International physicians group calls for ban on uranium mining

[bananas]

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2010/8/31/international-physicians-group-calls-for-ban-on-uranium-mini.html

International physicians group calls for ban on uranium mining

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) adopted a resolution at its International Council meeting on Sunday in Basel, Switzerland, calling for a ban on uranium mining and the production of yellowcake (uranium oxide). The resolution described both processes as “irresponsible” and “a grave threat to health and to the environment”.

The resolution also describes uranium mining and yellowcake production as a “violation of human rights”. The right to life, liberty and security, to physical integrity, self-determination, the protection of human dignity, the right to clean water are just some of the rights that are afflicted by uranium mining and its processes, say the doctors.

The resolution follows on from a conference entitled “Sacred Lands, Poisoned People” held on August 26th, also in Basel, on uranium mining in which Beyond Nuclear's Linda Gunter participated. Activists from all of the major mining regions around the world (including Manuel Pino from Acoma Pueblo, pictured), many of them representing indigenous peoples, gathered together and exchanged information collated on health effects and damage to the environment. As a result of this data, representatives from the German and Swiss IPPNW affiliates submitted a resolution calling for a ban to the bi-annual meeting of the international IPPNW federation.

Date August 31, 2010

Press release:

http://www.nuclear-risks.org/en/news/artikel/ecc4386a2c/ippnw-calls-for-a-ban-on-uranium-min.html

31.08.2010: Press Release
IPPNW calls for a ban on uranium mining

19th IPPNW World Congress in Basel
Azara Jalawi, activist from the Tuareg in Niger, photo: Anne Tritschler

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) adopted a resolution at its International Council meeting on Sunday in Basel, Switzerland, calling for a ban on uranium mining and the production of yellowcake (uranium oxide). The resolution described both processes as “irresponsible” and “a grave threat to health and to the environment”.

The resolution also describes uranium mining and yellowcake production as a “violation of human rights”. The right to life, liberty and security, to physical integrity, self-determination, the protection of human dignity, the right to clean water are just some of the rights that are afflicted by uranium mining and its processes, say the doctors.

The resolution follows on from a conference entitled “Sacred Lands, Poisoned People” held on August 26th, also in Basel, on uranium mining. Activists from all of the major mining regions around the world, many of them representing indigenous peoples, gathered together and exchanged information collated on health effects and damage to the environment. As a result of this data, representatives from the German and Swiss IPPNW affiliates submitted a resolution calling for a ban to the bi-annual meeting of the international IPPNW federation.

The findings of the conference in Basel show that uranium mining contaminates groundwater and radioactivity remains in the heaps, tailings and evaporation ponds. Uranium and its radioactive decay elements are highly toxic. They attack inner organs and the respiratory system. Scientific studies presented show that the following diseases are caused by exposition to radon gas, uranium and uranium’s decay elements: Bronchial and lung cancer; cancer of the bone marrow, stomach, liver, intestine, gall bladder, kidneys and skin, leukemia, other blood diseases, psychological disorders and birth defects.

IPPNW sees the connection to the proliferation of nuclear weapons as particularly relevant to their work. Also, an end to the practice of uranium mining would accelerate the abandonment of nuclear energy and increase pressure to change over to renewable energies.

Press Contact: Anne Tritschler, Tel.: [phone] e-Mail
German affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War/Physicians for Social Responsibility, Körtestr. 10, 10967 Berlin, Germany, www.ippnw.de

The press release in German is at http://www.ippnw.de/startseite/artikel/5afdd83ed4/ippnw-fordert-aechtung-von-uranabbau.html

From the pdf of the resolution: http://www.nuclear-risks.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Resolution_Uranium_ban_final.pdf

INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR
19th World Congress – Basel, Switzerland
March 25‐30, 20010

RESOLUTION
Adopted on August 29, 2010
Title of Resolution: Global call to action for a ban on uranium mining
Submitted By: Helmut Lohrer
Affiliates: IPPNW Germany and PSR/IPPNW Switzerland
Date Submitted: August 18, 2010

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Uranium ore mining and the production of uranium oxide (yellowcake) are irresponsible and represent
a grave threat to health and to the environment. Both processes involve an elementary violation of
human rights and their use lead to an incalculable risk for world peace and an obstacle to nuclear
disarmament.

