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Battalion/Page 9
November 8, 1982
K!
by Irene Mee
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[ii of reject™
A-bomb tests didn’t cause
cancer, government says
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itty bitty con iii
with.
vicki ann keydron
United Press International
SALT LAKE CITY — A $(>
1 million Energy Department
study assessing radiation from
I nuclear fallout has determined
exposure levels to the organs of
i certain cancer victims were not
enough to cause cancer.
The victims were cited in a
massive lawsuit against the gov-
! erment.
j That is the latest piece to the
; puzzle Justice Department
(attorneys are attempting to
iassemble to show U.S. District
1 Judge Bruce S. Jenkins the gov
ernment did not disregard the
i safety of downwinders when it
'conducted the Nevada atomic
bomb tests in the 1950s and ear
ly '60s.
Dr. Lynn R. Anspaugh, a
! biophysicist at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory,
testified on behalf of the govern-
. ment Friday as the federal trial
ended its eighth week.
He said his analyses from
computer-simulated data show
doses to the most critical organs
of the 24 cancer victims cited in
the multi-million dollar lawsuit
ranged from 310 rads to 0.28
rads.
But that’s the total dosage re
ceived over the entire 1 1-year
atomic bomb test program, so
the yearly average for the high
est dose would be only 3.1 rads,
defense attorneys contend.
Smog tied
to cancer
of breast
United Press International
BERKELEY, Calif. — Breast
cancer may be linked to auto ex
haust and smokestack emissions,
researchers at the University of
California at Berkeley say.
Researchers have obtained
the first experimental evidence
linking benzopyrene, a hydro
carbon combustion byproduct,
with breast cancer, laboratory
officials said.
The findings were reported
in a recent issue of the J ou rnal of
Cellular Biochemistry.
“Benzopyrene is the most
common chemical carcinogen in
the environment resulting from
the burning of fossil fuels,” said
Jack Bartley, one of the two
biomedical scientists who con
ducted the research.
“It may be found in automo
tive exhaust as well as in emis
sions from industrial smokes
tacks, and mammary cells are
well-supplied with enzymes
which act on this substance,” he
said.
By exposing living breast cells
developed in the laboratory to
benzopyrene, the scientists iden-
tifed the cellular processes by
which a chemical is converted
into its cancer-causing form.
Some of the benzopyrene was
metabolized by the cells and
transformed into a biochemical
derivative that reacts with DNA,
the carrier of the genetic code.
“This reaction has been sug
gested as a crucial event in the
initiation of cancer in a cell,”
Bartley said.
Studies in underdeveloped
countries where the incidence of
smog is much lower have shown
a lower rate of cancer occurr
ence.
Bartley also noted individual
county studies in the United
States indicate women in urban
rareasare more likely to develop
[cancer than those living in rural
[areas.
r
r
K
Now
you know
United Press International
'By the time a rye plant is 2 feet
tall, it has 14 million roots and 14’
billion root hairs. These struc
tures contact 6,800 square feet
of soil — over three time the
area of a singles tennis court.
Earlier in the week, several
pathologists testified it would
generally take more than 50
rads received during a short
period of time to initiate the
chain of events in a cell that
eventually leads to cancer.
And if the doses are received
in small amounts over a long
period of time, the normal cell
generally has a chance to repair
itself from the initial damage be
fore the next exposure.
Other testimony for the gov
ernment noted the Atomic
Energy Commission deter
mined during the test period
that 3.9 rads per year was the
maximum exposure it could
allow from the explosions at the
Nevada test site.
Expert witnesses presented
by the plaintiffs testified that the
most damaging kind of expo
sure occurs from ingesting
radioactive particles through
food and air.
So Anspaugh described how
he calculated the internal expo
sures each cancer victim re
ceived through inhalation or
ingestion.
Earlier witnesses who are par
ticipating in the study — which is
becoming a cornerstone of the
government’s case — testified
the data showed northern Utah
actually received more fallout
than southern Utah, and moni
tors measuring the external
radiation indicated negligible
dose levels.
Anspaugh took those exter
nal measurements and then cal
culated the amount humans
would ingest or inhale to reach
his internal dose level.
Then he added the internal
exposures to external gamma
ray exposures computed by
other participants in the study.
Because individual human
organs react differently to radia
tion exposure, Anspaugh said
he chose a critical organ most
related to the type of cancer suf
fered for his study of each
victim.
I
after the presentation there will be an
off campus party featuring the movie
casino royale.
she will speak on researching the
background of imaginary worlds, she
will also read an exerpt from the
bronze of eddartha, the third novel in
the gandalara series.
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