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TMI cause thyroid cancers?/Confederate monuments being removed in the South

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What to look for on Smart Talk Tuesday, June 6, 2017:

Did radiation released after the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island result in mutated thyroid cancers in Central Pennsylvania?  Studies in the ensuing 38 years since the incident all concluded there were no negative health effects from the small amount of radiation released.

That was until last week when news that a research team at the Penn State College of Medicine found a “shift in cases to cancer mutations consistent with radiation exposure.” 

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Dr. David Goldenberg, professor of surgery at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the lead researcher on the thyroid study

Dr. David Goldenberg is a professor of surgery at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the lead researcher on the thyroid study. 

He joins us on Tuesday’s Smart Talk to discuss his research and some of the long-term consequences of the TMI meltdown.

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Confederate soldier memorial at Charlottesville, Virginia

Throughout the South, states grapple with what to do with Confederate monuments in public spaces.  Under cover of night, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu had four prominent monuments removed from city spaces amid death threats leveled against public workers, saying the monuments “represent an institutional indifference that has existed for a long time that actually strangles people’s lives.”

While monuments to the Confederacy are commonplace throughout the South, the only ones to be found in Pennsylvania are at the Gettysburg National Military Park.  Fourteen stone monuments and sculptures commemorate the soldiers of the Confederate Army as Americans, not enemies. 

Smart Talk focuses on the removal of Confederate monuments.

Joining us for the discussion are Barbara Barksdale, a local historian and founder of Friends of Midland Cemetery, Chris Gwinn, Supervisory Historian for Interpretation and Education at the Gettysburg National Military Park, Daryl Black, PhD., Executive Director Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg and Alfred Brophy, PhD., Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

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Barbara Barksdale – local historian; founder of Friends of Midland Cemetery / Daryl Black, PhD. – Executive Director, Seminary Ridge Museum, Gettysburg

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Chris Gwinn – Supervisory Historian for Interpretation and Education, Gettysburg National Military Park / Alfred Brophy, PhD. – Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

emails

on thyroid cancer study:

– Would radiation also affect the thyroid in low thyroid or hashimoto’s? Two family members ages 43 and 49 are dealing with these conditions.           – Rebecca

– I lived within the 10 mile radius at the time of the accident, know the area well and am very familiar with the incident and facility  My thought, or question, on this recent discussion is, have they also evaluated the impact of the strong radon levels in the region, industrial-based airborne particulate matter that is known to be very high in Central Pennsylvania, as well as local water qualities, heavy metals and contaminants known to be in the soil especially along the old railroads rights-of-way, former industrial sites like HIA and Steelton (many sites no longer visible but the soil was never remediated), etc.  It seems as though the research is “blaming” (too strong of a word) TMI for all the local problems.  – VWrider


on confederate monuments:

– In my mind I believe the monuments should stay to remind us of our history even thou it was a time in our history.  What will be next, the Washington and Jefferson monuments since they had slaves?   – Steve

– Not about slavery,but separation of states turkey.        – Edward

– Two points:

1.  One of the most important things you can share with your listeners is to either broadcast or post on your website a link to the New Orleans Mayor’s speech when the monuments were taken down. It is one of the best overall depictions of what it really means. Here’s a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j81MkNgnXuY

2. Terrorists grous like the KKK cloaked themselves in the symbols of the Confederate South to intimidate and victimize black people. Something I recently learned reading Bryan Stevenson’s book, JUST MERCY, is that these symbols and the use of confederate imagery spiked every time there were signs of racial progress. This has been true for over a hundred years — including in the 1950s after racial segregation, in the 60s during civil rights activism, etc. Context is important and having thoughtful conversations about proper ways to mark EVERYONE’S history is critical to this topic.          –   Marcia

– I think monuments glorifying the southern leaders should be removed.  I think it has been a mistake for our government to continue to allow glorification of the traitor leaders (and I purposefully refer to them as traitors rather than rebels) that has allowed for the continuance of the white supremacist movements. I also firmly believe that all battlefield monuments that glorify war should also be removed and only gravestones should be allowed.  We lose sight of the true humanitarian cost to our country when we allow war to be glorified.   – Lisa

– Why do we participate in this orgy of political correctness? I’m a Northerner and realize many of “our” boys were wounded and killed in the Civil War. Nonetheless monuments to men who valiantly fought for what they thought was their patriotic duty are now being expunged from history. The lady talks about hate. Who is a more willing purveyor of hate than Al Sharpton? Who, among the Blacks, will denounce his tactics? Some will contend it was a move to separate from the Union rather than keep Blacks enslaved. This type of activity, continuing allegations of racism merely rubs salt in the wounds of the past and does nothing more than that. Jere The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.                – GMF

– Our Civil War had winners and losers. History is often written by the winners. That said, after our Civil War, winner occupation was not a priority. The states and citizens of both the North and South erected monuments to retain their identity. Southern monuments were directly related to the time. A lot has happened across our country since the end of that war and again the states and citizens of the South will use reason to retain their identity.

Concerning monuments on the Gettysburg Battlefield, Lincoln himself said that although his words wouldn’t be remembered, what was done can’t be forgotten. Individual states, and many private donations for monuments would be one way the battlefield will always be remembered. Most of these monuments accurately and historically identify where specific events happened.

Consider the historically accurate monuments on many American battlefields and compare them to politically motivated statues.           – Robert

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