The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "radiation exposure" ...
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Recycled Radiation
Radioactive materials are being found in common consumer items because radioactive devices used in manufacturing and medicine are often mixing with scrap metal for use in large varieties of other products. "Recycled Radiation" outlines the findings from the Nuclear Material Events Database.
Tags: radioactive; material; products; consumers; scrap; metal; recycled; exposure; manufacturing; medicine; Mexico; transport; oversight; disposal; waste;
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Out in the Cold
The story details the Department of Labor's Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, a "worker's-comp program for former nuclear-weapons workers that acknowledges the link between long-term radiation exposure and several types of cancer, and promises compensation for cancer victims." While the department maintains that the program is "claimant-friendly," the program puts the "burden of proof of radiation exposure on sick and dying claimants who have no means to do so."
Tags: EEOICPA; nuclear weapons; radiation exposure; cancer; compensation; worker-comp; claimants
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Is Radiation Killing Our Troops?
"'The Department of Defense uses depleted uranium for armor on tanks and for munitions to penetrate armor on enemy vehicles.'" says DoD medical expert Dr. Michael Kilpatrick. But the use of depleted uranium may be radiating our troops and civilians in Iraq, when "fine dust carrying depleted uranium gets in the lungs and into the lymph system, causing illnesses, includding cancer and birth defects in the children of those exposed." Other possible methods of exposure include ingestion through food or drinking water, and skin contact through open wounds or from embedded shrapnel. (Daytona Beach, FL) News-Journal staffwriter Audrey Parente follows the story of Dustin Brim, who died of cancer after his tour of duty in Iraq. Article has great graphic explaining depleted uranium armor and munitions.
Tags: Iraq; radiation exposure; depleted uranium munitions; DU; Army Spc Dustin Brim; Congress; National Guard; Gulf War illnesses
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Danger Dismissed: How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons
Evans discovers that the veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War "have a disability rate three times as high as that of Vietnam and World War II veterans," and that this trend may be the result of using depleted uranium weapons. His eight-chapter series takes an in-depth look at the science of depleted uranium weapons, centralizing his focus around Matt Rohman, a Gulf War veteran who lives every day in pain. Evans explores different concepts of radiobiology, geology, radiation physics, and health science, and takes a look at what depleted uranium weapons could mean for today's soldier.
Tags: depleted uranium weapons; Pentagon; Gulf War Syndrome; Gulf War illness; war-related illness; ill veterans; nerve disorders; Lou Gehrig's disease; nuclear weapons; chronic fatigue; bystander effect; radioactive dust; military munitions; depleted uranium exposure; veterans with cancer; pyridostigmine bromide; chemical weapons; biological weapons; Fort Eustis; C-4 plastic explosive
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Lowering the Bar: The government wants to save money by loosening radiation exposure standards -- how low will it go?
This article explains different theories about the harmful affects of exposure to nuclear radiation. It covers the debate over how much radiation is harmful.
Tags: International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP); US National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP); hormesis; Health Physics Society; nuclear industry
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Caution, Nuclear Waste Ahead
This article looks at legislation in Congress that would have nuclear power plants across the country send their waste to sites in Nevada and the danger of transporting the highly hazardous waste on public roads and train tracks. The two main dangers are radiation exposure to nearby drivers and the risk of an accident. A huge hike in shipments could make the possibility of a disaster more likely.
Tags: nuclear waste; legislation; nuclear industry; Nevada Test Site; radioactive material; nuclear fuel; Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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In Harm's Way, But In the Dark: Workers Exposed to Plutonium at U.S. Plant
The Washington Post reports that "Thousands of uranium workers were unwittingly exposed to plutonium and other highly radioactive metals (in Paducah, KY) at a federally owned plant where contamination spread through work areas, locker rooms and even cafeterias....Today, the Department of Energy contends that worker exposure was minimal and that contamination is being cleaned up. A lawsuit filed under seal in June by three current plant employees alleges that radiation exposure was a problem at Paducah well into the 1990s...."
Tags: hazardous working conditions; whistleblower; business; legal; radiation; cancer; workers compensation; health issues; cold war; weapons; nuclear energy; plutonium
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After the Fallout
Nearly every member of the Mertensmeyer family has thyroid cancer. They grew up on a farm in Carrolton, Mo., a town that received high levels of fallout from nuclear bomb testing in the Nevada desert in the 1950s. The story shows that the average exposure to radiation was 2 rads (radiation absorbed dose), a level equivalent to about five times the exposure from a mammogram. The area of Missouri where this family grew up received around five times that amount. It is believed that children in fallout zones who drank fresh cow's milk are at greater risk for thyroid cancer.
Tags: HEALTH CARE
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Deadly Exposure
The Cincinnati Enquirer looks at Dr. Eugene L. Saenger and his research on the biological effects of radiation on human beings between 1960 and 1971. The Enquirer investigates 14 years' worth of Pentagon documents that reveal Saenger pitched his research as a way to measure human reactions to radiation, not as a cancer therapy even though his study involved at least 88 cancer patients. (March 13, 1994)
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The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm
Life Magazine finds that the children of many Gulf War veterans are suffering the long-term consequences of Desert Storm. Hundreds of families face official stonewalling regarding their children's birth defects.