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Marshall Islands -UN report offers even-handedness and focus on future?

““The Special Rapporteur’s mission tells the world the Marshall Islands is entitled to know the truth, to be treated with dignity, and to have all those human rights which should never have been lost,” Muller commented, adding the Marshall Islands welcomed the recommendations and “we urge the United States and the international community to do likewise, and we look forward to doing our part to ensure their implementation.

UN report offers even-handedness and focus on future

Giff Johnson

The release in mid-September of the United Nations Special Rapporteur’s report on the human rights impact of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands provides a roadmap for the Unite d States, the United Nations and the Marshall Islands to effectively address the numerous outstanding problems in this north Pacific nation.
One of the most important aspects of Calin Georgescu’s 19-page report for the UN Human Rights Council is its even-handedness and focus on the future.

Among other key points in the report include:

• The United States government should provide compensation needed to pay about $2 billion in Nuclear Claims Tribunal awards;
• Declassify secret reports on the nuclear tests to end a “legacy of distrust”;
• Follow the recommendations of its own Presidentially-appointed Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments that recommended personalized apologies to the individuals who were the unwitting subjects of radiation experiments;
• Calls on United Nations agencies to get involved in solving a number of radiation-related environment and health issues; and
• Calls on the Marshall Islands to sponsor an independent radiological survey of the entire country with the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But many islanders have watched with increasing dejection as American courts have tossed out lawsuits by the nuclear ground zero islands of Bikini and Enewetak, and the US government for 12 years has ignored petitions seeking additional nuclear test compensation for personal injuries and land damages, clean-up programs, and loss of past use.

Jack Niedenthal, who works for the Bikini Council, underlined a point now in the minds of many Marshall Islanders following the report’s release: Will the newly released UN report on the Marshall Islands have any impact on the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands?
He said the report raises the issues Marshall Islanders have been making for years. “This is exactly the case the nuclear victims have been trying to make to both the US Congress and the US courts,” Niedenthal said.

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October 16, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy technology not suitable for use in Singapore -“Not safe – no where to hide”

Published on Oct 15, 2012 by 154thmedia2012

October 16, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Oil Spill Causes Short-Term Damage to Rat DNA, Implications for the BP Gulf oil spill?

“The new study of rats shows a direct link between respiratory exposure to compounds discharged by the fuel and damage to genetic material. In order to analyse the possible alterations to the DNA and its repair processes, the researchers took blood samples from each animal and carried out cytogenic tests.”

ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2012) —

An experiment carried out on rodents exposed to fuel similar to that of the Prestige tanker oil spill — which took place nearly a decade ago — shows that inhalation of the fuel causes damage to genetic material. According to the study, led by the University of A Coruña, the results could be used in relation to people who carry out the industrial cleaning of coasts.

On Nov. 19, 2012, it will be ten years since the sinking of the Prestige, which caused one of Spain’s largest ecological disasters. The oil spill reached the coasts of Galicia and the rest of the Cantabrian coast, right up to the Landes area of France and Portugal. Thousands of people aided in the cleaning of the contaminated beaches and were exposed to the fuel for prolonged periods.

In order to confirm the effects of such exposure on the health of human beings in this and other circumstances, a team of researchers from the University of A Coruña carried out an experiment using two different strains of rat and a respiratory chamber especially designed to create fuel exposure. For two hours a day, five days a week, the animals were exposed to a fuel similar in composition to that of the Prestige oil spill. This study has now been published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.

“Induced damage to genetic material and the development of different respiratory ailments has been previously been seen in people who took part in the oil spill cleanup effort,” Vanessa Valdiglesias, researcher at the Toxicology Unit of the University of A Coruña, explains . The former institution, along with the Institute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña, has already tried to describe the effects of the oil spill on people’s health.

“Nevertheless,” continues Valdiglesias, “in these studies, the environmental exposure measures were scarce or nonexistent, which made it difficult to attribute the observed effects directly to fuel exposure.”

The new study of rats shows a direct link between respiratory exposure to compounds discharged by the fuel and damage to genetic material. In order to analyse the possible alterations to the DNA and its repair processes, the researchers took blood samples from each animal and carried out cytogenic tests.

The results were clear: exposure to fuel through inhalation causes damage to the DNA of both types of rat — both of which differed in susceptibility to the compounds of the fuel — and also alters DNA repair processes.

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October 16, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments