termed the military-industrial complex?

Read this excellent article on the health effects of nuclear technlogy in its entirety by clicking here.

Global Warming and Nuclear Power
Janette D. Sherman, M.D.
The San Francisco BayView
March 18, 2007
The nuclear industry is using the issue of global warming, which is real and urgent, to push nuclear power, which is costly, polluting and not needed.

To read the full article click here.

Cancer; Where's the Outrage?
Nuclear, chemical and asbestos wastes at Hunter's Point and elsewhere make cancer No. 1 killer.

To read the full article by Dr. Sherman go to: http://www.sfbayview.com/052505/outrage052505.shtml

Global Warming as a Human Rights Violation
The Inuit have the highest concentration of PCBs in their systems of any people on earth, and they live far from any PCB source. This is in Kellia Ramares' documentary CD: Global Warming as a Human Rights Violation, a long-format interview with Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. The 58-minute audio CD, is available at www.cafepress.com/rise9 for $14.99,

You can also order Peak Oil; Oil, Immigration and Population Growth; and Ronald Reagan: A War Criminal's Legacy from the same site. They're all 58-minute audio CDs for $14.99 a piece.

Rosalie Bertell, Scientist, Eco-Feminist, Visionary by Prof. Mary-Louise Engels
Women’s Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 175 pages.
ISBN No. 0-88961-450-4 Copyright 2005

Women’s Press of Toronto, Canada has just released a very important book under its series Women Who Rock. Written by Prof. Mary Louise Engels, it tells the life story of Dr. Rosalie Bertell, who in her persistent and sure way has rocked the male dominated world of nuclear physics, war armaments, and mass contamination of our planet. Dr. Engels has combined the fascinating story of Dr. Bertell’s life as a brilliant researcher in the field of mathematics and nuclear science and as a member of the Gray Nuns of Sacred Heart. Prof. Engels has explained, in easy to understand terms, the world of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and provided kindly attention to Dr. Bertell’s transformation from a sickly child, to advocate for the poor and those harmed by nuclear power and toxic chemicals, to recipient of the “Alternative Nobel” Right Livelihood Award. I was so impressed by the book, that I contacted Women’s Press and ordered ten copies.

This book is a must for peace advocates, those working in the antinuclear and pro-environment fields, as well as for teenagers who need to know that one does not need a lot of money and a big organization to make a difference in this world. This book can be especially helpful to those who are discouraged and feel that the state of the world cannot be changed.

Rosalie Bertell, Ph. D., G. N. S. H, by force of her moral convictions, hard work, and very bright mind has changed the world for the better. She is a true International Treasure. Prof. Engels has done justice to the science and to Dr. Bertell’s life, by writing this very timely and delightful book.

CDN $16.95 US $12.95
To Order: www.womenspress.ca
info@cspi.org
416- 929-2774
Review: Janette D. Sherman, M.D.

Though 60 people died and 500 homes were destroyed by the Dec. 26 tsunami in the adjacent employees’ township, the Times of India reported two days later that the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant is safe and not leaking radiation.

There is a push to revive the use of nuclear energy, given increases in oil prices and problems with war-torn countries sitting on oil reserves. The increasing likelihood of a terrorist attack upon a nuclear reactor, or its spent fuel depot, seems not to deter development, but the recent earthquake and subsequent Indian Ocean tsunami ought to provide reasons to stop nuclear power development.. . .
Read more: http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/dangerousgamble012605.shtml

The Report on Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition, is prepared by the National Toxicology Program, an interagency group coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The full report is available at the NTP website http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov

Risk to humans from nuclear plant radiation is well documented.
1/7/05
Letter to the Editor
Asbury Park Press
Asbury, NJ
http://www.app.com/app/opinion

In regard to the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant, it is irresponsible that AmerGen Energy Co. sends out such misleading statements.

What is quoted from the National Academy of Sciences is true: we do have a lot of information, and that information, accumulated over decades, points to damage caused by nuclear radiation.

It is true as well that there are natural sources of radiation from the earth and outer space. What is important is the difference between “natural” radiation and that generated by nuclear power plants. Every plant, in the course of operation, continually gives off some 200+ radioactive elements. Some of these have short half-lives, some long; they emit beta, gamma and alpha radiation of varying energies. They are taken up by living plants, animals and humans and concentrate in various organs in the body.

