[Reader-list] Fwd: IPPNW Calls for Uranium Mining Ban

[Nagraj Adve]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Xavier Dias <reachxdias at gmail.com>
Date: 1 September 2010 14:37


International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)Calls for
Uranium Mining Ban

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.

*'Social movements die if they do not repeatedly reinvent themselves'* Peter
Waterman

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