EntityMalformedException: Missing bundle property on entity of type file. in entity_extract_ids() (line 8097 of /home/customer/www/theorichel.nl/public_html/includes/common.inc English articles and videos by Theo Richel | Theo Richel

English articles and videos by Theo Richel

Dioxin, PFAS and the nonsensical chemophobia

In 1984 I made a report for a Dutch leftwing tv-station about the contamination of breast milk with so-called PCBs and dioxins, dangerous substances that seemed to disrupt the development of the infants. No longer than six weeks of breastfeeding advised a chemist on the broadcast! Mothers tore their babies off their breasts in a panic, the Telegraaf headlined: Infant care overrun by breast milk panic! Everyone knew: another poison scandal!


Europe has a new enemy (apart from itself)

Have the United States just committed an act of war against Europe? It looks very much so but the victim, Europe, is silent and seems to find it embarrassing to even talk about this huge attack on the continents’ energy infrastructure. No protests towards the US from Europe are heard. Probably that is because we also need the US to supply us with super-expensive gas. And we need US military protection against evil Russia as well. Better shut up then.

De-energizing Europe

After a thousand years of war and endless negotiating, the 30+ countries of Europe finally agree: We Must Switch The Lights Off! 
There is a lot more than a grain of truth in this cynical remark, Europe IS shutting down, on all fronts. A rabid fixation on Putin and a religious fear for climate change have set the stage for deindustrialisation, hunger and cold, this winter and the years thereafter. All self afflicted. A very serious contender for the Darwin Award

About the insane cost to cure your insane fear of nuclear energy

Radiation specialists are not easily scared

In october 2018 200 radiation experts at a conference in Pascoe (WA) were asked: .

Suppose the government knocks on your door in the middle of the night and says: 'There has been a nuclear accident! Radiation is being released, You have to get out of here! Evacuate!'

How would you react to that?

No More Radiophobia!

High Time To Go Nuclear!

This man (eats) ate uranium

Professor irradiates his own kids without medical necessity

Webinar prof. Ron Chesser about Chernobyl-nature

Encouraging pilotstudy suggests low dose radiation can cure Covid-19 pneumonia


Update: Two patients in India also improved on radiation. Here.


A small medical experiment at Emory University Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta has fanned hope that a low dose of radiation can cure the often fatal pneumonia associated with Covid-19 - and within  just a few days! This good news deserves however some nuancing because it only concerns 5 patients and this is not a so-called 'randomized clinical trial', which is a condition for scientific acceptance. Further pilots are now taking place in India, Spain, Italy and Iran and a real RCT in the US in total involving 275 patients (See here). The interesting thing that this is actually old news. In the first half of the 20th century pneumona and lots of other infections were often treated with low dow dose radiation and according to a plethora of studies: successfully. The fact that no good treatment exists for Covid-19 renewed interest in low dose radiation. 

'Fukushima' was worse than an atomic bomb - but not because of the radiation

When the realisation sunk in that the 2011 evacuation of 100.000 people from Fukushima for fear of radioactive fallout had taken 1600 or more lives (here). the question arose whether it might have been better to not evacuate at all.  Radiation had claimed no lives but radiation scientists knew that the released radiation could never have caused so many casualties, the panicky evacuation itself was the culprit. Just how many lives would have been lost should the people have been asked to stay home and just sit through the fallout? There now is an answer to that question. Spoiler: none.

A recent study (attached)  compares the event in Fukushima with those in St George in the American state of Utah where in the 1950ies a lot of fall out came down from nuclear tests in neighboring Nevada. In general, the fallout (from the 100 tests) was rather limited, but 'Harry', a bomb of 32 kilotons (about twice Hiroshima) that was detonated on May 19, 1953, stood out and was therefore called 'Dirty Harry'. St George was not evacuated, though the population was asked to stay inside.

Are We Too Afraid Of The Atomic Bomb?

Most writers don't like to hear that readers fall asleep on their books but professor John Mueller of Ohio State University explicitly hopes you do so while reading his book 'Atomic Obsession'[1]. This is about the permanent global fear of a devastating nuclear war, and in his view this fear needlessly keeps many people awake.


Does environmentalism kill?

How much does it cost to save a human life? If you let a doctor do the work it costs about 20.000 dollars, if you let the environmental movement take care of it, you may count on a price of 3 billion dollars. Conclusion: if we would spend less on the environment we would probably all live longer, because: money that is spent on small risks is not available for the big risks anymore.

1999-01-01 00:00:00

Nuclear drones

You already knew that submarines can be propelled by a nuclear power plant and possibly also that on Mars a car rides with plutonium as fuel. But it’s likely news that experiments are going on  with airplanes that use uranium or other nuclear material to stay airborne. A flying nuclear power plant, but unmanned, so it is essentially a drone. It is a secretive project, but it is clear that at least one of these drones has taken to the air.

Nations still smiles apart

1992-01-01 00:00:00

Will Human Life Expectancy Quadruple in the Next 100 Years? 60 Gerontologists Say, "Public Debate on Life Extension Is Necessary"

Abstract: 60 scientists in the field of biogerontology were asked to give their personal estimates regarding the development of future life expectancy. The median of these estimates is that a person born in the year 2100 will have a life expectancy of 100, the average mean is 292 years. Changes in biogerontology are discussed whereby the old search for the fountain of youth gains respectability again and competes to replace the gerontologists current mission to compress morbidity. Some anti-aging developments are discussed.

2003-01-01 00:00:00

Deadly assumptions: Radiation and Risk

The number of future cancer deaths as a consequence of the disaster in Chernobyl has been adjusted downward from tens/ hundreds of thousands to 4000, but even this estimate may be way too high. It is quite likely that the bookkeepers of Russian health will one day have to register a cancer deficit among the people who were irradiated in 1986. That many people in that area do NOT have cancer as a result of their extra dosis of radiation. 

2005-01-01 00:00:00

Visit to Chernobyl

According to the media, the environmental organizations and the general public the area around the power plant of Chernobyl that burned down in 1986, will be impossible to live in for many hundreds of years. Nuclear experts are a lot less pessimistic. The Polish professor Zbigniew Jaworowski (1927-2011) calls the evacuation of 300.000 people even ‘nonsensical’ and the Ukrainian government has decided to make the larger part of the Forbidden Zone freely accessible in the near future because the radiation levels there are so low (more on that later).

2012-01-01 00:00:00

LOVE PILLS (This story is from long before Viagra.)

It is a centuries old boys dream. You are talking to a very desirable woman and tormented with wonder how she could be seduced. When she heads for the ladies' room, there comes an opportunity: secretly you pour a Magical Chemical Substance in her drink - which is not to remain without effect. On taking a first nip, her initial coolness disappears. She becomes wild and desperate, and Oh! Does She Need A MAN!

Evacuation Fukushima Deadlier Than The Radiation

Geëvacueerde mensen in FukushimaThe number of casualties caused by the radiation that was released in the Fukushima accident is zero and will probably stay zero. We have stated that on this website multiple times and there is no reason whatsoever to change that position.

Mentally unbanning DDT

The World Health Organisation has unbanned DDT and now considers that pesticide a major tool in the fight against malaria, the dreaded disease that hits half a billion people and kills 1-2.7 million each year ( mostly sub-Saharan children). Many have expressed their happiness about this and expect that malaria will soon be dealt a final blow,  but that may be a bit too early because this WHO decision may be one barrier less for the use of this ‘weapon of mass survival’: the resistance against the use of it is still considerable.