Canadian doctors protest uranium mining, threaten to resign

Anti-uranium doctors renew threat to resign, March 22, 2010 CBC News Nearly two-dozen doctors in Sept-Îles, Que., are renewing their threats to resign and leave the province after the government rejected calls for a moratorium on uranium mining and exploration in the region.The province decided against a moratorium before hearing from a provincial panel researching the health effects of uranium mining, said psychiatrist Dr. Isabelle Gingras, one of the north shore doctors who is threatening to resign.

In December, Dr. Alain Poirier, the chief public health officer in Quebec, announced the creation of a special committee to study the potential effects of uranium exploration and mining on the health of the population.

Gingras is a member of the committee, which was set up after 23 doctors at the Sept-Îles Hospital threatened to resign unless the province banned uranium mining and exploration, which they called a threat to public health.

“If … there is risk to this industry and the government still wants to go ahead, I will eventually leave the province,” Gingras said Sunday.

The rejection of a moratorium follows a petition to the Quebec national assembly, signed by 14,000 residents, supporting the call for the moratorium…..

Residents of Sept-Îles, which is about 600 km northeast of Quebec City, have staged vocal protests against uranium exploration underway in the region….

Residents have expressed concern that tailings from uranium mining and exploration could affect the quality of the air and contaminate local drinking water.

CBC News – Montreal – Anti-uranium doctors renew threat to resign

March 23, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium