FederalDaily - July 12, 2007
Watchdog Group: Elevated Radioactivity May Threaten Los Alamos
A government watchdog group announced that new testing around the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
in New Mexico has found elevated and potentially harmful levels of radioactivity present in homes and
farm fields near the lab. LANL officials examined the report, but said its conclusions were faulty
and the data is merely a rehash of known environmental problems at the site. The Government Accountability
Project (GAP), a watchdog group and whistleblower support organization, looked at samples taken from
inside of homes, local businesses, in farm fields and extracted from plants growing in the area. Of
80 environmental and indoor samples, collected last November and evaluated by Boston Chemical Data,
Inc., some show higher than normal radioactivity. “We are concerned that a number of the random
samples we collected contained potentially harmful levels of radioactivity” said Marco Kaltofen,
author of the Boston Chemical study, which was released July 10. In response, LANL officials posted
a statement on the agency Web site. “We accept on faith the data gathered by the team, but we
are concerned that the conclusions drawn or implied are erroneous,” the LANL statement said.
To see more, go to: GAP, www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm?press_id=1083&keyword=
or LANL, www.lanl.gov
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Bill Aims To Ensure Minimum Downtime For Combat Troops
In an effort to reduce battle fatigue, a new measure would establish minimum time periods of rest
between deployments for servicemembers fighting in combat hot spots around the world. The bill, co-sponsored
by Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and Jim Webb, D-Va., is to be offered as part of the DoD FY 2008 spending
bill. Specifically, the measure mandates that if a unit or servicemember deploys to Iraq or Afghanistan,
they will be guaranteed the same amount of time spent at home (or longer) before being redeployed.
Further, no unit or member of the National Guard or Reserves could be redeployed to Iraq or Afghanistan
within three years of their previous deployment. With many members of the Guard and Reserve beyond
their third deployment overseas, and with some of those deployments being stretched to 16 months, the
stress on military families can be severe, Harkin said in a July 9 statement. “It is simply unacceptable
that our troops’ time at home has often been cut short, depriving them of the time they need
to recover from combat,” said Harkin. To see more, go to: http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=278439
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Food Safety Experts Urge Agencies to Improve Communication
In the wake of recent multiple scares to the nation’s food supply, food safety experts suggest
that federal agencies charged with responding to agriculture emergencies do a better job of communicating
with each other. Federal agencies—such as the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration
and the Department of Homeland Security—also should engage state and local governments in education
programs on how to identify and report potential food safety threats, said the experts at a briefing
sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Because early detection
of an outbreak almost always occurs at the state or local level, federal agencies must recognize that
they are unlikely to be the first to know about potential vulnerabilities, said David Filson, a state
agriculture emergency response coordinator at Pennsylvania State University. "Although productive
communication may occur among the highest levels of the federal agencies, it somehow must be translated
into policy for a specific community," Kavita Berger, senior program associate for the AAAS, said
in a July 9 statement. To see more, go to: www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/0709ag_security_intro.shtml
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