BBC has just reported that the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority has recently published an advertisement in the Urdu dailies across Pakistan informing people to alert officials if they find any “lost or stolen” radioactive material.
BBC goes on to report a clarification issued by the Information Services Director of Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority that the adverts were merely a ‘public awareness campaign’ to make people aware of the dangers of radiation from material that might have been used in hospitals and industrial plants. They clarify that “This is according to a cradle to the grave concept where records are kept of any radioactive source entering into the country until its final disposal.”
I would have to admit that I myself have not seen the advertisement per se to be critical of the exact Urdu wordings written on the advert but can make out only a few readable words from the small image appearing on BBC (also attached here). The first point indeed go on to warn people to be aware of radioactive material lying around and then the ad warns people to be careful and report it to the authorities. Even if it is supposed to be a public awareness campaign I think it is definitely awkward to use the words lying around especially in regards to radioactive material.
It sure is an awkward way of educating the public, at first instance one does logically assume that it could be possible that Pakistan and PNRA may have accidentally misplaced some of the precious nuclear material and the hunt is on, Yikes, I sure hope not. PNRA get your act together you simply cant mess up with such sensitive issues, every word, every statement you make must be weighed carefully before even uttering a peep.
Comments
12 responses to “Has Pakistan Lost Nuclear Material?”
looks like a public awareness campaign to me the first line warns people of the radioactive substance where does it say lost and stolen in the ad?
It would be nice to have a look at the larger version of the ad I hope someone here has seen this to guide us on where exactly to locate this advert, I in fact tried to locate it on the Jang website tracing back to a few days but was unlucky.
Mind you I quote BBC on the words Lost and Stolen. I apologize for not having placed the words in proper inverted commas to emphasize it more.
You can find the ad in Jang’s monday (30th April) edition on 2nd page. Can’t say abt the online edition but it is there in the print edition!
BBC loves to give a twisted angle at times … but we’ll look around with a close eyes anyways
so I tried to read the image heres what the four points are:
1. agar aapnae ird gird dabbae ya packet par yae nishaan dekhaen aas paas miltae jultae alfaaz dekhaen to hargizz laparwae na karaen iss maen taabkaar maada hosakta hae
2. issae uthaanae ya choonae sae parhaiz karaen
3. iss sae kam azz kam do meter duur rahaen aur doosroan ko bhee kareeb aanae sae manaa karaen
4. foree tor pae mandarja zael number par itala karaen takae issae tareekae sae thikaanae lagaya jasakaae
also the image seems to be clipped at the bottom so cant say what the rest of the advert says
I doubt its BBC ke shararat
Radioactive materials can found in medical/hospital waste as well.
And given the number of scavengers in our country who go through trash for a living, I think its a good thing to be informing/warning the population about the dangers of radiation.
Isn’t it the ideal plot? Radioactive material lost and may slip into terrorists’ hands. Time for the allies to act.
w0w ~~ i love nuke 😀
What do you think of this http://samsonblinded.org/blog/dont-buy-reformism.htm ?
I was searching around and saw this page today. First of all, i will say that please kindly correct your knowledge. Title of the post and the image have no relation with each other. Nuclear Material and Radiation are two different things. The ad is related to radiation, not nuclear material. Radioactive material is present everywhere, in UK and US too. Its present everywhere then how it can be lost? Radioactive waves are spread from different materials like X-ray machines, mobile towers etc. So there is no issue of nuclear material at all. This ad was published in newspapers as part of public awareness about radiation. Major source of radiation are hospitals. If u read the last lines of the ad, “tabkar maday tibb, sanhat aur zarahat ki tehqeeq k liye istehmal hotay hain, jahan say ye gum ya chori honay par logon ko nuqsan pohancha saktay hain” And at the end “hamara azzam, tabkari k muzir asraat say mehfooz zindagi”. This ad was first published in April 2007. In june 2007, similar ads were published for public awareness about x-rays machine. Message was ” X-Rays need extra care. Do you know? getting x-ray from substandard x-ray ceneters recommended by non qualified medical practitioners may cause severe health problems including cancer. to protect your life from harmful effects of radiation, observe the following basic rules: Get x-ray only on the recommendations of a qualified medical practioner/doctor only. visit x-ray centers equipped with all necessary facilities and expertise. avoid entering x-ray room without any valid reason. ” and in the last line ” Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority has issued licenses to those x-ray centers which fulfill its requirements to protect the public and ther operator.” “Out Goal: To protect life from harmful effects of radiation”. This was published on 22 June 2007. And on 25 June 2007, a similar ad was published for scrap dealers. As radioactive materials are used commonly in many ways, so there is a chance that someone may misplace them as scrap.
As far as nuclear material is concerned, it is not possible that any nuclear material can be lost or misplaced. Pakistan follows the international security measures for nuclear installments and its not possible that any nuclear material can be lost.
Hope everything is clear now. As far as BBC’s report is concerned. I’l just say that they are spreading disinformation. Mixing nukes with radioactive materials. Its all their lack of knowledge.
i want congratulate ahsan for his exlent comment. this is way that we must look on sensitive issue. and i request peple to first have all relvant knwolege thn made a comment.
Kauda Pahar nila choha. Please some body could translate it in English. Had ho gi bhi