The Diablo’s in the Details

Your recent article “Fukushima Stirs Diablo Fears” discusses a report authored by epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, MHP, and commissioned by the Santa Barbara–based World Business Academy, on the impact of Diablo Canyon radiation releases on increasing cancer rates in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

The article quotes PG&E spokesperson Blair Jones, who attacks “… Mr. Mangano’s history of discredited reports due to poor science.” It notes that the Nuclear Energy Institute “dismisses him as a fearmonger and his claims as ‘junk science.’”

What the article failed to report is that Mangano has published over 30 articles on radiation and health in peer-review scientific and medical journals. Nor does the article quote any of the independent nuclear industry experts or physicians who reviewed and endorsed the report.

For example, Stephen Hosea, MD, of Cottage Hospital observes that “The data contained in this report support a remarkable predisposition of persons living within a 15 mile radius of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant to have a significantly increased incidence of various cancers, including thyroid, breast and melanoma. Exposure to radiation is well known to result in an increased risk of developing cancer. Until an alternative plausible explanation is provided, the overwhelmingly logical conclusion must be that the exposure to radiation as a direct consequence of living within a 15 mile radius of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant results in an increased risk of developing cancer.”