For example, the radioactive forms of Iodine (I-129 and I-131) concentrate in the thyroid gland. Both congenital hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer have increased in the population in proximity to nuclear power plants.
Radioactive strontium (Sr-90) acts like calcium, and concentrates in the bones and teeth of the unborn and young children. Sr-90 never existed anywhere on earth before the advent of the nuclear industry. Sr-90 is a powerful beta emitter, radiating the tissue in which it embedded. It decays to Yttrium (Y90) which gives off a second beta particle, increasing the likelihood of damage to cellular structures and DNA. Increasing levels of Sr-90 are linked to increased fetal losses, neonatal deaths and cancer in children as well as adults living in proximity to nuclear power plants.

The AmerGen letter states: “Adverse health effects from low doses of radiation from a nuclear power plant ... cannot be distinguished from health effects form other source so flow level radiation.” That is why the research by the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP), collecting baby teeth and measuring levels of Sr-90 has been so important. That research has proved that Sr-90 is highest in proximity to nuclear plants, and has linked it to increasing incidence of cancers and other adverse health effects. Furthermore, RPHP has demonstrated that when seven separate nuclear power plants closed, the health status of children improved in the areas surrounding all seven plants.

Other radioactive elements interchange with non-radioactive elements in animals and plants, and result in damage. Carbon-14, with a half-life of some 5000 years accumulates in any portion of the body or plant as it displaces a non-radioactive carbon atom.

The European Committee on Radiation Risk has clearly demonstrated the adverse health effects of low level nuclear radiation risk. High levels of nuclear radiation may kill a cell, low levels damage the machinery of the cell, allowing for altered repair and the development of genetic and carcinogenic alterations.

Hundreds of research articles have been published, linking radioactive isotopes and damage to humans, animals and plants.

There are safer, less costly ways to generate electricity. These include solar, wind, natural gas, and hydroelectric power. And lastly, conservation is important. Some 15 to 20% of US electrical power comes from nuclear plants. It is very likely that if the public understood the contribution of nuclear power to cancer in children and adults, and fetal and neonatal loss, that most citizens would be more than willing to cut their use of electrical power by 20% to prevent the illnesses and losses that so many are currently bearing.

Janette D. Sherman, M. D.
Internal Medicine and Toxicology
www.janettesherman.com

GULF WAR ILLNESSES – AT HOME AND ABROAD
Since "Those Weapons of Mass Destruction" was published in Acres U.S.A, (0ct. 2003) I had hoped that the mainstream press would have picked up the depleted uranium (DU) issue. Alas, this is not the case.

A conservative estimate of the DU used in the 1991 Gulf War is 340 tons. In the most recent war, more than 2200 tons of DU rained down on Iraq. But that is not all, some 34 tons of DU weaponry were used in Bosnia, Kosovo and Herzegovina, contaminating ground water and soil and an additional 1000 tons of DU were used in Afghanistan. Living close to the land, the DU levels in Afghanis after US military intervention are the highest levels measured in a human population.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) strongly criticized the Pentagon for failing to accurately study conditions leading to the illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans. A second GAO report criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Pentagon for wasting "millions of dollars looking for the mental stress theory [when] it has been conclusively ruled invalid."

Of the 698,000 service personnel who served in the first Gulf War (GW-I) more than 230,000 veterans have health claims that have been granted by the DVA as of Nov. 2002, the latest figures available. Given that the average age of those who went to war was 36, the 11,074 who have since died since GW-I do not represent usual retiree mortality rates.

Among returning veterans, birth defects are increased in the children of both men and women personnel. The birth defects rate in the civilian Iraqi population have risen exponentially in the 13 years since GW-I. While the Pentagon continues to "study" the problem, Betty Mekdeci from the non-profit organization, Birth Defect Research for Children has found otherwise, documenting the very uncommon defect, named Goldenhar Syndrome in 26 children of GW-I veterans.

While returning veterans have brought their contaminated bodies home with them, the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and sites in the US and Puerto Rico where DU was tested continue to live with the contamination. Cancer and leukemia have increased in southern Iraq, and physicians are seeing multiple cancers in patients and clusters of cancer in families near contaminated areas.

The DU issue does not end with veterans and the war zones where civilians are contaminated, it extends to civilian workers in the U. S. as well. By the end of 2003, the Department of Energy (DOE) had processed only 6% of the 23,000 worker’s compensation claims from former nuclear weapons plant employees. The bulk of the claims have been as a result of exposure at the nuclear facilities located at Oak Ridge, TN, Savannah Rive, SC, Paducah, KY, Hanford, WA, Rocky Flats, CO, Los Alamos, NM, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab, the Iowa Ordinance Plant, and in Ohio, the Fernald and Mound Plants and the Piketon uranium enrichment plant.

