"Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl," Some Comments. | 30 comments (30 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Radiation has been studied for over a century (none / 1)

Thanks for the link, but that relates only to humans. I'm assuming that it isn't possible to say "Animal X repsonds in way Y, therefore animal Z will also respond in way Y"...(cockroaches come to mind, as do bactrian camels.)

So, to be specific:

Could you link me to literature which has measured genetic mutations in insects around various sites--including nuclear (and chemical etc...) against a control group of some kind? Cornelia Hesse-Honegger's interest was in insects, and she was trying to highlight (if I've understood correctly) that such comparative research wasn't being undertaken. Her pictures were to highlight this, I think, and to show what her (biased, non-scientific, partial...etc...) resarch had discovered, which was (she claims in the mother jones quote above) a raised (from 3% to 15%) incidence of mutations around nuclear sites.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sun Mar 11th, 2007 at 03:45:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Radiation has been studied for over a century (none / 1)

Insects like cockroaches can withstand doses of radiation three times greater than the level that would kill a human. In the 1960s when concerns about an all-out nuclear war ran high, biologists liked to say that insects and grass would survive, but we would not.

The subject is very big, but here are some links that might get you started:

http://www.lowdose.energy.gov/99meeting/abstracts/joiner.html

insect radiation resistance
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2003-12/1072227809.Zo.r.html

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=384122

Also, even though you are interested in insect welfare vis-a-vis nuclear plants, you should know that the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute did a study of populations living around nuclear facilities and found that they did not have higher rates of cancer than populations who did not live near nuclear facilities.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/nuclear-facilities

by Plan9 on Sun Mar 11th, 2007 at 05:00:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Cockroaches Schmockroaches (none / 1)

Deinococcus Radiodurans.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Mar 11th, 2007 at 05:05:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cockroaches Schmockroaches (none / 0)

Yes, D. Radiodurans takes the cake (or takes the yellowcake). But rg was interested in the welfare of insects near nuclear plants.

by Plan9 on Sun Mar 11th, 2007 at 10:16:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Radiation has been studied for over a century (none / 1)

Thanks for the links (and to Migeru for his link)...but...

My question wasn't about whether insects could survive greater levels of radiation than humans. It was about whether there are any studies out there that you know of that debunk Cornelia Hesse-Honegger's contentions re: genetic mutations (rather than death) in insect populations around nuclear sites (and chemical etc...) against control groups.

The reason I asked is that both you and NNadir replied to my post with the comment that genetic mutation is natural and so there was no news here...Cornelia Hesse-Honegger was saying (if I've understood her) that the rates of mutation were much higher around nuclear sites than one would expect. As she worked in a lab dealing with genetic mutations...ach...

If her...field notes...have been disproven (by research)...I'd like a link to a page about it...is all.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sun Mar 11th, 2007 at 05:59:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

"Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl," Some Comments. | 30 comments (30 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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