ML20137T760

Revised Personal Experiences & Observations of Plant Growth Abnormalities in North West Quadrant of Tmi

ML20137T760
Person / Time
Site:	Crane
Issue date:	02/28/1985
From:	Osborn M AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
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NUDOCS 8602180427
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PERSONAL EXPERIENCES-OBSERVATIONS OF PLANT GROWTH ABNORMALITIES IN NORTH WEST. QUADRANT OF THREE MILE ISLAND e ~

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PDR Mary Osborn 1/14/85 (Ievised & conectai 2/85) l'

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4 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES & OBSERVATIONS OF P

Since the spring of '79, I have observed, collected and photographed k

abnormal growth of flora in the areas around Three Mile Island. Regardless, or in spite of the arguments of how much radiation did or didn't get out, if g

a chemicals were released, or even a combination of both - these are my findings 5

and experiences since the early days of the TMI accident.

I First I will restate some of my experiences (I will not get into the g

reports of farm animals & pets, birds, insects or bumble bees dying or dis-g appearing following the accident).

I live in the northwest quadrant of TMI, r-in Swatara Township, approximately 6i miles away from the plant. Between Z

Harrisburg and Three Mile Island (near the Host Inn, sea: NUREG 0600, figure R

II-3-6).

E On Wednesday, 3/28/79 at six o' clock in the morning, my husband and I z

were outdoors. We had a clean metallic taste at that time.

(Our taste was not coppery or rusty or like burning galvanized steel as others have reported)

E My son and I were outdoors from 7:45 am to 10:00 am; later that day we both g

had sunburn effects on our hands and faces, q

Thursday, 3/29/79, we drove ta the west shore, to Ashcombe Vegetable Farm near Grantham, to just get-away for a while. During that drive I had 8

tearing and burning of my eyes. It was so bright, it hurt to see.

I did not 5

connect the skin and eye burns to the accident, although we joked about the 2;

metallic taste sometime later as being vaporized metal from the accident, q

Friday, 3/30/79 (or black Friday as we call it now) after hearing sirens, y

church bells and the radio news of uncontrolled radiation releases from Three m*

Mile Island, we evacuated.

5 The next week, on Tuesday evening, my husband and I returned home for R

' winter clothing, medicine and teddy bears. During our brief two hour trip t

home I encountered an " unusual event" - the problem I observed was the P

accelerated growth of my umbrella plant (genus cyperus). New growth, fresh y

green in color, had appeared - more than a 3" x 5" card within 5 days!

(Friday to Tuesday)

We evacuated for eight days. Sometime later (I don't remember how many days), while giving my two year old a bath, I noticed a "small wad" of hair in the tub.. His hair had thinned, you could see his scalp.

(I think all of l

-us in my family had some amount of hair loss and have met women from Middletown saying the same happened to them.)

That spring, one pinkish tulip had a petal growing 2" down on the stem.

In the spring of 1980 that tulip " branched", it had two tulips on one l

stem. This has not occured since that time.

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D In May of 1979, my daughter p1cked a bunch of wild field daisies, with Sl I

two grossly deformed flowers among them.

I also found three dandelions in my x

back yard that appeared to be similarly deformed.

I have found many of these j?

every year since 1979.

(My neighbor who lived here over 25 years had never a

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observed this before.

I have lived here since 1969 and had never observed this either, anywhere).

In the fall of '79, my children picked up leaves from the front yard, to do crayon " rubbings".

The leaves would not fit under a sheet of 8)" x 11" paper. One leaf would not fit where two or three used to.

I have also found abnormalities on the west shore, in the areas of the Aamodt Health Study. The plants were found easily by observing shapes or colors that weren't normal.

In May of '84, Marjorie Aamodt and I took some of the specimens collected to a botanist, Dr. James Gunckel. He is the "world authority on modifications of plant growth and development induced by ionizing radiations".

(See his affidavit attached, from the Aamodt Health Survey.) At that time Dr. Gunckel gave us two reprints of his research and mentioned clues as to what additional effects or symptoms to look for:

thickening of leave.,3 leathery leaves, unusual dwarfing, multiple leaf axils (stimulations), reversion (vegetative-floral growth back and forth), etc.

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4 To date, I have found plant abnormalities in these areas around TMI:

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Londonderry Township, Derry Township, Lower Swatara Township, Fairview Township, Harrisburg, Newberry Township, Swatara Township and Upper Allen Township.

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• The plants I've found are: daisies, dandelions, chrysanthemums, pyrethrum, sunflower, forsythia, marigolds, crown vetch, maple leaves, redbud leaves, rose leaves, queen anne's lace, corn tassels, some common weeds and a few others.

Also, very unusual growth patterns on two pine trees and dandelion leaves 31" long.

(see list and sketches attached)

I cannot say "all" abnormalities found were caused by radiation or chemicals from the Three Mile Island accident, but I believe the fallout from the accident has caused most of the effects I've seen.

..The fact that abnormalities are being found 5 years af ter the accident raises serious questions........

Is there something in the soil now that is causing these effects? Is the plant releasing enough from clean-up or Unit 1 testing to cause this now?

