Chapter four is about radiation protection. It discusses various events that happened not only in New Jersey or in America, but also in other countries (like the site of the Chernobyl explosion). It discusses the various proposals and "solutions" carried out by the state and government to fix the radiation issues. Some of which could have been stopped/prevented with common sense and knowledge. For example, from 1917 to 1926 the United stated extracted and purified radium from carnotite ore to produce luminous paints in Orange, which were marketed under the brand name Undark (73). The plant in New Jersey employed over a hundred workers, many of which were immigrant women, to paint these watches. Scientists knew how dangerous it was and carefully avoided exposure to it themselves by using masks and tongs. These women received no training or education about hazardous materials and painted their nails, faces, and teeth with the deadly paint. Eventually these women started to suffer and found their death to moth and throat cancer, lung cancer, and bone cancer, all of which the U.S government tried to deny and cover up. All this time they knew about the deadly material, yet they still used it. But for what? To have orange paint!? Couldn't they have used any other paint made out of something different. What was so special about this paint that it was worth killing these women? This could have been avoided. The government likes to play the victim and claim that there are things they didn't know when they were well aware of the issues that could arise (especially in this case), yet chose to be stubborn and careless.
This radon material created problems for years and one issue led to another. A fire that involved military gear painted with this toxic paint released radiation into the environment. Houses were affected with high radiation readings which was not good for the health of the owners. And once again, trying to preserve and save their mistakes, government officials, specifically NJDEP senior management, thought it was a smart idea to dig up radon-contaminated material and replace it with clean fill instead of tear down the houses. This lead to a new problem of having no place to store the contaminated waste. It seems that they are always looking for a solution to the problem, but not thinking in long term. This "well intended" policy to clean under the houses was surly not well thought out.
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Gabriella Brycea Junior at Seton Hall University studying Elementary and Special education with Environmental Studies. Archives
April 2018
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