What to do about Radiation Poisoning


 

Guest Column by David Delano Blanco

A tuna caught off the California coast suffering from the effects of Fukushima Japan nuclear waste release into the Pacific Ocean

A tuna caught off the California coast suffering from the effects of Fukushima Japan nuclear waste release into the Pacific Ocean

Exposure to high-energy particles, such as occurs after a nuclear power plant accident, can cause severe damage to living cells. The mechanism by which this occurs involves the collision of these particles with atoms in the cells — particularly atoms of oxygen. Oxygen atoms absorb some of the collision energy and are thereby put into a highly reactive state. Such energetically excited oxygen atoms then transfer their extra energy to chemical bonds of various kinds, causing destructive chemical reactions in proteins, DNA, lipids, and other biomolecules. Such altered biomolecules are then no longer able to function properly, and so the body’s tissues and organs malfunction. Such damage tends to be permanent, debilitating, and if severe enough will be fatal.

There is no effective overall treatment for radiation poisoning, although drastic measures like stem cell transplants can help to save lives in certain cases.

Until recently there was also no very effective method for preventing radiation poisoning other than avoiding exposure in the first place. However, in 2009 scientists at Vanderbilt University in the USA published a paper describing the use of pyridoxamine to block the cascade of events that starts with reactive oxygen and ends in damaged tissues. Pyridoxamine, it was shown, can neutralize reactive oxygen before it reacts with biomolecules. By preventing damage to biomolecules, it therefore prevents damage to tissues.

This does not mean that pyridoxamine fixes tissue damage that has already occurred. It does mean that if one is being subjected to continual radiation exposure, pyridoxamine can be used to decrease its damage to the body. Therefore:

  • Pyridoxamine is the best known preventative for ongoing radiation poisoning.
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About Jan Tucker

The Detectives Diary is an innovative tool combining Private Investigation and Journalism. In 1984, Steve Harvey's Los Angeles Times "Around the Southland" Column entitled Jan Tucker's program of providing low-cost "Opposition Research" services to indigent and working class candidates for public office, "Take Cover: Hired Mudslinger Rides into Town." A 1996 Los Angeles Times article by Henry Chu carried a sub-headline identifying Tucker as a "P.R. Guru." In November 2012, Tucker became Criminal Justice Columnist for Counter Punch Magazine and a commentator for Black Talk Radio. As a private investigator since 1979 and a former First Vice President of Newspaper Guild Local 69, Tucker takes these skills to a new level in the pages of the Detectives Diary with insightful and unique exposures and analysis of history and current events. State Director--California League of Latin American Citizens, Former seven term Chairman of the Board of the California Association of Licensed Investigators, Co-President San Fernando Valley/Northeast Los Angeles Chapter-National Organization for Women, former National Commissioner for Civil Rights-League of United Latin American Citizens, former Second Vice President-Inglewood-South Bay Branch-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, former founding Vice President-Armenian American Action Committee, former First Vice President, Newspaper Guild Local 69 (AFL-CIO, CLC, CWA), Board member, Alameda Corridor Jobs Coalition, Community Advisory Board member--USC-Keck School of Medicine Alzheimer's Disease Research Project
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