Re: more Durakovic

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@yahoo.com>]

I bet the Uranium Medical Research Center finds

positive results of uranium uptake in people who are

"sick."   Let the games begin.



--- "Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca> wrote:



> FYI....

> 

> Jaro 

> 

> > Town under radiation microscope; Port Hope home to

> uranium processing

> > plant Study will test few townspeople for

> radiation exposure 

> > National Report

> > Toronto Star, 22 January 2005

> > Kate Harries 

> > PORT HOPE -- An internationally recognized nuclear

> medical expert will

> > study residents here for evidence of sickness

> resulting from exposure to

> > radioactive materials. 

> > Dr. Asaf Durakovic, research director of the

> Uranium Medical Research

> > Center in Washington, D.C., a non-profit

> organization that also has an

> > office in Toronto, says he agreed to undertake the

> study at the request of

> > a local committee. 

> > "There are sick people in Port Hope who are not

> being cared (for) by

> > anyone," Durakovic says. "If someone asks us for

> assistance, we have no

> > moral or ethical right to refuse such a request." 

> > While Health Canada has found that cancer and

> mortality statistics in this

> > town of 15,000 are comparable with Ontario as a

> whole and other similar

> > communities in the province, some residents are

> welcoming the study as the

> > first in which there will be actual physical tests

> of people. 

> > "This is a very big step forward," says Faye More,

> chair of the Community

> > Health Concerns Committee, an independent

> citizens' group that has been

> > pushing for a health study of Port Hope residents

> for 10 years. 

> > "These aren't theoretical models on computers.

> We're finally doing an

> > investigation into the possible effect on people

> who live here." 

> > The Uranium Medical Research Center tested Iraqi

> civilians exposed to

> > bombing during Operation Iraqi Freedom and found

> high levels of depleted

> > uranium in some people. 

> > Durakovic says committee members presented him

> with clinical histories of

> > specific individuals and hearsay evidence of the

> prevalence in the town of

> > cancers and respiratory, renal and immune system

> problems that could be

> > attributable to uranium exposure. 

> > He says he feels the town's history as the home of

> a nuclear processing

> > facility for more than 70 years points to the need

> for a properly

> > structured study. 

> > The project has the potential for controversy,

> coming at a time of renewed

> > interest in the activities of uranium giant Cameco

> Corp., which is seeking

> > federal approval for a plan to produce a new and

> more potent nuclear fuel

> > here. 

> > Cameco vice-president Robert Steane has raised

> questions about the

> > credibility of the Uranium Medical Research

> Center, charging that it is an

> > activist organization that is neither independent

> nor objective. 

> > "We are sure we share a desire that any public

> health testing does not

> > lead to unsupportable findings that needlessly

> alarm the residents of Port

> > Hope," Steane wrote in a recent letter to the

> health concerns committee,

> > demanding assurances that the testing follow

> recognized scientific

> > protocols. 

> > Port Hope Mayor Rick Austin also questions the

> value of the study, noting

> > the small number of participants that are proposed

> - around a dozen

> > people. 

> > "Can that give you a good indication?" he asks,

> adding: "As a mayor, I

> > would like to go forward rather than backwards.

> There's nothing we can do

> > about the past." 

> > Such skepticism is widespread, says Port Hope

> resident Derrick Kelly, one

> > of about 100 people who attended a meeting the

> week before Christmas to

> > hear Durakovic outline his plans. 

> > "Most old-time Port Hopers like myself have got so

> bored of the issue,"

> > Kelly says, adding that there's a willingness to

> believe the reassurances

> > of experts and an unwillingness to rock the boat. 

> > But Kelly says he's concerned, and questions

> whether Cameco should be

> > operating in the centre of the town. 

> > A silent auction at the meeting raised $2,600

> toward the cost of the

> > testing - which More says will be $30,000 for a

> "minimal" investigation.

> > More says she thinks it's "offensive" that the

> only way to get the study

> > done is by locals taking it into their own hands. 

> > She says the work should have been done by the

> federal government, which

> > started the contamination of the area with Crown

> corporation Eldorado

> > Nuclear Ltd. and now - through the Canadian

> Nuclear Safety Commission -

> > regulates Cameco, a private company that took over

> Eldorado's uranium

> > processing plant in 1988. 

> > The federal government is undertaking a $260

> million clean-up of pre-1988

> > radioactive wastes found in soils and buildings

> throughout the town, but

> > will not look into possible human effects, More

> says. She also discounts

> > two Health Canada studies. 

> > The studies, released in 2000 and 2002, used data

> from the Ontario Cancer

> > Registry and Canadian Mortality Database to

> conclude that cancer incidence

> > and mortality in Port Hope were comparable to

> elsewhere in Ontario. 

> > The findings were "on the whole, reassuring," the

> nuclear safety

> > commission said in a release at the time,

> explaining that while some

> > statistically significant differences were found

> in some categories, "such

> > chance findings are expected due to random

> fluctuations in rare disease

> > rates." 

> > Differences included brain cancers in Port Hope

> children at four times the

> > provincial average and 21/2 times as high in

> women. 

> > Critics like Toronto epidemiologist Eric Mintz,

> who last year produced a

> > critique of the two studies, take issue with the

> federal government's

> > interpretation of the data. "The patterns of

> excess rates for some

> > cancers, (for) example, brain cancer, are

> suggestive of problems," Mintz

> > says, adding that he found the federal report's

> description of results as

> > "reassuring" to be inappropriate. 

> > Earlier, in 1996-97, public health consultant Dr.

> Trevor Hancock was

> > retained by the Atomic Energy Control Board (the

> Nuclear Safety

> > Commission's predecessor) to develop a plan for a

> study that would test

> > and interview residents, but it was not

> implemented. 

> > More says her committee has repeatedly asked the

> federal government to

> > fund a health study, without success. 

> > "We had felt that Port Hope people have already

> paid through the nose in a

> > variety of ways and should not be required to fund

> their own health

> > studies," More says. 

> > But now the time seems right, she says, as

> Cameco's plan to process

> > slightly enriched uranium has spawned a resurgence

> of opposition to the

> > presence of the nuclear plant in the heart of

> town. 

> > A group called Families Against Radioactive

> Exposure is pushing for a

> > review panel environmental assessment of Cameco's

> proposal, rather than

> > the screening process that has been approved by

> Nuclear Safety Commission

> > staff and has been underway for more than a year. 

> > The review panel process would provide for public

> hearings and could fund

> > some aspect of the research being undertaken by

> Durakovic, More says. 

> > Durakovic told the meeting last month that the

> point of his study will be

> > to determine if some residents who are sick also

> have physical evidence of

> > exposure. 

> > He said the estimates on which governments based

> their assessment of risk

> 

=== message truncated ===





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"It doesn't matter whether you're riding an elephant or a donkey if you're going in the wrong direction."

Jesse Jackson





-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com





		

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