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Laboratory Director John Browne has completed a set of answers to questions submitted to future@lanl.gov (see the Director's home page under "Ask the Director"). In this latest set, the director answers questions on help for foreign nationals, the sharing of information by management, safe work practices and numerous quesitons on salary increases, job content and performance scores. The director always is open to employee questions and will answer those sent to him at future@lanl.gov by electronic mail. Questions sent to future@lanl.gov are received by the Ombuds Office and any information that might identify the questioner is removed before they are sent to the director. |
Science writer: global health is at a
turning point
A 1955 study determined the global life expectancy to be 48 years of age. The small pox epidemic, which was controlled in 1977, killed more people in the 20th century that all the world wars combined. From 1980 to 2000 the number of Americans who died of infectious diseases doubled, a trend seen in most industrial societies.
One billion people worldwide drink unsafe water. The AIDS epidemic is the single greatest pandemic in history. It has long since eclipsed the Black Death in the number of people killed. It is estimated that by 2020 6,427,000 people will have died of AIDS alone. These were some of the grim facts that speaker Laurie Garrett discussed in a Director's Colloquium Monday entitled "Global Health at a Turning Point?"
Garrett suggested in her talk that although global health may be at a turning point it is most certainly not on the upswing. "Public health is not equal to poor people's medicine. Public health deals with clean air and water supply. When public health is working it's a negative, nothing is happening," Garrett said.
The award winning Newsday science writer and author of two books, Garrett pointed out that "life expectancy is a good indicator of the success or failure of public health." From 1700 to 1971, life expectancy increased dramatically. "So what made the difference?" Garrett asked. The difference was a dramatic improvement in the public health arena, with improvements in antibiotics, housing, basic living environments, water purity, agriculture, the introduction of the ice box and an improved transportation system, she said.
Unfortunately, most of today's global health issues are a direct result of globalization and industrialization, Garrett said. "One of the disadvantages of global fluidity is microbial disease," said Garrett.
Garrett said one problem is that mosquitoes have become resistant to pesticides; there has been a dramatic increase in the medicinal use of unclean syringes; and there has been an extreme overuse of antibiotics. Garrett told Lab workers in the Administration Building Auditorium that the largest percentage of antibiotics are used on animals, not to prevent diseases, but instead to stimulate the growth of the animal. Misuse of antibiotics and the increase in black market trade of antibiotics are two reasons that antibiotics are becoming useless, she said. "How long do we have before antibiotics are completely useless? And what can be done?" Garrett asked.
"What we are seeing is the human facilitation of disease," Garrett said. Garrett mentioned that approximately 40 million people acquire infectious diseases in a hospital and that most hospitals no longer cooperate with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys.
Another topic that Garrett discussed deals with recognizing the difference between a natural epidemic and one that is created. In several role-playing activities Garrett said she's participated in, the average recognition and response to a bio-terrorist attack is about five days after the initial attack. By that time, according to a model, 32,000 people will have died, she said.
Despite the raw facts she presented, Garrett said there are positive steops that can be taken. She said that with the implementation of several simple public health practices, the implementation of self-destructible syringes for example, millions of lives a year can be saved. "Money and a political will can make all the difference," Garrett added.
"What we are watching die is not just people, but entire cultures. This is the Black Death in terms of cultural impact," said Garrett. "It changed the entire world."
For more information on Garrett, go to http://www.lauriegarrett.com online.
-- Leah Gardner
The south lagoon at Technical Area 53, shown prior to its cleanup, is one of three evaporation ponds at the site. Cleanup of this lagoon has been successfully completed. Photo courtesy of Gracia Coffin, Environmental Restoration (E-ER) Project Office
LANSCE lagoon cleanup successful
The Environmental Restoration Project (E-ER) has finished removing contaminated sludge from the southernmost of three lagoons at Technical Area 53.
The southern lagoon - 305 feet long, 148 feet wide and six feet deep - had a storage capacity of approximately 2.6 million gallons. Constructed in 1985 to collect excess sanitary wastewater from two smaller lagoons to the north, it also received low-level radioactive contaminated wastewater. The wastewater was used for cooling the magnets and target element at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center accelerator, and picked up the low-level contamination from the accelerator's target. The south lagoon operated from 1992 until it was closed in 1998 when a new liquid wastewater treatment facility at TA-53 was built.
All three lagoons worked via evaporation. The wastewater was first pumped into storage tanks to allow short-lived radioisotopes to decay away, then was pumped into the lagoons to evaporate.
Gabriela Lopez-Escobedo of Environmental Technology (E-ET), team leader for the cleanup, said her team first analyzed the sludge at the bottom of the southern lagoon to determine if it was hazardous and/or had radioactive contamination. The samples were sent to an independent lab for analysis.
"We measured and analyzed for inorganic and organic compounds and radioisotopes in the sludge," Lopez-Escobedo said. "The data revealed only minute levels of organic and inorganics at levels that would not be classified as hazardous. The data also revealed isotopes of uranium, plutonium, tritium lutetium and other elements from the wastewater."
Because of the presence of radioactive elements, worker safety became a major emphasis, she noted. Her team developed a stringent safety plan that included:
"A lot of the work was done last July and August, so you can imagine how hot some of the workers were while wearing multiple layers of personal protective equipment in addition to respirators," said Lopez-Escobedo. "We implemented various measures to mitigate the potential for heat stress and dehydration."
Results from daily air monitoring showed no radioactivity in dust particulates at the site, which enabled workers to forego the use of respirators. Measurements also confirmed that doses were maintained below set limits for individuals and the team.
The sludge was scooped from the lagoon and loaded into special boxes. The team filled 54 boxes with about three cubic yards of the sludge. The lagoon's liner - an additional 60 cubic yards - also was removed and placed in dumpster-like containers called rolloffs. Used personal protective equipment, plastic and other equipment also went into the rolloff dumpsters.
The containers were cleaned at a contamination reduction area just outside the lagoon after they were filled, then shipped to the Area-G landfill at TA-54. The heavy equipment also was decontaminated.
Lopez-Escobedo says more work remains. An independent laboratory is analyzing soil samples taken from boreholes 18 feet below the lagoon. More will be taken at the 200- to - 300-foot level to determine if any leakage occurred and if further corrective action is required. The team also will take samples from a nearby canyon where discharges were released from the northern lagoons to determine if that area needs remediation.
Next, the ER team is looking to do similar cleanup work to the two northern lagoons at TA-53, which have lower contaminant levels than the south lagoon. Lopez-Escobedo says ER hopes to award a contract for that work this month.
--John Bass
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What goes down must come up Work on the Nonproliferation and International Security Center (NISC) at Technical Area 3 continues as workers pour the basement walls. Pouring the basement floor has been completed and workers will begin erecting structural steel in mid-August. The NISC building is adjacent to the Strategic Computing Complex, at right in photo. Hensel Phelps is the general contractor for the $63 million project. Work on the building is about 20 percent complete, according to Bill Hamilton of Deployed Services (PM-DS) and the building's project manager. The center will house about 450 people when completed in January 2003. For more information and to see webcam updates, go to the NISC Web page at http://ext.lanl.gov:80/orgs/nis/nisc/ online. Photo by Andrew Chavez, Associate Laboratory Directorate for Threat Reduction (ALDTR) |
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Director answers employee
questions
Purchasing
guidelines deadline approaches
