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 "radium" ...
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Radioactive Water Flowed to Thousands of Homes
This series detailed how high levels of radium 226/228, known human carcinogens linked to bone and nasal cancers, contaminated public drinking water wells that provided water to thousands of people in Northwest Florida between 1996-2000. The public utility responsible for water safety resisted state efforts to clean the radioactive material and inform the public, because it cost too much money. The Utilities Authority conducted tapwater samples that measured high concentrations of radium coming out of fountains at an elementary school, regional airport, government offices, and the tourist welcome center, but the results of these samples were never made public.
Tags: radium; human carcinogens; bone cancer; nasal cancer; contaminated drinking water wells; radioactive material; Escambia County Utilities Authority; drinking water; Agrico Chemical Co. Superfund hazardous waste; U.S. Florida Department of Environmental protection; radium-tainted water; Escambia County Health Department; Pensacola Regional Airport; Santa Rosa Island Authority; Cordova Park Elementary School; Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water; American Agricultural Chemical Co.; U.S. Geological Survey; maximum contamination level; MCL; Northwest Florida Management District; water cleanup; Environmental Protection Agency; "limited action" cleanup DuPont; ConocoPhillips; Conoco Inc.; The Williams Co.; Freeport-McMoRan Inc.
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Hot Property
San Francisco Bay Guardian reports on health hazards posed to prospective residents of a new housing and commercial development planned on the site of a former U.S. Navy base near the city of Alameda. "There's just one problem: it's a toxic disaster area," the story reveals. A major finding is that the Navy may have blasted dangerous levels of radiation into the atmosphere, dumped radium, and spilt uranium and mercury on the base. The article looks at a mysterious case of missing tons of toxins at the base.
Tags: environment; Navy; housing; seabirds; radiation; toxins; safety; cancer; hazardous waste; ecology; pollution; carcinogens
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The Radium Legacy
KUSA-TV (Denver) series exposes public health hazards associated with a long-forgotten government research program dealing with radium; uses old government documents that show radium laboratories were set up on college campuses in the 1920s, leaving their locations contaminated hot spots--including some classrooms still in use, Nov. 6 - 15, 1985.
Tags: Tape CO
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No title (id: 3096)
CBS News reports on the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency to inform the public of the danger of radon exposure, which comes from radium in the soil, December 1984.
Tags: Tape