Word: goiania
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...lovely phosphorescent powder was unlike anything Leide das Neves Ferreira, 6, had ever seen. Her father, a junk dealer in the Brazilian city of Goiania, discovered the mysterious substance when he pried open a heavy lead casing that a scavenger had sold him. Leide rubbed the powder on her body so that she glowed and sparkled. Dust fell on the sandwich she was eating. Leide, her father and the scrap collector were in critical condition at a Rio de Janeiro hospital last week, not expected to survive...The ten Goiania victims in most serious condition, including Leide, were flown...
Nippita, who worked in the fairly remote city of Goiania in central Brazil, remembers particularly one day-trip to a lake six hours north of the city...
Indeed, Brazilian authorities were dealing with the worst known episode of radioactive contamination in the West. In mid-September, a hapless junkyard dealer in Goiania (pop. 1.2 million), a city about 120 miles southwest of Brasilia, had pried open a lead cylinder containing a capsule of radioactive cesium 137, an isotope used for treating cancer. The canister had been sold to him as scrap from an abandoned local medical clinic. During the next six days, more than 200 townspeople were exposed to and at least one even ate the deadly bluish powder before Brazilian officials could contain the contamination...
...drama of the radioactive junkyard is far from over. Doctors will watch ! the survivors closely, particularly for signs of leukemia and skin cancer. The event may have other repercussions as well. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Goiania have all shown that nuclear accidents can happen. Doctors are confident that they can meet medical needs in small incidents. However, larger accidents require more technology and resources than any one country can provide. "It would be irresponsible not to take advantage of what we, the Soviets and the Brazilians have learned," says Gale. "We should pool that knowledge." Grim practice...
Meanwhile, investigators armed with Geiger counters were searching for other contaminated areas in Goiania (pop. 1.2 million), in central Brazil. Authorities have checked more than 4,000 people for exposure and evacuated 30 families from their homes, many of which were near the junkyard...