Radiation effect on general health

[Jhanananda]

In search of measurements made of radioactive contamination of the water in Prescott, AZ I found the following quote in the 2015 Prescott Water Quality Report.pdf:

Radon is a gas that has no color, odor, or taste and comes from the natural radioactive breakdown of uranium in the ground. Radon is only a concern if your drinking water comes from underground, such as a well that pumps water from an aquifer, though not all water from underground sources contains radon. Although there is currently no federally-enforced drinking water standard for Radon, the City of Prescott does monitor Radio Chemicals: Gross Alpha and Combined Radium (See Page 5) and surpasses mandatory health levels established by the EPA and ADEQ. For  more  information on Radon: EPA Drinking Water Contaminants – Standards and Regulations

The EPA Drinking Water Contaminants – Standards and Regulations state:

Radionuclides
Contaminant / MCL or TT1 (mg/L)2 / Potential Health Effects from Long-Term Exposure Above the MCL /
Alpha particles / 15 picocuries per Liter (pCi/L) / Increased risk of cancer
Beta particles and photon emitters / 4 millirems per year / Increased risk of cancer
Radium 226 and Radium 228 (combined) / 5 pCi/L / Increased risk of cancer
Uranium / 30 ug/L / Increased risk of cancer, kidney toxicity

According to a graph in the 2015 Prescott Water Quality Report.pdf report the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) was 8.2-11.1 +/- 1.3 - 2.0 pCi/L (Picocuries per liter), which means the levels of Radionuclides in Prescott water is .4-2.2 times above the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations standards for Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL).  Since, there seems to be no recognition of harm due to long term exposure from Radionuclides other than cancer, then if there is indeed an unrecognized, but meaningful, inflammatory level, then it is likely to be at or below this level.

I found this page useful as well, EPA Occurrence Data for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule

[Jhanananda]

I have been sick since Sunday, with allergies, joint pain, and my blood sugar mysteriously rose about 50 above normal.  It was coincident with the movement of a storm through my region, beginning just before the storm struck, and continuing well after it left.

I was in so much bone-pain last night that I almost checked into the local emergency room.  Fortunately I feel much better now, and all of my symptoms are in significant decline.

When I found that just switching to drinking bottled water lowered my blood sugar 100 points I started to research the effect of radionuclides in the water of the nation and its effect upon our health.  The more I look into this, the more I am convinced that the decline of the health of US Americans since 1940 is primarily due to the extensive consumption of ground water, which is known to be contaminated with radionuclides significantly above background. 

Another significant factor in the exposure of US Americans since 1940 to radionuclides is due to the US research into nuclear power since 1940.  It is a fact the USA bombed the USA more than any nation in the world through above ground, and below ground testing of nuclear devices; and the USA is responsible for about 1000 such events, which is far higher than any other nation.

As a product of my research I am willing to consider that many of my health issues might be directly caused by exposure to radionuclides above background.  If that is the case, then this may very well be true for a significant percentage of the US population.

Where those radionuclides above background may have come from in relation to this recent storm, is it is a known fact that storms carry a cloud of dust and pollen in front of them.  This cloud of dust and pollen in front of a storm has been well recognized as a cause for health events.  What has not been reported is there might just be a rise of radionuclides above background in this cloud of dust that is in front of a storm.

Radionuclide
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is an atom that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can either create and emit, from the nucleus, new radiation (gamma radiation) or a new particle (alpha particle or beta particle), or transfer this excess energy to one of its electrons, causing it to be ejected (conversion electron). During this process, the radionuclide is said to undergo radioactive decay.[1] These emissions constitute ionizing radiation. The unstable nucleus is more stable following the emission, but sometimes will undergo further decay. Radioactive decay is a random process at the level of single atoms: it is impossible to predict when one particular atom will decay.[2][3][4][5] However, for a collection of atoms of a single element the decay rate, and thus the half-life (t1/2) for that collection can be calculated from their measured decay constants. The duration of the half-lives of radioactive atoms have no known limits; the time range is over 55 orders of magnitude.

