Volume 7, Number 2
May 5, 2007
Published by RPHP
PO Box 60 Unionville, NY 10988
Editor: Joseph Mangano
http://www.radiation.org
A note from the Editor: The following
covers the activities of RPHP from January through April, 2007
RPHP Receives
Grant from The Educational Foundation of America
The Educational Foundation of America has announced a $40,000,
one-year grant to RPHP. The funds will go to support activities to educate
the public and leaders in New Jersey about health risks of extending
the license of the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor for 20 years. RPHP has
additionally secured funding from the Louis and Harold Price Foundation
for this project.
Two More Newspaper
Editorials Published
Editorials describing the public health risk of keeping aging
reactors operating and building new reactors have been published in
two newspapers. The March 27 Toledo
Blade and the March 28 Providence
Journal published the op-ed pieces, bringing the total
number of editorials published in 2006-2007 to 14.
RPHP Takes
Part in Baltimore Press Conference
On March 6, RPHPs Joseph Mangano joined the Maryland Public Interest
Research Group and Sierra Club at a press conference in Baltimore.
The event was held to inform the public
of potential hazards of building new reactors in Maryland (the Southern
Company has suggested it will build the largest reactor in the U.S.
at the Calvert Cliffs plant in southeastern Maryland).
Maryland PIRG issued a new report explaining
the environmental, financial, and health effects of adding another reactor
to the Calvert Cliffs nuclear complex. Sierra Club spokesperson Cathy
Garger spoke of the potential immense adverse impact to the entire Chesapeake
Bay environment. RPHP's Joseph Mangano discussed the detrimental health
effects that the proposed new reactor would have.
The press coverage was excellent, including
articles in The Baltimore Sun and The
Washington Post. The story was also carried in The
Baltimore Daily Record and on Fox-45 TV
in Baltimore and University of Maryland TV.
Click
here to read the story in The Washington Post.
Click
here to read the story in The Baltimore Sun.
Click
here to read the Maryland Public Interest Research Group report The
High Cost of Nuclear Power: Why Maryland Can't Afford a New Reactor.
Thyroid Cancer
Report Receives Coverage
The Allentown (PA) Morning Call published
a lengthy article on the RPHP analysis of thyroid cancer incidence in
the state of Pennsylvania. In its March 11 edition, the newspaper described
the RPHP finding that virtually all counties with the highest rates
of thyroid cancer lie just east (downwind) of nuclear plants in eastern
Pennsylvania – which has the highest thyroid cancer rate of any
U.S. state.
Click
here to read an abstract of the article.
Alec Baldwin
Was the Featured Speaker at RPHP's Annual Meeting
Alec Baldwin gave the keynote speech at RPHP's annual meeting held in
New York City on April 17. He gave his unqualified support and thanks
to RPHP for its excellent work in demonstrating that nuclear power is
a dangerous and misguided method of producing energy, not a clean method,
as now claimed by those attempting to revitalize the nuclear industry.
Moreover, he applauded the organization and its colleagues for emphasizing
not only the adverse aspects of nuclear power, but also the advantages
of truly clean energy, and suggested that such efforts must be redoubled,
calling upon RPHP to educate the public and the nation’s leaders
about the importance of basing our energy future on clean sources.
Reports on
Salem/Hope Creek and South Carolina
RPHP has prepared reports on health status near nuclear reactors, and
submitted them to citizens groups in New Jersey and South Carolina.
The UNPLUG Salem group has long advocated against the Salem-Hope Creek
plant (with three reactors) in southern New Jersey. The Sierra Club
of South Carolina has been active in opposing plans to build new reactors
in that state. Both groups plan to release the data at a later date.
To contact RPHP please email Joseph Mangano
at odiejoe@aol.com.
