Tag: environment

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Emergency issue of potassium iodine tablets to those living near to US nuclear plant and research showing significant cancer risks casts serious doubt on Scottish Labour plans

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By Professor John Robertson Yesterday, in the Philly Voice, USA: People living near active nuclear power plants are advised to have potassium iodide, or KI, tablets on hand in case of a radiological emergency. KI is an over-the-counter medication that protects the thyroid from absorbing nuclear radiation. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is offering free KI tablets to people who live within 10 miles of the Limerick Generating Station in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, on Wednesday, June 12. Radioactive iodine released into the environment during a nuclear accident may be absorbed by the body, increasing the chance of thyroid cancer. Saturating the thyroid … Continue reading Emergency issue of potassium iodine tablets to those living near to US nuclear plant and research showing significant cancer risks casts serious doubt on Scottish Labour plans

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Cryptosporidium in the Capital, Diarrhoea in Devon, a Toilet in the Thames, a Lavvy in the Lake and Sick sheep in the Swale? Eh…drug deaths…..ferries…

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By Professor John Robertson Today, in the Guardian, we see: Thames Water has sent samples of water for lab testing after dozens of people reported becoming unwell with stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea in south-east London. Earlier this month, unsafe drinking water led to more than 100 cases of a waterborne disease in Devon, with people asked to boil their water because of contamination fears. After cryptosporidium, a disease that can cause symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, was detected in the water supply in the Brixham area of Devon 10 days ago, 17,000 households and businesses were told by South … Continue reading Cryptosporidium in the Capital, Diarrhoea in Devon, a Toilet in the Thames, a Lavvy in the Lake and Sick sheep in the Swale? Eh…drug deaths…..ferries…

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Exposure to carcinogens in Faslane

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In May 2024: Silence is revealing? In May 2023: QUESTIONS are hanging over the safety of Britain’s nuclear arsenal after it was revealed there were 58 radiation leaks at Trident facilities in Scotland this year so far. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has revealed there were 15 recorded radiation leaks at Coulport and a further 43 at Faslane in 2023 as of April – but said none were considered “serious”. https://www.thenational.scot/news/23545590.trident-mod-confirms-50-radiation-leaks-year/ In March 2016: Twenty workers at the Faslane nuclear submarine base were exposed to radiation due to safety errors, newly-released documents have revealed. The engineers were repairing a leaking … Continue reading Exposure to carcinogens in Faslane

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Scotland’s rivers far more likely to be clean

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From the Guardian, typically Anglocentric, today: England’s rivers are likely to remain in a poor state for years to come because the government is failing to put in place EU clean water laws post-Brexit, the watchdog has found. When Britain was a member of the EU, the government was required to follow the water framework directive (WFD), standards for waterways that have been credited with cleaning up Europe’s dirty water. Since Brexit, the UK (sic) is no longer required to match EU regulations, and has its own watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Under the WFD, all rivers are supposed to … Continue reading Scotland’s rivers far more likely to be clean

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ONS confirms Scotland as ‘sticky asset’ rich

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By stewartb There is merit in communicating the intrinsic – the ‘sticky’ – assets of Scotland. Demonstrating that Scotland has valuable assets in abundance is a necessary but not sufficient part of case making for independence – it’s also about giving confidence that such assets can be better sustained, used to better effect and renewed in future in an independent Scotland. I do still come across Unionists holding to the ‘too wee, too poor etc.’ nonsense! The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has in recent years been publishing accounts of ‘natural capital’ or ‘wealth’. It explains: ‘Natural wealth is reflected … Continue reading ONS confirms Scotland as ‘sticky asset’ rich

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Scottish recycling rate reaches all time high

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By Professor John Robertson Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. From SEPA on 26 March 2024: Scottish recycling rate reaches all time high as Scottish households, businesses and public services recycle 62.3% of all waste in the latest data (2022) from Scotland’s environmental watchdog, SEPA.  The recycling rate increased 5.3% from the 57.0% rate in 2021 – reflecting economic recovery from the pandemic and an increase in the proportion of construction and demolition material recycled.  Scotland continues to reduce its reliance on landfill – with only 23.2% of all wastes ending up in landfill – an all-time low.  … Continue reading Scottish recycling rate reaches all time high

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America’s Sellafield and the near impossibility of proving a cancer is the result of life in a ‘contaminated environment’

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By Professor John Robertson I hadn’t heard of an equivalent nuclear-reprocessing plant to Sellafield – ‘the most toxic site in Europe’ – only a few miles from the Scottish border and with regular leaks of radioactive material into the air and water flows heading north, constantly. According to US writer Shannon Cram, author of the just published Unmaking the Bomb, above, most Americans are unaware that a site, like Sellafield, had produced weapons-grade plutonium and now houses the majority of the nations’ high-level nuclear waste. Hanford Nuclear Reservation is eerily placed, like Sellafield, about as far away from the Capital … Continue reading America’s Sellafield and the near impossibility of proving a cancer is the result of life in a ‘contaminated environment’

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No evidence of deliberate misreporting of overflow data by Scottish Water 

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By Professor John Robertson Typically Anglocentric or should that be Britocentric (?), the Guardian has the above headline and: Exclusive: Whistleblowers point to broader sewage scandal, with wastewater systems manipulated to divert sewage. Whistleblowers say UK water companies are knowingly failing to treat legally required amounts of sewage, and that some treatment works are manipulating wastewater systems to divert raw sewage away from the works and into rivers and seas. It is well known that water companies are dumping large volumes of raw sewage into rivers and seas from storm overflows but an investigation by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations reveals that the … Continue reading No evidence of deliberate misreporting of overflow data by Scottish Water 

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News you won’t hear on climate change – actually doing something?

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You won’t see this on BBC Scotland – Murrell! Murrell! Sturgeon! Murrell, more ferry delays…. Nor on BBC Scotland Business – climate change targets scrapped (lie), bank closures, shouting at fish markets….no Murrell….isn’t embezzlement a kind of business? From the Scottish Government today: The Scottish Government is stepping up action to tackle climate change with a suite of new policies on transport, including increasing the number of electric vehicle chargers, and land use. The increase in charging points comes as part of a wider climate package that also includes an integrated ticketing system which can be used across all public transport. … Continue reading News you won’t hear on climate change – actually doing something?

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Scotland’s cancer incidence level is much higher than the average in every part of world – SNP MP exposes likely cause in pollution from the most dangerous nuclear site in Europe

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Apologies for posting and then quickly deleting this yesterday. I made a mistake with the stats and know from previous errors that one wee slip and all your other work is cast into doubt. I’m 72, on my own, still impulsive after all these years and breengin’ to the end. It’s sorted now. Two recent reports in the National (links below), by Ayr MP Allan Dorans, have exposed levels of radioactivity in seafood, other wildlife and in river estuary sediment, from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, described recently in the Guardian as ‘Europe’s most toxic nuclear site‘. These … Continue reading Scotland’s cancer incidence level is much higher than the average in every part of world – SNP MP exposes likely cause in pollution from the most dangerous nuclear site in Europe