POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS

Transcription

1 POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS July 24, 2018 By: Marjenah Issapour

2 WATER QUALITY REPORTS Have you looked at your water report? Do you know how to get your drinking water report? How do you know if your tap water is radioactive? Do you know what the numbers and symbols in your report mean? Do you know what levels are dangerous to your health? Do you know how to protect yourself and loved ones?

3 IS YOUR TAP WATER RADIOACTIVE? Most water companies only report results for Radium-226, Radium228 and Uranium, as required by law. However, there are many radioactive decay products of these elements that are not sampled or analyzed for by water districts. Radioactive isotopes will keep decaying into their daughter isotopes until the full sample of radioactive material has decayed into a stable isotope. Therefore, if one of the daughters are present, the parent isotope is also most likely present.

4 CONFLICTING DRINKING WATER STANDARDS The Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for radium-226 and radium 228 combined is 5 pci/l. The EPA sets MCLs based on minimizing health risks, while also considering the costs and abilities for public water systems to treat or remove contaminants. The EPA also set a limit for radiation dosage of 4 millirems per year from cooccurring radionuclides. A Rem is a joule of ionizing radiation per hundred kilograms of tissue. It represents a unit of absorbed radiation that measures how much damage a source of ionizing radiation can do to living tissue (internal and external). The damage can mean developing cancerous cells as a result of damage to DNA from the radiation. Drinking radiated water above 4 millirems can result in increased risk of cancer. EPA estimates one case of cancer for every million people within the 4 millirem limit.

5 CONFLICTING WATER QUALITY STANDARDS The MCL standard generally only considers the radiation dosage from one particular radioactive element. Whereas, the 4 millirem/yr standard considers the radiation dosage from a radioactive element AND all of its decay products in the aggregate. Many of these decay products, including water soluble Radon-222 & Radon-220 gases, are excluded from limits set in the Safe Drinking Water Act and NYS Health Code. The EPA Proposed MCL for Radon of 11.1 bq/l is equivalent to 300 pci/l. Therefore, a radium sample that does not show an exceedance of the 5 pci/l MCL standard could, and often does, exceed the 4 millirem radiation dosage standard.

6 ARE RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS HARMFUL? The degree of harm depends on the nature and extent of radiation with increased risk of cancer as consequence. Drinking water that has radionuclides in it puts you in contact with very low doses of radiation every day. You have a higher risk of getting cancer and several other health problems if you drink water with radionuclides in it every day for many years. Radionuclides with suitable properties are used in medicine for both diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases Example: Diagnostic Medical Imaging where a patient ingests a drug containing radioactivity. Then gamma detectors are able to make a detailed image of internal organs from the radiation that has been dispersed throughout the body. (

7 RISKS OF EXPOSURE TO RADON GAS Radon is a direct decay product of radium-226. Radon can accumulate to dangerous levels inside buildings and cannot be seen, smelt, or tasted. Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and the number one cause among non-smokers. EPA set a radon federal action standard of 4.0 pci/l of air. EPA suggests if 1,000 nonsmokers were exposed to radon at 4.0 pci/l, about 7 of them could get lung cancer. EPA and CDC recommend homes with radon levels 4 pci/l should be fixed. EPA also recommends that Americans consider fixing homes with radon levels between 2 pci/l and 4 pci/l.

8 IF YOUR CONCERNED ABOUT EXPOSURE TO RADIOACTIVITY, WHAT CAN YOU DO? Indoor Air Recommendations Radon Test Kits are sold at local retailers like Hope Depot or Lowes for approximately $ If radon levels are elevated, mitigation can be as simple as installing a fan or ventilating the rooms most often occupied. Drinking Water Recommendations Use a Zero Water Filter (to remove solids). Consider boiling or mixing (to remove Radon gases in the water) on your tap water. Drink bottled water but test for radionuclides before committing to a particular brand. To test for radionuclides, it may cost anywhere from $25.00 to several hundred dollars, depending on how many radionuclides you want analyzed. Speak to your legislators and congressmen/women, and all policy makers.