URGENT Action Alert - By April 1 if possible Help Make Food Irradiation Facilities More Secure! Tell Congress to Support the Markey Amendment March 28, 2003 Irradiation facilities that use nuclear materials are a national security risk (see below). There are about 40 nuclear irradiation facilities in the U.S. that are used for cosmetics, medical equipment, and other products. In particular, nuclear facilities primarily used for food are in Mulberry, Florida, and (under construction) in Milford Township, Bucks County. Both use radioactive cobalt-60. A member of Congress is trying to do something about these dangerous facilities. Rep. Ed. Markey (D-Mass.) wants to establish a task force to make recommendations on how to better safeguard against the theft, loss and diversion of radioactive sealed sources that could be used as "dirty bombs." View the proposed amendment at: http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/markups/03192003/amendment9.pdf On Tuesday, April 1st, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin voting on this issue. WHAT TO DO If your* Representative is on the Committee, tell him/her to "vote YES on the dirty bomb prevention amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 2003, offered by Rep. Markey." SEND A FREE FAX or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be transferred to the office of your Representative. *Which Representatives are on the Committee? Republicans W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Louisiana, Chairman Michael Bilirakis, Florida Joe Barton, Texas Fred Upton, Michigan Cliff Stearns, Florida Paul E. Gillmor, Ohio James C. Greenwood, Pennsylvania Christopher Cox, California Nathan Deal, Georgia Richard Burr, North Carolina Ed Whitfield, Kentucky Charlie Norwood, Georgia Barbara Cubin, Wyoming John Shimkus, Illinois Heather Wilson, New Mexico John B. Shadegg, Arizona Charles "Chip" Pickering, Mississippi Vito Fossella, New York Roy Blunt, Missouri Steve Buyer, Indiana George Radanovich, California Charles F. Bass, New Hampshire Joseph R. Pitts, Pennsylvania Mary Bono, California Greg Walden, Oregon Lee Terry, Nebraska Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky Mike Ferguson, New Jersey Mike Rogers, Michigan Darrell Issa, California C.L. "Butch" Otter, Idaho Democrats John D. Dingell, Michigan, Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, California Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Ralph M. Hall, Texas Rick Boucher, Virginia Edolphus Towns, New York Frank Pallone Jr., New Jersey Sherrod Brown, Ohio Bart Gordon, Tennessee Peter Deutsch, Florida Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Anna G. Eshoo, California Bart Stupak, Michigan Eliot L. Engel, New York Albert R. Wynn, Maryland Find your Representative using your zip code BACKGROUND INFORMATION ~ Since September 11, 2001, public attention has focused on "dirty bombs," the use of conventional explosives to blow up a small radioactivity source and scatter a deadly powder far and wide. The Washington Post (6/11/02) reported that if just one small, 1 x 12 inch, cobalt-60 "pencil" rod stolen from a common food irradiation plant was blown up with a bomb in downtown Washington, DC, the fallout could inflict thousands of cancer cases and billions of dollars in property damages. ~ Thousands of Co-60 rods are used in more than 40 weakly-guarded U.S. irradiation plants, with 160 such plants scattered worldwide. Experts have warned that security is too lax. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not require criminal or security background checks for personnel with access to these Co-60 facilities, even after 9/11. ~ Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publicly admits that more than 100 countries around the world lack adequate controls to prevent thefts of Co-60 from such plants. Ironically, at the same time, IAEA's food irradiation wing is pushing hard to spread those plants all over the globe. Brazil, for example, has adopted lax irradiation standards and is building many plants especially for food exports to our lucrative U.S. markets. ~ A comprehensive study recently was issued by the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies, entitled "Commercial Radioactive Sources: Surveying the Security Risks." It found that of all the common civilian sources, food and commercial irradiation plants present the highest radioactivity risks. It also found the United States is a leading exporter of these materials, but it has no requirements to investigate the purchaser's intended use. Much tighter oversight is necessary. ~ For more information on dirty bombs, see http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Notes/DirtyNukes.htm