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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1963)
4 C THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 19K3 MEDFORD .MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON Nuclear Fallout In Food Is Daily Fear to Eskimos Fancy Mid West Porkers PICNIC STYLE PORK il By THOMAS M. BROWN Iniltii Press International ANCHORAGE, Alaska (UPI) Nuclear fallout is becoming a daily menace for a small group of Americans who live on the country's northern frontier. They are Eskimos who de pend for food on the herds of caribou and reindeer that roam the Alaskan tundra where fall out from Russian Arctic blasts is threatening man and animals alike with an overdose of radiation. Despite the ban on further nu clear tests, the Eskimos' crisis remains because their food con tinues to be tainted by residue left in the air by previous atmospheric tests. The caribou and reindeer are becoming in creasingly radioactive and in creasingly dangerous to eat. Dr. H. M. Parker, manager of the Atomic Energy commis sion's Hanford Laboratories in Washington state, testified be fore the joint - congressional that if he lived on the tundra, he "would begin to look around to see how reasonable it would he to substitute other kinds of food" for those tainted animals. Alaskans Worry He and Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Atomic Energy commission chairman, say the situation Is not serious enough to require immediate countermcas u r e s. But the Alaskans are worried. And Parker admits that "this is not to say that in the long term it would not be danger ous." The problem was explained this way by Parker: Lichens, a form of moss, which grows on the tundra, act as a sort of land-grown sponge, soaking up unusually high amounts of Cesium 137, a radio active by - product of nuclear blasts. Caribou and reindeer eat the lichens, and in turn become tainted with radioactivity. Cesium 137 is in some ways similar to phosphorus, and when it enters the body, it lodges in Ihp muscles. Scientists believe that in large doses it may pre sent a genelic hazard, possibly causinl sterility or mutations in future generations. But. the scientists aren't sure just how much it will take to he dangerous. An unoffic 1 a 1 committee of scientists, the In ternational Committee on Radi ation Protection, thinks 300 nannruries of Cesium should be the average permissible for groups and 1,000 nanocurics should be the limit for an indi vidual. Rudiatinn in Eskimos Many Eskimos have already more radiation than that in their bodies. Parker said in testimony that 700 Eskimos in seven villages were examined by Hanford scientists, who used a portable radiation counter to determine how much radiation they had absorbed. In the little village of Anak tuvik Pass, population about 70, the average adult had absorbed 4S0 nanocuries of Cesium 137. One man had 790 nanocuries. nd Parker told the subcom mittee he thought it "very like ly" that radiation in some Eski mos would rise to 1,0(10 to 1,200 ' nanocuries this year. j He said, though, that he thought there was no immediate j danger since some workers in atomic plants are permitted to ; absorb up to 30,000 nanocurics of Cesium 137 30 times the acceptable maximum. A nano-: curie is one billionth of a curie, and a curie is equal to the radi-1 alion from one gram of radium. Often, Eskimos who eat caribou meal have ion times as much Cesium 137 in their bodies as other Alaskans or persons who live in other stales. Eskimos Petition The Eskimos are worried about it. Some have petitioned the federal government to move them to a place where they can depend on something besides radioactive animals (or food. Gov. William Egan is wor ried too. Originally, he asked the AEC and the federal gov ernment to conduct further studies and to look into the pos sibilities of providing Eskimos with a substitute food. Seaborg assured Egan such a drastic step was not yet necessary, but the governor still is concerned, search facilities in Alaska to keep tabs on the problem. Egan said the state lacks the cash and the personnel to do the job and said that as things stand now, the federal govern ment will have to set up the re search facilities If It's going to be done at all. Scientists believe all nuclear tests in the atmospherp hut particularly Russian Arctic blasts are responsible for the Eskimos overdose of radiation. Jf a nartial nuclear lest ban Irpatv were observed by all signers, it would assure that no more radioactive junk is dump ed into the atmosphere. But much of the Eskimos' problem si til would remain. Cesium 137, unlike some other nuclear by products, is long lived. 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