Radionuclides both occur naturally and are artificially made using nuclear reactors, cyclotrons, particle accelerators or radionuclide generators. There are about 650 radionuclides with half-lives longer than 60 minutes (see list of nuclides). Of these, 34 are primordial radionuclides that existed before the creation of the solar system, and there are another 50 radionuclides detectable in nature as daughters of these, or produced naturally on Earth by cosmic radiation. More than 2400 radionuclides have half-lives less than 60 minutes. Most of these are only produced artificially, and have very short half-lives. For comparison, there are about 254 stable nuclides.

All chemical elements have radionuclides. Even the lightest element, hydrogen, has a well-known radionuclide, tritium. Elements heavier than lead, and the elements technetium and promethium, exist only as radionuclides.

[Jhanananda]

Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a collection of health effects which present within 24 hours of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation. The radiation causes cellular degradation due to damage to DNA and other key molecular structures within the cells in various tissues; this destruction, particularly as it affects ability of cells to divide normally, in turn causes the symptoms. The symptoms can begin within one or two hours and may last for several months.[1][2] The terms refer to acute medical problems rather than ones that develop after a prolonged period.[3][4][5]

The onset and type of symptoms depends on the radiation exposure. Relatively smaller doses result in gastrointestinal effects, such as nausea and vomiting, and symptoms related to falling blood counts, and predisposition to infection and bleeding. Relatively larger doses can result in neurological effects and rapid death. Treatment of acute radiation syndrome is generally supportive with blood transfusions and antibiotics, with some more aggressive treatments, such as bone marrow transfusions, being required in extreme cases.[1]

Similar symptoms may appear months to years after exposure as chronic radiation syndrome when the dose rate is too low to cause the acute form.[6] Radiation exposure can also increase the probability of developing some other diseases, mainly different types of cancers. These diseases are sometimes referred to as radiation sickness, but they are never included in the term acute radiation syndrome.

Pathophysiology

The most commonly used predictor of acute radiation symptoms is the whole-body absorbed dose. Several related quantities, such as the equivalent dose, effective dose, and committed dose, are used to gauge long-term stochastic biological effects such as cancer incidence, but they are not designed to evaluate acute radiation syndrome.[18] To help avoid confusion between these quantities, absorbed dose is measured in units of grays (in SI, unit symbol Gy) or rads (in CGS), while the others are measured in sieverts (in SI, unit symbol Sv) or rems (in CGS). 1 rad = 0.01 Gy and 1 rem = 0.01 Sv.[19]

In most of the acute exposure scenarios that lead to radiation sickness, the bulk of the radiation is external whole-body gamma, in which case the absorbed, equivalent and effective doses are all equal. There are exceptions, such as the Therac-25 accidents and the 1958 Cecil Kelley criticality accident, where the absorbed doses in Gy or rad are the only useful quantities.

Radiotherapy treatments are typically prescribed in terms of the local absorbed dose, which might be 60 Gy or higher. The dose is fractionated (about 2 Gy per day for curative treatment), which allows for the normal tissues to undergo repair, allowing it to tolerate a higher dose than would otherwise be expected. The dose to the targeted tissue mass must be averaged over the entire body mass, most of which receives negligible radiation, to arrive at a whole-body absorbed dose that can be compared to the table above.

History

Acute effects of ionizing radiation were first observed when Wilhelm Röntgen intentionally subjected his fingers to X-rays in 1895. He published his observations concerning the burns that developed, though he misattributed them to ozone, a free radical produced in air by X-rays. Other free radicals produced within the body are now understood to be more important. His injuries healed later.

The Radium Girls where female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the United States Radium factory in Orange, New Jersey, around 1917.

