Mary Stamos, a long-time member of
TMI Alert’s Planning Council, has been
collecting samples of mutated plants
since the TMI meltdown in 1979. Now the
world’s foremost museum and research
complex, the Smithsonian Institution,
has expressed interest in acquiring her
collection. A small group of TMI Alert
volunteers, under the leadership of Scott
Portzline, spent hundreds of hours over
four months documenting her collection.
There are probably more than a thousand specimens that have been grouped into 320 separate exhibits. Each exhibit was photographed and documented with information about where found, when found, a brief description, and recorded comments from Mary about unique aspects of specific pieces.
There are probably more than a thousand specimens that have been grouped into 320 separate exhibits. Each exhibit was photographed and documented with information about where found, when found, a brief description, and recorded comments from Mary about unique aspects of specific pieces.
The collection is headed to the
Natural History Museum’s Department
of Botany where the individual pieces
will be analyzed to ascertain if radiation
from TMI caused the cellular structure
of the plants to be altered. TMI Alert
plans to post the entire database on its
website so the public can examine the
data, see the photos, and read or hear
Mary’s comments about the specimens.
Reprinted with permission from the January 2019 TMI Alert.
Reprinted with permission from the January 2019 TMI Alert.
