nuclear-news

Uranium – film reveals impact of uranium mining on indigenous people

  http://www.nfb.ca/film/Uranium   Uranium, Intercontinental cry By Ahni, Uranium is an award winning short film on the consequences of uranium mining in Canada. Narrated by Buffy Sainte-Marie, the 48-minute film explores how uranium mining can impact the environment, the health of those who are employed in the industry, and the quality of life of Indigenous peoples who live near the mines.

Seldom do we hear the fact that almost every uranium mine in Canada is on Indigenous land. Even more seldom are the occasions where Indigenous Peoples on those lands were meaningfully consulted and informed about what a uranium mine can mean for them, their community, their economy, their culture, their very existence.

The dangers are grim at best. According to ” Hazards of Uranium,” a briefing published earlier this year, exposure to the radioactive element can cause kidney diseases, blood diseases, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, gastric cancer, liver cancer, cancer of the gallbladder and extrahepatic bileducts, kidney cancer, diseases of the respiratory tract, mental disorders and birth defects.

As with all dangerous substances, the more you are exposed to Uranium, the more likely and more severely you can be effected. This is just as true for miners as it for anyone who may live near a mine or downstream from a tailings pond. You just have to breathe the air, drink the water and eat local plants and animals.

The dangers are twofold for Indigenous Peoples, because not only do you have to deal with the disease(s)–with little or no support from industry or government–but you may also have to abandon your livelihood. And if children are born with defects cause by uranium (which can severely incapacitate them mentally and physically) they may never even get the chance to live their own culture…..

July 12, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual