Plutonium from Sellafield in all children’s
teeth
By Antony Barnett
Nov. 30 — Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear
plant in Cumbria has led to children’s teeth across Britain being
contaminated with plutonium. The government has admitted for the first
time that Sellafield “is a source of plutonium contamination”
across the country. Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson has revealed
that a study funded by the Department of Health discovered that the
closer a child lived to Sellafield, the higher the levels of plutonium
found in their teeth.
Johnson said, “Analysis indicated that concentrations of plutonium...
decreased with increasing distance from the west Cumbrian coast and
its Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant -- suggesting this plant
is a source of plutonium contamination in the wider population.”
Johnson claimed the levels of plutonium are so minute that there is
no health risk to the public. But this is disputed by scientists, MPs
and environmental campaigners who have called for an immediate inquiry
into how one of the world’s most dangerous materials has been allowed
to continue to contaminate children’s teeth. There have long been
claims of clusters of childhood leukemia around Sellafield.
In the late 1990s, researchers collected more than 3,000 molars extracted
from young teenagers across the country during dental treatment and
analyzed them. To their surprise they found traces of plutonium in all
the teeth including those from children in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Alarmingly, they discovered that those living closer to Sellafield had
more than twice the amount of those living 140 miles away.
Plutonium is a man-made radioactive material and the only source of
it in Britain is from Sellafield. The plant, which reprocesses nuclear
fuel from reactors, still discharges plutonium into the Irish Sea. The
original research was carried out in 1997 by Professor Nick Priest who
was working for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. At the time the conclusions
of the research received little attention because the study concluded
that the contamination levels were so minuscule they were thought to
pose an “insignificant” health risk.
But earlier this year the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal
Emitters, looking at health risks posed by radioactive materials, examined
Priest’s study. Some of the committee’s members have now cast
doubt on the conclusions that plutonium in children’s teeth posed
no health risk. Professor Eric Wright, of Dundee University Medical
School, is one of the country’s leading experts on blood disorders
and a member of the committee. He believes that the tiny specks of plutonium
in children’s teeth caused by Sellafield radioactive pollution
might lead to some people falling ill with cancer.
He said, “There are genuine concerns that the risks from internal
emitters of radiation are more hazardous [than previously thought].
The real question is by how much. Is it two or three times more risky...
or more than a hundred?”
Wright believes that, while the plutonium contamination is unlikely
to pose a health risk to much of the British population, it might be
a problem for some individuals.
He said, “If somebody has a bad collection of genes which means
their body cannot deal with small levels of internal radioactive material,
then there could be an issue.”
Wright’s comments, coming on top of the admission from the Health
Minister, have led to calls for an independent inquiry. Liberal Democrat
environment spokesman Norman Baker said, “[This] stinks of a cover-up.
They have known for six years that Sellafield has contaminated the population
with plutonium but done nothing. Yet the plant continues to discharge
plutonium into the Irish Sea. It shows the wanton disregard the nuclear
industry has for public health and there needs to be an independent
inquiry.” Janine Allis-Smith of the campaign group Cumbrians Opposed
to a Radioactive Environment said, “There is no safe amount of
plutonium. The plant must be closed down immediately.”
However, Priest, who is now professor of environmental toxicology at
Middlesex University stands by his original conclusions. He said, “[The
plutonium in teeth] was at such low levels that it was toxicologically
insignificant. There really is nothing to worry about.”
A spokesman for BNFL, which runs Sellafield, said, “What is not
clear is whether the plutonium recorded in this study originated [from
Sellafield] or from nuclear weapons testing fall-out.”
Source: Observer (UK)