It is clear that radioactive materials increasingly contaminate the world’s landscape, including the U. S. We know that chronic exposure to low level radiation leads to cancer, birth defects and irreversible genetic damage. Recently, the Bush Administration is proposing to develop a series of "mini" nuclear bombs and to restart the testing of nuclear bombs.

How can we as a civilized society condone the use of radioactive bombs that will adversely affect not only a targeted country, but our own population as well? The lifespan of radioactive materials involves the mining of uranium, separation of isotopes, creation of plutonium, manufacture of bombs and the armaments that carry them, disposal of "wastes", and the firing of radioactive munitions. The half-life of U238 is 4.5 billion years, the age of the earth. As it decays in four steps to become lead, it releases radioactivity with each step. There is no way to stop the decay process, and no way to clean it up.

The U. S. has lost stature over the torture of prisoners as such places as Abu Gharib and Guantanimo Bay in Cuba, and will certainly lose more when the facts are broadcast that the US has rained toxic and genocidal radioactive materials throughout the world. The use of these very effective, but toxic DU weapons has made us not less, but far more vulnerable to attacks, not only from Al Qaida, but from people who have been harmed and have no recourse to right their wrongs.

What can we do? Spread the word about the hazards to life from DU contamination. Support adequate medical care for returning veterans, compensate those harmed by the manufacture and use of nuclear weapons, and compensate civilians harmed by the use of DU munitions. Most importantly, perhaps the US will regain its stature in the world community if it renounces the use of DU nuclear weapons, but more importantly by doing so we can stop adding irreversible harm to the world. Will our government listen to us the citizens? Will the international community support such measures? We can only hope so because not doing so will spell disaster for life on earth.

Janette D. Sherman, M. D.
Internal Medicine and Toxicology

Notes:
1 Leurendu@yahoo.com
2 UNEP News release, March 17, 2003.
3 Prof. Marc Herold: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/page1.htm
4 Uranium Medical Research Center: http://www.umrc.net/
5 Williams, T. D., Hartford Courant. June 4, 2004.
6 Ibid
7 http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa040223_am_birthdefects.201a00bc.html
8 Al-Ali, oncologist from Basra. Data presented to the World Depleted Uranium Weapons Conference, Hamburg, Germany, ct. 16-19, 2003
9 http://www.chillicothegazette.com/news/stories/20040603/localnews/562235.html
10 Busby, Chris, Editor, 2003 Recommendations of the ECRR: The Health Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure at Low Doses for Radiation Protection Purposes. European Committee on Radiation Risk, ISBN: 1-897761-24-4, 2003.

Few might consider the plight of the mighty salmon and humans to be connected, but connected it is, from the Arctic Circle to the great rivers flowing into the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans.

This extraordinary book documents the connection between all living creatures, and peril to all from chemical pollution, release of nuclear radioisotopes, wasteful logging, waste disposal, and the thoughtless abuse of our environment.

For Indigenous People, who value and understand salmon as an integral part of culture as well as food, the loss of salmon has been devastating.

Dr. Lambert is a descendant of Canadian First Nation peoples, an internationally known researcher, lecturer and author. She teaches at the Salish Kootenai Tribal College on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, and is head of the Distance Learning program there.

In addition to this book, Dr. Lambert’s insightful books include: Through the Northern Looking: Breast Cancer Stories told by Native Women, and Keepers of the Central Fire: Issues in Ecology for Indigenous Peoples.

Chris Walsh is a member of the Lakota Nation, and is environmental health nurse for the Yakima Nation in Toppinish, Washington, where she is involved in salmon research, pesticide medicine, nuclear radiation, and cancer risk.

HEART OF THE SALMON: SPRIT OF THE PEOPLE
(ISBN 1-4033-6411-7) and Dr. Lambert’s other books are available from:

lori_lambert@skc.edu
Distance Education Department
Salish Kootenai College
P.O. Box 117
Pablo, Montana 5985527
Phone: 406.275.4842
Fax: 406.275.4808
www.skc.edu/atd/lori.htm

www.themiraclekids.com/articles.html
Agnes Reynolds, RNC, a nurse and mother of a child with cancer writes about the need to look at environmental causes of cancer and to focus on prevention as well as cure. “My fellow nurses…. We need to actively embrace prevention and educate our patients with regard to environmental exposures involved in cancer causation. We cannot be silent any longer…. or it may just be a 'Silent Spring!'" --posted 3/19/03

www.mothersalert.org/infant.html
Infant mortality rates drop around five US nuclear power reactors after reactors closed. An article by Danielle Knight. --posted 3/19/03

www.mothersalert.org/crac.html
Impact of a Meltdown at Nuclear Plant, Consequences of Reactor Accident (CRAC-2) Report
NRC & SANDIA STUDIED MELTDOWNS/RISKS AT US NUCLEAR PLANTS in 1982! --posted 3/19/03

