July 5, 2007 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet on Radiation Monitoring in Hawaii
RADIATION MONITORING
IN HAWAII!
On Tuesday, May 29, 2007 a citizen radiation monitor recorded elevated radiation readings at Mauna Kea State Park adjacent to the military's Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) in the center of Hawaii Island. The wind on 5/29 blew directly off the live-fire training areas at PTA and dust devils of suspended topsoil were visible in the air. The elevated radiation readings were as high as 75 counts per minute when normal background is 5-20 counts per minute. A number of private citizens are now doing radiation monitoring on Hawaii Island.
The U.S. Army now says it plans to do radiological monitoring at PTA starting in August. (See Big Island Weekly, July 5, 2007) Also participating in the monitoring will be the State of Hawaii Department of Health, the Center For Disease Control (CDC), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Army now confirms that depleted uranium (DU) radiation from spotting rounds of the nuclear weapon "Davy Crockett" has been found on Oahu at Schofield Barracks and that such contamination may also exist at Pohakuloa on Hawaii Island and Makua Valley on Oahu.
Davy Crockett was just one of approximately 60 different kinds of U.S. nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal during the 1960s and 70s. Have other nuclear weapon radioactive spotting rounds been used in training in Hawaii? Training with a wide range of weapon systems has taken place at PTA and other live-fire areas throughout Hawaii. The Davy Crockett may just be the tip of a much larger radiation nightmare for Hawaii residents and visitors alike.
It should be noted that Hawaii Island already has a dubious distinction of the nuclear age. According to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, of 65 randomly selected worldwide soil samples tested for accumulation of long-lasting plutonium radiation contamination from atmospheric nuclear weapon testing, our Big Island soil ranked NUMBER ONE! Plutonium is one of the most potent carcinogenic substances known. Less than one-millionth of a gram is capable of producing cancer after close exposure. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years, which means it is potentially toxic to humans for at least a half million years. As plutonium is concentrated in the ecological food chain, people can absorb significant quantities. It is preferentially stored in the liver and bone marrow and can cross the placenta into the unborn fetus. (To read the above AEC report see Nature Magazine, Vol. 241, February 16, 1973.)
It should also be noted that the Navy acknowledges discharging millions of gallons of radioactive liquid waste into Pearl Harbor on Oahu and dumping over two thousand 55-gallon steel drums of radioactive solid waste on the ocean floor off Hawaii's shores. What effects such pollution may have on marine life and, in turn, the health and safety of Hawaii's people is simply not clear. But it is commonly accepted that there is no safe level of radiation. (See the book "The Dark Side of Paradise" by Albertini, et. all page 18.)
Military Clean-Up NOT Build-Up!
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination: anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB `Ola`a (Kurtistown),
Hawai`i 96760. Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org
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