Has the Chinese Bomb Fallout and weapons testing combined with years of continuous radiation releases from TMI done irreversable harm to our environ-ment? To our babies, children or families? To our animals, plants, water, air and earth? What Environmental Impact Statement ?

A key point to make is the finding that these abnormalities, modifications, or mutations occured in the same areas where people have reported having the metallic taste, skins burns, and other accident related symptoms. We have found people, animal and plant effects in the same areas where symptoms were reported at the time of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. They have been discount-ed by some " experts" but not all.

The fact is there is still no other explanation to tnese terrible effects. Everything I've found seems to tie into the accident and the more one learns the more this seems to be true.

OBSERVATIONS TYPE OF PLANT LOCATION

• ABNORMALITY OBSERVED CHRYSANTHEMUMS UAT MULTIPLE BUDS.

CORN DT, E SEX REVERSAL.

CORNFLOWER ST WHITE, SHOULD BE BLUE (CHLOROSIS?).

CROWN VETCH ST CHLOROSIS (FRENCH VANILLA COLOR).

DAISY E, ST STEM FASCIATION, E _?ILFE Ei.55, AXILLARY FLOWER HEAD.

DANDELION E,ST,0,H,M DEFORMED FLOWER HEADS, MULTIPLE BLOOMS.

DANDELION LEAVES FT HUGE, 31" LONG.

FORSYTHIA E, LST MULTIPLE BUDS.

MAPLE LEAVES E,L,ST,LST MARGIN ABNORMALITY, THICK & LEATHERY, PUCKERED,.

CHLOR 0 SIS, SOME DWARFED, SOME HUGE.

MAPLE TREE ST, FT BLIND SHOOTS, EXCESS SEEDS (WOULD NOT SPROUT).

MAPLE TREES LST, ST, FT DEAD AREAS ABOUT 15' IN DIAMETER AS IF " PLUME" WENT THRU.

MARIGOLDS FT STUNTED,. STEM FASCIATION, NO FLOWER PETALS, ALL FLORETS, LEATHERY LEAVES.

ONION / GARLIC WEED ST, LST REVERSION.

PINE TREES E, ST UNUSUAL GROWTH PATTERN FOR PINE CONES, UN-USUAL MASSIVE GROWTH.

PYRETHRUM ST STEM FASCIATION, THICK LEATHERY LEAVES.

QUEEN ANNE'S LACE ST, LT PINKISH FLOWERS, WOODY STEM.

REDBUD LEAVES ST MARGIN ABNORMALITIES.

ROSE LST WHITE ROSE ON ALL YELLOW BUSH.

ROSE LEAVES LST, ST LEAF FUSION, STUNTING, CHLOROSIS, AXILLARY BUDS FORMED.

SPIDERWORT NT,ST EXTRA PETALS & STAMENS.

SUNFLOWER E, L, ST STEM FASCIATION, AXILLARY BUDS.

YELLOW BUSH TYPE WEED ST WRONG COLOR (CHLOR 0 SIS?).

• see previous page f t location code

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GLOSSARY ADVENTITIOUS BUDS: Buds formed where it shouldn't be, from tissues that shouldn't form a bud.

AXIL: Angle between leaf or leafstalk and the stem'that carries it..Any new growth or flower bud that arises from an axil is called axillary.

BLIND SHOOT: Where normal tip of shoot that' would normally have leaves or flower, but it doesn't; it just forms a long shoot tip without leaves or flowers.

BUD: A condensed shoot, often protected by overlapping scales.. A growth bud contains embryo leaves. A flower bud contains embryo flowers or flower clusters.

CHLOROSIS: A condition in which leaves become unnaturally pallid, whitish or yellow. Usually due to lack of essential minerals.

DIFURCATION: Branching'into two.

FASCIATION: Multiple stems from multiple buds.

MARGIN: The edge or boundary of any plant organ - most often applied to the border area of a leaf. (margin deformity see Redbud leaves.)

MORPHOGENETIC ABNORMALITIES: Form abnormalities.

VACUOLATIONi' Formation of a largely water filled cell.

Abnormalities have been observed in the following areas around Three Mile Island since-the spring of 1979:

LOCATION CODE * (see following page)

OT DERRY TOWNSHIP LST LOWER SWATARA TOWNSHIP E

ETTERS M

MECHANICSBURG FT FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP NT NEWBERRY TOWNSHIP H

HARRISBURG 0

OBERLIN L

LISBURN ST SWATARA TOWNSHIP LT LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP UAT UPPER ALLEN TOWNSHIP note-There have been other reports of strange or unusual ~ plant growth in the TMI area since the accident. Abnormalities are not limited to locations mention-ed here. My observations are up to the period of January 1985 and have been found as far as 15 miles from Three Mile Island. In many instances the findings seem to follow the ' plume" pathways as evidenced by the reports of exposure at time of the accident by human dosimeters.