Ingestion of radioactive materials caused many radiation-induced cancers in the 1930s, but no one was exposed to high enough doses at high enough rates to bring on acute radiation syndrome. Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia caused by radiation, a possible early incident of acute radiation syndrome.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in high acute doses of radiation to a large number of Japanese, allowing for greater insight into its symptoms and dangers. Red Cross Hospital Surgeon, Terufumi Sasaki led intensive research into the syndrome in the weeks and months following the Hiroshima bombings. Dr Sasaki and his team were able to monitor the effects of radiation in patients of varying proximities to the blast itself, leading to the establishment of three recorded stages of the syndrome. Within 25–30 days of the explosion, the Red Cross surgeon noticed a sharp drop in white blood cell count and established this drop, along with symptoms of fever, as prognostic standards for Acute Radiation Syndrome.[26] Actress Midori Naka, who was present during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, was the first incident of radiation poisoning to be extensively studied. Her death on August 24, 1945 was the first death ever to be officially certified as a result of acute radiation syndrome (or "Atomic bomb disease").

Chronic radiation syndrome is a constellation of health effects that occur after months or years of chronic exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation. Chronic radiation syndrome develops with a speed and severity proportional to the radiation dose received, i.e., it is a deterministic effect of radiation exposure, unlike radiation-induced cancer. It is distinct from acute radiation syndrome in that it occurs at dose rates low enough to permit natural repair mechanisms to compete with the radiation damage during the exposure period. Dose rates high enough to cause the acute form (> ~0.1 Gy/h) are fatal long before onset of the chronic form. The lower threshold for chronic radiation syndrome is between 0.7 and 1.5 Gy, at dose rates above 0.1 Gy/yr.[1] This condition is primarily known from the Kyshtym disaster, where 66 cases were diagnosed, and has received little mention in Western literature.[1] A future ICRP publication, currently in draft, may recognize the condition but with higher thresholds.

The Kyshtym disaster was a radiological contamination accident that occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a plutonium production site for nuclear weapons and nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Soviet Union. It measured as a Level 6 disaster on the International Nuclear Event Scale,[1] making it the third most serious nuclear accident ever recorded, behind the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the Chernobyl disaster (both Level 7 on the INES). The event occurred in the town of Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, a closed city built around the Mayak plant. Since Ozyorsk/Mayak (also known as Chelyabinsk-40 and Chelyabinsk-65) was not marked on maps, the disaster was named after Kyshtym, the nearest known town.

Background
After World War II, the Soviet Union lagged behind the US in development of nuclear weapons, so it started a rapid research and development program to produce a sufficient amount of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. The Mayak plant was built in haste between 1945 and 1948. Gaps in Soviet physicists' knowledge about nuclear physics at the time made it difficult to judge the safety of many decisions. Environmental concerns were not taken seriously during the early development stage. All six reactors were on Lake Kyzyltash and used an open cycle cooling system, discharging contaminated water directly back into the lake.[2] Initially Mayak was dumping high-level radioactive waste into a nearby river, which was taking waste to the river Ob, flowing further down to the Arctic Ocean. Later Lake Karachay was used for open-air storage.[3]

A storage facility for liquid nuclear waste was added around 1953. It consisted of steel tanks mounted in a concrete base, 8.2 meters underground. Because of the high level of radioactivity, the waste was heating itself through decay heat (though a chain reaction was not possible). For that reason, a cooler was built around each bank containing 20 tanks. Facilities for monitoring operation of the coolers and the content of the tanks were inadequate.[4]
Explosion

On 29 September 1957, the cooling system in one of the tanks containing about 70–80 tons of liquid radioactive waste failed and was not repaired. The temperature in it started to rise, resulting in evaporation and a chemical explosion of the dried waste, consisting mainly of ammonium nitrate and acetates (see ammonium nitrate bomb). The explosion, estimated to have a force of about 70–100 tons of TNT,[citation needed] threw the 160-ton concrete lid into the air.[4] There were no immediate casualties as a result of the explosion, but it released an estimated 20 MCi (800 PBq) of radioactivity. Most of this contamination settled out near the site of the accident and contributed to the pollution of the Techa River, but a plume containing 2 MCi (80 PBq) of radionuclides spread out over hundreds of kilometers.[5] Previously contaminated areas within the affected area include the Techa river which had previously received 2.75 MCi (100 PBq) of deliberately dumped waste, and Lake Karachay which had received 120 MCi (4,000 PBq).[3]

