Nearly 30 years after the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, local people are still suffering the consequences of four decades of exposure to radiation. FRANCE 24’s reporters Sophie Guignon and Miyuki Droz Aramaki went to meet them (October 2018).
Environmental Medicine
Environmental Radiation Exposure and Essential Hypertension in Semey, Kazakhstan
In November 2018, a study in collaboration with CONEM Kazakhstan Environmental Health and Safety Research Group was published in the journal Environmental Research (1). The study examined the association between environmental radiation exposure and essential hypertension in a series of investigated geographical districts adjacent to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. The sample consisted of 2000 volunteers who participated in screening examinations in three administrative districts close to the nuclear test site. The research was a part of the government programs in Kazakhstan on environmental health hazard (1).
In April 2019, this study was quoted in a news article by the US science journalist Wudan Yan in the prestigious journal Nature (2): “Lyudmila Pivina at Semey State Medical University and her colleagues found that long-term, low-dose radiation can lead to cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure. They looked at health outcomes in approximately 1,800 people, including second- and third-generation Polygon survivors. When they focused on individuals whose parents lived in areas that were exposed to radiation from 1949 to 1989, they found that the risks of hypertension went up in correlation with the amount of radiation someone’s parents received — a discovery that they found surprising”.
References
1. Markabayeva A, Bauer S, Pivina L, Bjørklund G, Chirumbolo S, Kerimkulova A, Semenova Y, Belikhina T. Increased prevalence of essential hypertension in areas previously exposed to fallout due to nuclear weapons testing at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan. Environ Res 2018;167:129-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.07.016
2. Yan W. In the shadow of nuclear sins. Nature 2019: 568(4 April):22-24. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01034-8
An Introduction to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
This video is written and produced by Dr. Jon O’Neal, MD, MPH, FACOEM, and was released in 2016 at the annual conference of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). The video gives a good overview and historical background of the discipline. It also includes a brief history and overview of workers compensation, as well as the occupational physician’s unique triangular relationship with worker and employer. In addition, the video presents information about common work exposures and routes of exposure, and the role of the occupational physician. This includes the prevention component of occupational medicine; treating injured workers; disability management; and various testing and monitoring roles, such as conducting preplacement exams; serving as medical review officers (MRO) in drug screening programs; conducting surveillance exams to measure ongoing effects of work exposures; monitoring fitness for safety-sensitive workers such as pilots.
Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation
Learn why over 2,000 scientific, medical and environmental professionals are calling for an end to fluoridation worldwide. This video is produced by Fluoride Action Network in 2009
“One of the recommendations I’ve made is, because we now know that fluoride doesn’t need to be swallowed, that the public has to be informed. They should be told that it doesn’t work by swallowing it.”
-Dr. Hardy Limeback- National Research Council Panelist
“As far as I can see, there’s no doubt that the intake of fluoridated water is going to interrupt basic functions of nerve cells in the brain, and this is certainly not going to be to the benefit of anybody.”
-Dr. Robert Isaacson- National Research Council Panelist
“Fluoridation is against all modern principles of pharmacology. It’s obsolete. I don’t think anybody, not a single dentist, would bring up this queston in Sweden anymore.”
-Dr. Arvid Carlsson- Nobel Laurete in Medicine (2000)
Special Features:
Dr. Bill Osmunson on Water Fluoridation (5 min)
Dr. Vyvyan Howard on Fluoride & the brain (4 min)
Fluoride warning for kidney patients (3 min)
An Environmentalist speaks out on Fluoridation (6 min)
Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation
Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation – Available on DVD In a full length video produced by the Fluoride Action Network, respected professional researchers, scientists, and health practitioners openly discuss their experience and opinions concerning the adverse health effects and ethical problems associated with the public health policy of water fluoridation.
In Small Doses: Arsenic
This is a short movie, made by Dartmouth College in 2009, about the risks associated with exposure to potentially harmful amounts of arsenic in private well water, particularly in New Hampshire and New England.
In Small Doses: Arsenic
A ten minute movie about the risks associated with exposure to potentially harmful amounts of arsenic in private well water.