In 1964, a U.S. mission carrying a SNAP-9A nuclear device tumbled to Earth and disintegrated, releasing 2.1 pounds of plutonium into the air. Dr. John Gofman, a physician who specializes in nuclear medicine and a former member of the Manhattan Project, conducted research on this accident. As a result of the SNAP-9A accident, Gofman hypothesizes that every human on Earth carries traces of plutonium in the body. This incident has led to the increased global rate of lung cancer, he said. Five billion people worldwide would receive 99 percent of the radiation exposure possible.
Lung cancer is first on the list.
But exposure to plutonium can also cause liver cancer, as the cancerous cells spread through the bloodstream. Either can be fatal. NASA underestimated the cancer alone by 2,000 to 4,000 times. The actual death toll may be as high as 30 to 40 million, said Dr. Ernest Sternglass, professor emeritus of radiological physics at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine and a collaborator on the Cancel Cassini movement. Genetic mutations in future generations are another possible effect of radiation exposure.