[ RadSafe ] My Port Hope Ontario Correspondence, Durakovic

[Richard L. Hess]

On January 25th, I wrote the following to the Mayor of Port Hope, Ontario. 
Since it is now partially my tax money that will go towards paying for this 
stuff, I thought I'd have a voice:

>Dear Mayor Austin,
>
>I believe that you are correct to be skeptical about the proposed study by 
>Dr. Durakovic and the Uranium Medical Research Center. (Toronto Star, 22 
>Jan 05)
>
>Obviously, Dr. Durakovic has impressive credentials and the ability to 
>find uranium everywhere. If he is undertaking a study to determine the 
>amounts of uranium in some of the local residents, I would think he would 
>need a similar sized (and otherwise matched for age, gender, work history, 
>etc.) control group from at least one (and preferably several) other 
>locales, including Elliott Lake (although I would not pick that locale for 
>the single control)!
>
>I cannot stress how important it is to actually obtain the measurements 
>that Dr. Durakovic and his colleagues make, rather than accepting "traces 
>of uranium were found." We suspect that traces will be found as it's a 
>naturally occurring element and current instrumentation is very, very 
>sensitive.
>
>I am concerned because needless expenditures of finances, time, and 
>emotion often accompany these types of studies. "Cancer clusters" are 
>known to happen for no apparent reason. In fact, years later, the evidence 
>that there was any poisoning in Love Canal is dubious at best. This, 
>apparently, was another case of hysteria.
>
>My interest is in not squandering my tax money and in providing fair and 
>equitable analysis. Fair and equitable means to industry as well as to the 
>private citizens. It seems after all these years of vilifying the nuclear 
>industry in the U.S., environmentalists are starting to see nuclear power 
>as a cleaner alternative to coal and other fossil fuels.
>
>I recently returned to my wife's home town of Aurora, Ontario, after 21 
>years in the Los Angeles area. Over the last few years, I've become leery 
>of bad science and fear mongering. We've all been exposed to too much of 
>that since 9/11/2001. One of the things Americans seem to want is a 
>guarantee that everything is totally free of risk. That guarantee cannot 
>be given.
>
>Thanks for reading!
>
>Cheers,
>
>Richard
>http://www.richardhess.com/

I just received this reply (scanned letter via email, I've retyped it):

>Dear Mr. Hess:
>
>This will acknowledge receipt of your letter on January 25, 2005 in regard 
>to Dr. Durakovic and the Uranium Medical Research Centre.
>
>Please be advised that your letter was put on the Council Agenda of 
>February 15, 2005 and subsequently referred to the Protection to Persons 
>and Property Committee.
>
>If you require any further information at this time in regard to your 
>correspondence, please contact this office at 905 xxx xxxx.
>
>Yours truly,
>
>M. Rostetter
>Chief Administrative Officer,
>Municipality of Port Hope.

So, hopefully they'll think about this. Who knows.

For the one person reading this who doesn't know, Elliott Lake was the site 
of a large uranium mining operation, now closed, with the mine tunnels 
flooded (allowing possible future reopening, in theory). The town has 
re-invented itself as a "healthy lifestyle retirement community."

Cheers,

Richard