Abnormalities / mutations occur in nature, it is the frequency of these occurences that merits attention and concern. L

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(C) h4 i-(A)-AXILLARY FLOWER HEAD (B) STEM FASCIATION (C) DEFORMED INFLORESCENCE, TOP VIEW (D) NORMAL SIDI VIEW

'(E) NORMAL TOP VIEW

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(Shape and form characteristics are similar in dandelion, sunflower, chrysanthemum and daisy) 5/84 Swatara Twp, Etters area-FIELD DAISIES

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8/84 SWATARA TWP, (0) NO DEFORMITY DANDELION AREA CLOSE TO ACTUAL SIZE n,

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9/84 NO DEFORMITY SWATARA TWP.

CHRYSANTHEMUM AREA >

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CLOSE TO ACTUAL SIZE

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SEX REVERSAL (MALE TASSEL PRODUCING FEMALE CORN)

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TASSEL OF CORN REVERSION 9/84, 8/E2 WILD GARLIC / ONION WEEC ETTERS, HERSHEY R.D.

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Another Agricultural Oddity of they..f.c ; l-

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.We.have reported on a few of the weird i

from this most abundant of growing seasons.plantstatsissued and we now have

.the 1984 garden winner. The envelope, please. Mellors; g A, And the winner is: sexual.

. ly confused corn. This has been.

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is a rare. abnormality:. tassels da f m'.

producingtheirownears.

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,i. A brieffxplanation.for city slickers:. Corn is blsexual.tThe f 1

4 ' tassel is themale organ *. The ear is the female organ. The tasse!

' sheds pollen on the ear, and the ear makes baby kernels.~

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- mental shock," he notes, "as ex-treme ' cold or a' virus infection.'

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.which is pictured here, is field corn. Lueck savs he has also seen' ' ( Corn tassels t the aberration in sweet corn. (The Scribbler once sp:ed a mirage with birtfi to their own ears

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..r:,1 Record find?

l Ermo and Donald Croce of Hershey hope their find will mushroom into o record breaker. The couple pulled the $5. pound specirnen from o sturnp in a field along Route 322 just east of Hershey yesterday. They plan to have the mushroom - which i

they claim is edible - weighed and measured of Lebanon Valley College before submimng statistics for possible inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records.

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The Bulletin Zn r

6 of the Torrey Botanical Club.d CCdcium i

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Editor-in Chief: James E. GuncLei Nn,.N =:

May ll,19Bh AFFIDAVIT 9 I have carefully examined a few specimens of ccrinan plants collected shortly after the accident at DiI and ccupared them with specimens collected more recently. The current abnormalities am probably'carr$ ed ferward by in'duced chrcricsemal aberrations. There were a number of ancmalies entdrely ccmporable to those induced by ior.1:ing radiation - stem fcsciations, grcwth stimulatien, induction of extra vegetative buds and stem tumors.

)!ost of the stem abncrmalities described in the literature, and in.my om experience, are induced by relatively high doses of I or gamma rays extending over a period of usually 2-3 menths. Notable exceptions, however, are similar responses to beta ray exposure frat radioisotopes (P32, ZnU, Cad) and for only 2h hours. In other words, it would have been possible for the types of plant abnomalities observed to have beetr induced by radicac'tive fallcut cm March 29, 1979 In discussing the general biolorical effects of irradiation, scme clari-fication may be helpfbl. In plants, the dose rate (e.g., mr/hr) is much more important than total dese' (e.g., mr/yr) in inducing abnormalities.

Furthe r, nquality factor" for ca.:ma and beta radiation is not the same as generally the assumed. In fact, I have incontrovertible experimental results to show that beta rays are at least a quality factor of two in plants.

I am the world authority on modifications,of plant growth and developnent induced by ionizing radiations, having researched this area for 3h years at the Brockhaven National inboratory and at Rutgers University.

The three nyiew papers appended attest to my expertise.

E James E. Dunckel.

L - - - -. _ _ _. _ _ _<,.

Publications of James E. Gunckel IV.

The Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Plants:

Morphological Effects, The Quarterly Review cf Biology, Vol 32, No.

1, March 1957 Modifications of Plant Griwth and Development Induced by Ionizing Radiations, Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, Vol XV/2, 1965 Aberrant Growth in Plants Induced by Ionizing Radiation, with Arnold H. Sparrow, Abnormal and Pathological Plant Growth, Brookhaven Symposia in Biology No. 6 (1954)

Ionizing Radiations:

Biochemical, Physiological and Morphological Aspects of their Effects on Plants, with A. H. Sparrow, Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, Vol XVI, 1961 I

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Publications of James E. Gunckel IV.

The Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Plants:

Morphological Effects, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol 32, No.

1, March 1957 Modifications of Plant Growth and Development Induced by Ionizing Radiations, Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, Vol XV/2, 1965 Aberrant Growth in Plants Induced by Ionizing Radiation, with Arnold H. Sparrow, Abnormal and Pathological Plant Growth, Brookhaven Symposia in Biology No. 6 (1954)

Ionizing Radiations:

Biochemical, Physiological and Morphological Aspects of their Ef fects on Plan'ts, with A. H.

Sparrow, Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, Vol XVI, 1961 i