Radioactive Powder Injures Hundreds of Brazilians
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Ecology and the Environment Series
- Categories: Science, Medicine, Health, Environmental Issues, Disasters
- Subcategories: Ecology, Environment, Conservation
- Curriculum: Latin American History
- Geographical Location: Brazil
- Date: September-October, 1987
Article abstract: More than two hundred people were exposed to radiation after a container retrieved from a defunct cancer clinic was opened, revealing radioactive powder.
Summary of Event
On September 13, 1987, Roberto Santos Alves and Wagner Pereira Mota found a radiotherapy machine in an abandoned cancer clinic in Goiania, a rapidly growing city of approximately one million inhabitants on Brazil’s central plateau, 130 miles southwest of the capital, Brasilia. The two unemployed men earned a meager living by scavenging for paper and metal objects...
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