New York Times
August 17, 2002
Breast Cancer Study

To the Editor:
Re "What Causes Cancer: Can Science Find the Missing Link?" (Week in Review, Aug. 11):
Serious omissions were noted in the National Cancer Institute's study of possible environmental causes of breast cancer in Long Island women even before the study began, but the most critical was not addressing exposures to nuclear radiation.

Long Island is home to the leaking Brookhaven Lab and downwind from nuclear power reactors in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Residents have been exposed to more than 200 radioactive chemicals emitted during routine operation, including strontium 90, cesium 137 and iodine 131, all demonstrated carcinogens.

Many studies have linked nuclear releases with cancer and have shown synergism with chemicals in fine particles like cigarette smoke and diesel exhaust, which have been found to increase the risk of cancer. Radioactive isotopes are easily measured in tissues and the environment, but this research tool was dismissed for the study.

JANETTE D. SHERMAN, M.D.
Alexandria, Va., Aug. 14, 2002
The writer is an internist and toxicologist.

A visit with Dr. Janette Sherman's new book, Life's Delicate Balance: A Guide to Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer
“A well informed academic recently expressed disbelief that there were established causes of cancer beyond diet and exercise! Should said professor read Life's Delicate Balance by Dr. Janette Sherman, his ignorance would be quickly dispelled. Considering that 'traditional' risk factors account for no more than 30% of breast cancers how do we explain the causes of the other 70%? It is always more convenient to 'blame the cancer victim' while obscuring the effects of pollution from radiation, carcinogens and unregulated drugs in our air, food and water.”
Read the full review by Lanie Melamed, Breast Cancer Action Montreal, www.bcam.qc.ca/news/balance.htm

Radio Interview

April 15, 2002—Janette Sherman was interviewd by Lynn Landes, host of It's Your Environment, WDVR FM Sergeantsville, New Jersey. www.ecotalk.org/WDVR.htm

Thursday, March 7, 2002, Letters to the Editor, The Washington Post, Page A20

In regard to the Feb. 22 front-page article about mammograms:
First, a mammogram does not prevent cancer; it can only find an existing cancer.

Second, safer methods of diagnosis (without X-rays) are available, including thorough physical examinations, ultrasound, MRI and thermography. The last takes a heat picture showing the physiological function breast tissue. Thermography is available in France, Australia and some centers in the United States. Given that every mammogram, indeed every X-ray procedure, carries an increased risk of causing cancer, development of this safe, non-radiation technique should be a priority.

Finally, a comprehensive cancer prevention program must be demanded by the public. We should call for a stop to the release of known carcinogens such as pesticides and hormonally active agents into our environment and food supply. We should curtail the use of X-rays, except when absolutely necessary. And we should demand an end to the release of radioactive materials from nuclear power plants and weapons development.

This year alone, 40,000 women will die from breast cancer. It is only when the public demands change that we can prevent this epidemic of cancer.

JANETTE D. SHERMAN, MD
Alexandria, Virginia

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

February 28, 2002, Letters to the Editor, The Hartford Courant

In "The Buck Stops With Mr. Bush" [editorial, Feb. 25], The Courant pointed out that it has taken more than 20 years of exhaustive scientific studies and billions of dollars to assess the safety of Yucca Mountain. If this mountain does indeed become the eternal graveyard of our radioactive wastes, then let that be all. Common sense now says that we should greatly reduce our use of radioactive materials, as in: Just say no to nuclear power.

We would save much money in terms of scientific studies, security funding in the modern age of terrorism, court cases and attorney fees related to fighting where the waste belongs, loss of tax-based revenue from real estate devalued because of waste, transportation costs and the number of lives and medical costs saved regarding cancers and other illnesses caused by ionizing radiation. Consider the insurance premiums our government will save.

We can't control naturally occurring ionizing radiation, but we can stop that which is manmade. Our world is polluted enough.

Agnes M. Reynolds
Wethersfield