The International Council of IPPNW therefore resolves that:
IPPNW call for appropriate measures to ban uranium mining worldwide.

Reasons for Above:

Uranium mining contaminates groundwater and radioactivity remains in the heaps, tailings and
evaporation ponds. Uranium and its radioactive decay elements are highly toxic. They attack inner
organs and the respiratory system. Scientific studies have shown that the following diseases are caused
by exposition to radon gas, uranium and uranium’s decay elements: Bronchial and lung cancer; cancer of
the bone marrow, stomach, liver, intestine, gall bladder, kidneys and skin, leukemia, other blood
diseases, psychological disorders and birth defects.

Approximately three‐quarters of the world’s uranium is mined on territory belonging to indigenous
peoples. The inhabitants of affected regions are (for the most part) vulnerable to exposure from
radioactive substances that threaten them with short‐ and long‐term health risks and damaging genetic
effects.

As well as the direct health effects from contamination of the water, the immense water consumption in
mining regions is environmentally and economically damaging – and in turn detrimental for human
health. The extraction of water leads to a reduction of the groundwater table and thereby to
desertification; plants and animals die, the traditional subsistence of the inhabitants is eliminated, the
existence of whole cultures are threatened.

This is not all. Ending uranium mining ‐ also because of its relevance to the processing of uranium, its
military use, the production of nuclear energy and the unresolved problem of how to permanently
dispose of nuclear waste ‐ would represent a provision of preventive health care, as well as a policy of
peace and reason.

Banning uranium mining would reduce the risk of proliferation. It would make uranium resources more scarce,
thus accelerating the abandonment of the civil use of nuclear energy. The pressure on political decision‐makers
to find safe methods of permanently disposing of nuclear waste would increase. Banning uranium mining would
thus promote the phasing‐out of the irresponsible practice of using nuclear energy and increase pressure
globally to force a change‐over to renewable energies.

[DrGregory]

1. Not at all.

>Banning uranium mining would reduce the risk of proliferation.

Not at all. Uranium is one of the most uniformly
distributed elements in the Earth's crust. Take
any football field sized area and excavate it down
to about 3 feet; and you can get a couple of kilograms
of uranium from the dirt.

ANY nation on the planet has enough uranium within
their borders to make a nuclear weapon. They don't
have to go to the uranium miners. They can get the
requisite amount ANYWHERE - it's there for the taking.

If Iran or North Korea, or Libya want to make a nuclear
weapon; they can do so regardless of whether the USA or
Britain, or the Japanese are mining uranium.

It is a MYTH that nuclear power programs beget nuclear
weapons programs. Of all the present nuclear armed
nations; NONE started with a nuclear power program and
morphed that into a nuclear weapons program.

The nuclear weapons program has ALWAYS come first.

Nations start and bring to fruition nuclear weapons
programs for reasons that have NOTHING to do with
nuclear power.

Dr. Greg

[billlll]

2. 90% miners get cancer.... also... subsidies hide huge cost oF nuke power

Gregg

Pls data on bombs before N. Power.

Past pattern not obviate future NP before
NWs

[DrGregory]

3. It's just history

It's just history that bombs came first.

In the case of the USA; the Manhattan Project
which yielded nuclear weapons in 1945 came first.
The first nuclear power plant was Shippingport
in Pennsylvania in 1957; over a decade later.

For the Soviet Union, the first Soviet bomb
"Joe 1" was exploded in 1949. The first Soviet
power plant Obninsk started in 1954.

For Great Britain, their first nuclear weapon
was exploded in 1953. Their first nuclear power
plant Calder Hall started in 1956. However,
Calder Hall was part of the Windscale complex,
now Sellafield, that started as a nuclear
materials production complex for the British
nuclear weapons program.

The first French nuclear weapons test occurred
in 1960 in the French Sahara called Gerboise bleue.
The first French nuclear power plant was opened
in 1965.

What "massive subsidies" of nuclear power are you
talking about in your title? Every time some anti-
nuke claims that the nuclear power industry is getting
subsidies; I find out that they are counting the money
that the USA spends on nuclear weapons as a subsidy
to the nuclear power industry. That's as ridiculous
as counting all the money the Pentagon spends on
fighters and bombers as a subsidy to the US airline
industry.

Dr. Greg