In the next 10 to 11 hours, the radioactive cloud moved towards the north-east, reaching 300–350 kilometers from the accident. The fallout of the cloud resulted in a long-term contamination of an area of more than 800 to 20,000 square kilometers (depending on what contamination level is considered significant), primarily with caesium-137 and strontium-90.[3] This area is usually referred to as the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT).[6]

Aftermath
Because of the secrecy surrounding Mayak, the populations of affected areas were not initially informed of the accident. A week later (on 6 October) an operation for evacuating 10,000 people from the affected area started, still without giving an explanation of the reasons for evacuation.

Although vague reports of a "catastrophic accident" causing "radioactive fallout over the Soviet and many neighboring states" began appearing in the western press between 13 and 14 April 1958, it was only in 1976 that Zhores Medvedev made the nature and extent of the disaster known to the world.[8][9][10] In the absence of verifiable information, exaggerated accounts of the disaster were given. People "grew hysterical with fear with the incidence of unknown 'mysterious' diseases breaking out. Victims were seen with skin 'sloughing off' their faces, hands and other exposed parts of their bodies."[11] Medvedev's description of the disaster in the New Scientist was initially derided by western nuclear industry sources, but the core of his story was soon confirmed by Professor Leo Tumerman, former head of the Biophysics Laboratory at the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow.[12]

The true number of fatalities remains uncertain because radiation-induced cancer is clinically indistinguishable from any other cancer, and its incidence rate can only be measured through epidemiological studies. One book claims that "in 1992, a study conducted by the Institute of Biophysics at the former Soviet Health Ministry in Chelyabinsk found that 8,015 people had died within the preceding 32 years as a result of the accident."[2] By contrast, only 6,000 death certificates have been found for residents of the Tech riverside between 1950 and 1982 from all causes of death,[13] though perhaps the Soviet study considered a larger geographic area affected by the airborne plume. The most commonly quoted estimate is 200 deaths due to cancer, but the origin of this number is not clear. More recent epidemiological studies suggest that around 49 to 55 cancer deaths among riverside residents can be associated to radiation exposure.[13] This would include the effects of all radioactive releases into the river, 98% of which happened long before the 1957 accident, but it would not include the effects of the airborne plume that was carried north-east.[14] The area closest to the accident produced 66 diagnosed cases of chronic radiation syndrome, providing the bulk of the data about this condition.[15]

To reduce the spread of radioactive contamination after the accident, contaminated soil was excavated and stockpiled in fenced enclosures that were called "graveyards of the earth".[16] The Soviet government in 1968 disguised the EURT area by creating the East-Ural Nature Reserve, which prohibited any unauthorised access to the affected area.

According to Gyorgy,[17] who invoked the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the relevant Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) files, the CIA knew of the 1957 Mayak accident since 1959, but kept it secret to prevent adverse consequences for the fledgling American nuclear industry.[18] Starting in 1989 the Soviet government gradually declassified documents pertaining to the disaster.

[Jhanananda]

Biological effects of ionizing radiation
In general, ionizing radiation is harmful and potentially lethal to living beings but can have health benefits in radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer and thyrotoxicosis.

Most adverse health effects of radiation exposure may be grouped in two general categories:

    deterministic effects (harmful tissue reactions) due in large part to the killing/ malfunction of cells following high doses; and
    stochastic effects, i.e., cancer and heritable effects involving either cancer development in exposed individuals owing to mutation of somatic cells or heritable disease in their offspring owing to mutation of reproductive (germ) cells.[18]

Its most common impact is the stochastic induction of cancer with a latent period of years or decades after exposure. The mechanism by which this occurs is well understood, but quantitative models predicting the level of risk remain controversial. The most widely accepted model posits that the incidence of cancers due to ionizing radiation increases linearly with effective radiation dose at a rate of 5.5% per sievert.[19] If this linear model is correct, then natural background radiation is the most hazardous source of radiation to general public health, followed by medical imaging as a close second. Other stochastic effects of ionizing radiation are teratogenesis, cognitive decline, and heart disease.

