In 1988 the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) was created by the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. Jay M. Gould and Benjamin A Goldman started the project as a spinoff of their work at Public Data Access, Inc. In 1995 RPHP became an independent non-profit 501(c)3 organization. The mission of the organization includes research, education and raising public awareness.
RPHP research is focused on ”studying the links between low-level radiation and world-wide increases in diseases, especially cancer and those affecting the newborn and children and to become the leading, world-wide source of information on radiation and public health issues.”
The RPHP education efforts “publishing the results of research dealing with the impact of low-level radiation on public health and disseminating this information to the public, media, policy makers and the scientific community. They have a section of their website where people can order from a dozen books and 10 monographs dealing with radiation related health issues. The RPHP published a newsletter between 1998 and 2010 which is available online. There is also a page on the website with a number articles on radiation issues from various sources.
RPHP also works to increase public awareness by “promoting public awareness and responsible public policy related to radiation and public health, in the areas of freedom of information...objective medical and scientific investigation... institutional accountability...independent oversight...and responsible public health and environmental policy.” Their testing of nearly 5000 children’s teeth for strontium-90 showed a 50% rise in average levels with the highest levels near nuclear power plants . Tests of teeth from young cancer victims show higher Sr-90 that in health children. Similar tests are being carried out on teeth of Baby Boomers
For fifty years there has been an increasing body of evidence that indicates a probable link between the ingestion of man-made low level radiation fission products and an increase in world-wide immune deficiency diseases such as cancer, especially affecting the newborn. RPHP has been collecting epidemiological evidence of this trend.
The RPHP has published five books that summarize hundreds of publish peer reviewed articles dealing with the health impacts of man-made fission products during the Nuclear age. There is strong evidence that the very young have been adversely impacted by such fission products from infant mortality and low birth weight from published vital statistics especially during the atmospheric nuclear tests during the 50s and 60s.
The RPHP has also traced damage to hormonal and immune systems on a decade by decade basis in the Baby Boomers born between 1945 and 1965. They have shown epidemic increases in infant cancer between the ages of 5 and 9 in children born in the 1950s.
There was a 20 year decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores that began in 1963. The RPHP points out that 1963 is the year that children born in 1945, the first year of nuclear detonations and fallout, reached 18 and took the test. The test scores rose again after all children born during the 20 years of atmospheric tests passed the age of 18.
The RPHP suggests that the civilian nuclear reactors that began coming on line came in the 1970s and released radioactive materials during normal operation and accidents may have caused an increase in immunodeficiency diseases including AID and early breast cancer. RPHP research has also shown a clear correlation between breast and prostate cancer mortality rates and proximity to nuclear power plants across the United States.
