Radon: a silent killer

In Chapter 4 of the book, Protecting New Jersey's Environment, I read about the use of nuclear energy. Belton's view is that if used it wisely and correctly, this energy could allow the United States to be "energy independent" and ween off of fossil fuels (Belton 70). But, after reading this chapter I do not think we should mess with this technology considering the damage it has already done. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic caused a huge amount of damage, not only in its own country but also spanning Europe, Asia, the Arctic, and North America! Due to its huge impact and let-out of radioactive smoke, more than 4,000 deaths resulted. But, these people were not the only deaths that resulted from the mismanagement of nuclear energy.

According to the book, from 1917-1926 the United States Radium Corporation hired young immigrant girls to paint watch faces for the military's use. Sounds innocent enough, until you realize what this paint is made of radium which caused the paint to glow in the dark. The company hired a hundred girls of this period to paint the faces of watches, all of whom had no idea how toxic this paint was, or that it was dangerous at all. Do to the ingestion of the paint from licking the brushes to get a fine point many of the women contracted various types of cancers, such as mouth, lung, thoat, and bone cancers. To make it even worse, the company denied that these horrible illnesses were a result of radium exposure. Eventually law suits were made against them, and they won. Though this was a horrible event, some good did come from it. In 1949 a bill was passed stating that workers would be compensated for damages and illnesses received from exposure to toxic environmental materials while working.

Finally, I was frightened to hear about the dumping of radioactive material in Montclair, Glen Ridge, and West Orange! All of these places had houses which were sitting on a dangerous level of radon and they did not even know it. Could I be living near a Superfund site where radon was dumped, could that explain all the cancers that have occurred in my area? It is so scary to me to hear about this silent killer, and realizing that there could be sites around me that are beaming with this toxic material and I do not even know it.

So no, I do not agree that we should use this material, in any capacity, unless we seriously get our act together and crack down on the regulations for its use. We also need to figure out how to get rid of its waste in a clean and healthy way so that will not cause any more deaths and will not hurt the environment.