Radioactive News

The meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power station brings to the forefront the topic of radioactive news. Suddenly the whole world is talking about the dangers of radiation. How do we protect ourselves from the dangers of radiation int the air, in the water and on land? This is what is referred to as radioactive news.

There were traces of radiation from Japan found as far away as Boston,Ma. in samples of rainwater. Utilities in North and South Carolina also found traces of radiation believed to be from Japan’s nuclear reactor. Also, in air samples in several western U.S. states trace amounts of radiation were detected. None of these samples were found to be dangerous. What if there were more dangerous levels of radiation found in the U.S.? How would our country be able to protect its citizens from these dangers? And what if one of the nuclear reactors in our country would leak radiation whether caused by nature or heaven forbid by terrorists?

Then we would have dangerous levels of radioactivity in our land, air and or water. There is actually promising radioactive news which, if it comes fruition, will save a lot of lives if there is ever a major radioactive hazard. There has been a major medical breakthrough. A new medicine that can protect people from exposure to nuclear radiation has been developed by Jewish American scientists together with a researcher and investors in Israel. The medicine was developed by Professor Andree Gudkov of Cleveland BioLabs. This is amazing radioactive news. For a change it’s a good kind of radioactive news. In 2003 Professor Gudkov discovered the idea of using protein produced in bacteria found in the intestine to protect cells from radiation. When this protein was injected into mice, which had been exposed to high levels of radiation, they survived. Whereas other mice, that were exposed but not given the protein, died. After that the test was done on monkeys with the same results. It was learned from the monkey trials that if you injected the medicine from the protein between twenty four hours before the exposure to seventy two hours after the exposure gave the same results.

There was also a test done on human beings, of course without exposing them to radiation, and it was concluded that the medicine, made from the protein, has no side effects and is safe. If the tests keep on yielding these positive results the medicine should be approved by the FDA in one to two years. This medicine would be very beneficial to everyone in the world. It can keep the world safer from terrorist states who want to harm innocent people with nuclear weapons or things like dirty bombs. Vulnerable countries could be sure to produce enough of this medicine and keep stockpiles of it in case of nuclear or other radiation related emergencies. Hopefully if terrorists see that they can’t harm people because they are able to protect themselves from harm then they will not be motivated to try. There is another benefit to this medicine for cancer patients in particular. One of the most common treatments for cancer is radiation. It has good success at killing the cancerous cells however, it also damages the healthy cells. With this new medicine a person undergoing radiation treatments can use this protein to protect its healthy cells while killing the cancerous ones. I hope that this medicine will have good results in future tests and be approved as soon as possible and then radioactive news stories that are frightening will become a thing of the past.