TAKE ACTION! EPA radiation plan harms, not protects, children

EPA is poised to approve its Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for drinking water before Obama leaves office. EPA still has not released the limits for over 100 radionuclides the public might be exposed to through water, but they are increasing limits by thousands of times—more than was even proposed at the end of the Bush Administration.

The PAGs are supposed to protect the public from radiation exposure, but in reality they would allow exposure to radioactivity through food, ground shine, and now water, that would result in risks many times above EPA's risk goals, despite recent research showing very low doses could be harmful.

The total allowable radiation exposure would particularly impact sensitive women and children, especially infant girls. Further, there is no guarantee that people will not be forced to remain in highly contaminated areas for a number of years.

Tell the EPA to replace the PAGs with guides that protect vulnerable early life stages like pregnancy and childhood. Call Administrator McCarthy (202-564-4700) and Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Joel Beauvais (202-564-5700) and ask them to NOT approve these dangerous radiation levels for drinking water. Sample text given at link below. 

See story on NBC.

See Beyond Nuclear's comments on the most recent water PAGs.

Sample text:

Administrator McCarthy AND Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Joel Beauvais

Please reject the drinking water PAGs. They do not protect pregnancy and childhood. In combination with the other PAGs, they would result in risks much higher than what EPA states are its risk goals for protecting public health. Don't let your legacy be drinking water poisoned by radioactivity!

Steve Wing (1952-2016), beloved teacher, committed scientist

I first "met" Steve about 20 years ago, when he had published his research on the previously unrecognized health impacts of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. One of my early forays into radioactivity's impact on human health was helping to write a press statement on that study. I shared the text with him to make sure we had characterized the results properly and he confided to me over the phone that he thought our release better represented the study than others he had seen, including the official one. Through his approval I realized, as activists, we had the ability to grasp this very complicated subject and act on this understanding. I have never looked back and I have never been intimidated.

Steve was the scientific descendant of a line of "radiation realists", if you will. These are scientists who are experts in their disciplines and who, like all true scientists let actual health impacts, not stale models and predetermined conclusions, tell them how radioactivity affects human health, especially at low, protracted doses. Counted among their numbers, although this list is incomplete: John Gofman, Alice Stewart, Rosalie Bertell, Edward Radford, Karl Morgan. Their personal and professional lives suffered for their honesty, as has Dr. Wing's.

As Steve passes from us, we realize he is the ancestor of those who prize scientific rigor over obfuscation. Many of them have also suffered retribution. Quiet, humble and courageous, despite having his resources pulled, despite being told by his funder to "go home to North Carolina and get the right answer", Steve did not back down. And neither will we.

And no matter what comes our way, from nuclear weapons worker studies to public health studies around nuclear power reactors, we will always press for rigorous, unbiased health investigations.

Thank you, Steve, for generously sharing your expertise and the expertise of others. Thank you for not bending to pressure, and for presenting us with a legacy of intellect, integrity and knowledge that we can build on to help victims of radiation exposure remain visible rather than vanish in intentional indifference.

We will miss you.

Cindy Folkers and Beyond Nuclear