NUCLEAR SPINBUSTING -theme for May
In Australia,The nuclear/uranium lobby is very cleverly spinning the Fukushima disaster. They are spinning two main lies:
1.downplaying Fukushima- that because of Fukushima nuclear power will now be made safe, (and even Fukushima is not so bad really, low level radiation is “acceptable”).
2. uranium is a good investment - current low share prices are “short term” – the “long term fundamentals” are really good.
Fortunately, the world, even including Australia, has now an unprecedented openness. Ziggy Switkowski, Barry Brook, Michael Angwin, and many other worthy stuffed shirts swan around Australia, spinning to carefully selected audiences, and feeding media handouts to THE AUSTRALIAN.
But they will be held accountable.There are many out there – economists, ecologists, radiology experts, public health experts, epidemiologists , even some nuclear physicists- who are not beholden to the nuclear industry.The nuclear spin bubbles will be burst, and the truth will out.
Famous Kakadu National Park in peril from radiation
For 30 years about 100,000 litres of contaminated water a day has been leaking from the tailings dam into fissures beneath Kakadu
Radioactive water threatens Kakadu, The Age, Lindsay Murdoch, April 16, 2011 Radioactive water is in danger of spilling into an Aboriginal community and Kakadu’s World Heritage-listed wetlands if record rainfalls continue to deluge the vast Ranger uranium mine. Read more »
Rio Tinto chief avoids discussion of Jabiluka uranium mine
ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson told The Australian that ERA did not want Jabiluka –.. to become part of Kakadu…If Rio approaches the Mirarr people about development and gets knocked back, it is unable to make another approach for four years…
Du Plessis sidesteps questions on Jabiluka uranium * Matt Chambers The Australian * April 16, 2011 RIO Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis has sidestepped questions over the future of the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory, with the traditional owners of the area wanting it merged into Kakadu National Park so it cannot be mined. Read more »
World Health Organisation must cut free from International Atomic Energy Agency
open and transparent data must be collected and maintained for all biological systems – human, animal, plant….The World Health Organization (WHO) must sever its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in place since 1959, and assume independent responsibility in support of international health.
Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11“…….Many pro-nuclear critics have downplayed the risks from Chernobyl, attributing concerns to “radio-phobia”; but documentation of disease is not limited to the human population. With few exceptions, animal and plant systems that were studied demonstrated structural abnormalities in offspring, loss of tolerance and viability, and genetic changes. Wild animals and plants do not drink alcohol, smoke or worry about compensation – so those factors cannot be held responsible. Read more »
Letter to United Nations from Yvonne Margarula
Yvonne Margarula’s letter to the UN expressing solidarity with the people of Fukushima , | Indymedia Australia, 16 Apr 2011 Below is a letter sent by Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar people to Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UN on the 6th of April 2011. The Mirrar are the traditional owners of the land that Ranger and Jabiluka Uranium mines are located on. These mines have been developed without the consent of the Mirrar people. The letter expresses solidarity with the people of Japan and sorrow that uraniun from the land of the Mirrar was used in the Fukushima plant. Read more »
Germany firm on closing nuclear industry
Germany already generates some 17 per cent of its electricity from renewables, a total it wants to increase to 40 per cent by 2020.
Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat The Irish Times – Sat, Apr 16, 2011 DEREK SCALLY A MONTH after her spectacular U-turn on nuclear energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday gave her officials six weeks to formulate a new national power plan for renewable and gas energy. Read more »
This month
For international news, go to nuclear-news ion for Western Australia’s energy future
http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5755 Mary Olson on how women are more vulnerable to atomic radiation
- Muckaty Gathering 25 May 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1J9q-OeEO4 - NuclearKop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMhhzkeYjk
Anti nuclear action below: - more info at Action Australia « Antinuclear and at Event details « Antinuclear
- http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/put-the-brakes-on-toxic-trucks-no-nuclear-waste-at-muckaty
- Online Petition - against the proposed national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/no-nuclear-waste-dump-at-muckaty.htmlUranium Free WA Sign the online charter saying no to uranium mining in Western Australia http://ccwa.org.au/takeaction/uraniumnotforsaleSIGN THE PETITION TO STOP LYNAS RARE EARTH EXPORTS TO MALAYSIA http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-rare-earth-exports/
EVENTS
- May 29 – Melbourne - Amnesty International panel on weapons and war .
- May 29 – 30 Melbourne - Wind Farms conference
- May 30 Darwin - expert Panel on Nuclear Waste Dump plan for Muckaty
- June 2 - Nuclear Abolition Day
- June 13 - Melbourne -Lizards Revenge -Shut Roxby Down
- June 14 Melbourne Beyond Zero Emissions ZCA 2020 plan.
- June 19 - Melbourne Public meeting US FORCES IN AUSTRALIA: SECURITY OR THREAT? USforcesflyer-2.pdf
The Nuclear/uranium industry and WOMEN - theme for May 2012
Deceptive information given to women about breast cancer. Women are repeatedly told about “genetic causes”, about “risks of obesity:. about “diet factors”, about “not having babies”, or “having a baby at a later age” even about “stress” – as causes of breast cancer. The not so subtle message is that it is THEIR FAULT – a problem caused by the individual woman, so – the only preventive actions must be those made by individual women.
The facts are otherwise. The single most proven cause of breast cancer is ionising radiation. After that, other environmental causes exist, amongst the wash of chemicals, and synthetic hormones, that pervade our environment. After that – probably some hereditary susceptability, amongst some women.
Why is this so? One could conclude that breast cancer is a growth industry. There’s money at every point in this sorry cycle – from the radiation from nuclear fuel through to the medical radiation used to detect and treat breast cancer. There is no money clearly involved in shutting down a toxic industry, and preventing millions of breast cancers.
How does ionising radiation cause breast cancer? Ionising radiation comes in several forms. for example, Gamma rays, x-rays, and some sub-atomic particles such as alpha particles and protons In ionising radiation, a tiny electron is released from an atom, and enters a body cell, hitting the DNA in the cell’s nucleus, and damaging it. The damaged DNA sends out ‘wrong’ messages telling the cell to divide in an uncontrolled manner – cancer develops.
“...the time between radiation exposure and breast cancer development is longest in young women and shortest for older women; young children do not show a detectable elevation in breast cancer occurrence for some 35 to 40 years after exposure. Radiation-induced breast cancers appear to occur later in life during the same ages when breast cancer rates, in general, begin to increase. It appears that a single exposure of sufficient dose during early life can increase breast cancer risk even 50 years later...
the relationship between radiation dose and breast cancer risk can be described by a straight line which implies that no matter how low the dose, there is some small risk associated with the exposure.…
The risk of subsequent breast cancer from very high doses is lower than that which might be expected from the effects of lower doses. This is because radiation at high doses is an effective killer of cells and dead cells are not able to develop into cancer…..
Young girls are at highest risk …when a young girl is exposed to radiation, she will have menstrual cycles for several decades that might enhance the development of any underlying damage caused by the radiation. There is evidence to suggest that exposure to the immature breast during early development, and around the age of beginning menstruation, carries a higher risk than at other times of a woman’s life.
It is unclear how radiation exposure of the breast during pregnancy affects a woman’s breast cancer risk. However, a recent study of women treated for Hodgkin’s disease concluded that pregnancy might be a time of increased sensitivity of breast tissue to the cancercausing effects of radiation……”
.” John D Boyce, Jr, DSc, Scientific Director,Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State.. Ionizing Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk
