[ RadSafe ] Ranger uranium company in Australia & cancer clusters among aborigines

[Maury Siskel]

Here we go -- this is what you sought:
Cheers,
Mauryr&Dog
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http://www.environment.gov.au/ssd/publications/ssr/185.html

Study finds almost doubled cancer rate among Aborigines near Ranger mine

Cancer cases among Aborigines near the Ranger uranium mine appear to be 
almost double the normal rate, according to a study by the Australian 
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies external link 
(AIATSIS), the Federal Government's leading indigenous research body.
The study also found there had been no monitoring in the past 20 years 
of the Ranger mine's impact on the health of local indigenous people. 
Yet since 1981 there have been more than 120 spillages and leaks of 
contaminated water at the mine, located in the World Heritage-listed 
Kakadu National Park.

The study compared Aborigines diagnosed with cancer in the Kakadu region 
with the cancer rate among all Aboriginal people in the Northern 
Territory from 1994 to 2003. It found the diagnosis rate was 90 per cent 
higher than expected in the Kakadu region, with 27 cases reported. If 
the diagnosis rate had been proportional to the territory's overall 
Aboriginal population, there would have been 14 cases.

A spokeswoman for federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said the study's 
findings on cancer rates were questionable. NT health department chief 
executive Robert Griew was also sceptical. "The excess cancers found are 
not typical of cancers caused by radiation but rather cover the range of 
cancers that reflect lifestyle issues such as smoking, diet and 
infection." (The Age Nov. 23, 2006)

On Nov. 23, 2006, the AIATSIS chairman stated that the "draft discussion 
paper entitled Aborigines and Uranium Mining in the Northern Territory 
authored by Professor Colin Tatz external link et al [...] was neither 
commissioned nor authorized by the Institute's Governing Council and 
[...] does not represent a finalized report."

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Bjorn Cedervall wrote:

>Does my subject line ring any bells?
> 
>If you have any information on this topic, please comment, send links
>or whatever so I can become aquainted with any facts.
> 
>My personal initiative only,
> 
>Bjorn Cedervall   bcradsafers at hotmail.com
> 
>  
>