High radiation dose gives rise to deterministic effects which reliably occur above a threshold, and their severity increases with dose. Deterministic effects are not necessarily more or less serious than stochastic effects; either can ultimately lead to a temporary nuisance or a fatality. Examples are: radiation burns, and/or rapid fatality through acute radiation syndrome, chronic radiation syndrome, and radiation-induced thyroiditis.

Beneficially, controlled doses are used for medical imaging and radiotherapy, and some scientists suspect that low doses may have a mild hormetic effect that can improve health,[20] but the US National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation Committee "has concluded that there is no compelling evidence to indicate a dose threshold below which the risk of tumor induction is zero"[21]

When alpha particle emitting isotopes are ingested, they are far more dangerous than their half-life or decay rate would suggest. This is due to the high relative biological effectiveness of alpha radiation to cause biological damage after alpha-emitting radioisotopes enter living cells. Ingested alpha emitter radioisotopes such as transuranics or actinides are an average of about 20 times more dangerous, and in some experiments up to 1000 times more dangerous than an equivalent activity of beta emitting or gamma emitting radioisotopes.

The human body cannot sense ionizing radiation except in very high doses, but the effects of ionization can be used to characterize the radiation. Parameters of interest include disintegration rate, particle flux, particle type, beam energy, kerma, dose rate, and radiation dose.

If the radiation type is not known then it can be determined by differential measurements in the presence of electrical fields, magnetic fields, or varying amounts of shielding.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection manages the International System of Radiological Protection, which sets recommended limits for dose uptake. Dose values may represent absorbed, equivalent, effective, or committed dose. The monitoring and calculation of doses to safeguard human health is called dosimetry and is undertaken within the science of health physics. Key measurement tools are the use of dosimeters to give the external effective dose uptake and the use of bio-assay for ingested dose. The article on the sievert summarises the recommendations of the ICRU and ICRP on the use of dose quantities and includes a guide to the effects of ionizing radiation as measured in sieverts, and gives examples of approximate figures of dose uptake in certain situations.

The committed dose is a measure of the stochastic health risk due to an intake of radioactive material into the human body. The ICRP states "For internal exposure, committed effective doses are generally determined from an assessment of the intakes of radionuclides from bioassay measurements or other quantities. The radiation dose is determined from the intake using recommended dose coefficients".[22]

Background radiation
Main article: Background radiation

Background radiation comes from both natural and man-made sources.

The global average exposure of humans to ionizing radiation is about 3 mSv (0.3 rem) per year, 80% of which comes from nature. The remaining 20% results from exposure to man-made radiation sources, primarily from medical imaging. Average man-made exposure is much higher in developed countries, mostly due to CT scans and nuclear medicine.

Natural background radiation comes from five primary sources: cosmic radiation, solar radiation, external terrestrial sources, radiation in the human body, and radon.

The background rate for natural radiation varies considerably with location, being as low as 1.5 mSv/a (1.5 mSv per year) in some areas and over 100 mSv/a in others. The highest level of purely natural radiation recorded on the Earth's surface is 90 µGy/h (0.8 Gy/a) on a Brazilian black beach composed of monazite.[24] The highest background radiation in an inhabited area is found in Ramsar, primarily due to naturally radioactive limestone used as a building material. Some 2000 of the most exposed residents receive an average radiation dose of 10 mGy per year, (1 rad/yr) ten times more than the ICRP recommended limit for exposure to the public from artificial sources.[25] Record levels were found in a house where the effective radiation dose due to external radiation was 135 mSv/a, (13.5 rem/yr) and the committed dose from radon was 640 mSv/a (64.0 rem/yr).[26] This unique case is over 200 times higher than the world average background radiation.

[Jhanananda]

Radon
Isotopes
Radon has no stable isotopes. Thirty-six radioactive isotopes have been characterized, with atomic masses ranging from 193 to 228.[25] The most stable isotope is 222Rn, which is a decay product of 226Ra, a decay product of 238U.[26] A trace amount of the (highly unstable) isotope 218Rn is also among the daughters of 222Rn.

Three other radon isotopes have a half-life of over an hour: 211Rn, 210Rn and 224Rn. The 220Rn isotope is a natural decay product of the most stable thorium isotope (232Th), and is commonly referred to as thoron. It has a half-life of 55.6 seconds and also emits alpha radiation. Similarly, 219Rn is derived from the most stable isotope of actinium (227Ac)—named "actinon"—and is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 3.96 seconds.[25] No radon isotopes occur significantly in the neptunium (237Np) decay series, though a trace amount of the (extremely unstable) isotope 217Rn is produced.

222Rn, 3.8 days, alpha decaying...

[Jhanananda]

Recently a friend sent me a letter stating that low testosterone levels in men may be implicated in joint pain.  So, I will look into testosterone and arthritis, to see if there is something that I can do for my joint pain in addition to whatever else I am doing.

My arthritis pain was quite low until we had a recent series of solar storms.  It seems that blood sugar and joint pain rise as the planetary K index declines following a solar storm, if that makes any sense at all.

My blood sugar continues to be 100 points down from where it had been before I started drinking distilled water around Christmas.  However, it tends to be 50 points above normal.  And, oddly there are days when I will get 1-2 normal readings with a mid-day high of about 150, on a good day.

It turns out that Prescott has both radon and arsenic in its water, so it might be one or the other, or both, at work in raising my blood sugar and increasing joint pain.  I have also noticed that high blood sugar tends to increase joint pain.  But, I am definitely convinced that water quality is a component in my blood sugar, and possibly my joint pain.  So, I am sticking with drinking and cooking with distilled water, and not ever consuming food or drinks that I am not sure has been at least very well filtered.

There is still an odd fluctuation in my blood sugar and joint pain that does not correlate with either consuming contaminated water, or space weather.  However, I have noticed that there is a correlation between blood sugar and joint pain and allergy symptoms.  So, there might be some causal agent at work for all 3; or allergic reactions to local pollen might cause rises in blood sugar and joint pain.  Prescott is surrounded by juniper trees, which are notorious for causing “juniper fever,” a well documented regional allergy event that is not unlike hey fever.

I do still plan to monitor ambient levels of radiation and my health.  It is possible that there are local rises of radon on calm days in low areas, which could cause a rise in blood sugar and joint pain.

I also noticed that there is a consistent rise in blood sugar and joint pain about 24 hours before a storm hits here. It is possible that the rise in blood sugar and joint pain is due to the dust cloud that tends to ride in front of a storm, which typically will have dust, spores and pollen in it. 

I have an hypothesis that there might be radioactive particles in that dust cloud that actually cause the increase in inflammation that results in a percentage of the population that reacts to that dust cloud, and manifests allergies, colds, and/or flues.

Locally I met a man who is about my age and has been a programmer for about as long as I have worked in computers and electronics, and he is very interested in Arduino and Raspberry Pi programming.  So, we have been working together to get my Arduino 8 channel thermocouple multiplexer running, which then will become an 8 channel temperature controller and data-logger to support some of my research goals.

After that, we plan to conquer combining a GPS with a Geiger counter, which will be logged by either/or an Arduino and/or Raspberry Pi so that location and radiation sources can either be ruled out, or confirmed as causal to health variation.

Lack of funding is the primary obstacle in making progress on those projects, but I am determined that progress will be made on these projects, even if I have to panhandle to fund them.