Southern Italy’s cancer epidemic, due to radioactive trash dumping
‘To clean it up it would cost the entire Italian budget for a year I think.’
The lower house in the Italian Parliament had elected to make the documents public in the interests of transparency.
Toxic nuclear waste dumped illegally by the Mafia is blamed for surge in cancers in southern Italy He added: ‘We disposed of 70 or 80 trucks from the north, millions and millions of tonnes. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483484/Toxic-nuclear-waste-dumped-illegally-Mafia-blamed-surge-cancers-southern-Italy.html#ixzz2k64qz8UL
- Italian Senate investigating link between pollutants and 50 per cent rise
- Classified documents from 1997 reveal poison would kill everyone
- Nuclear sludge, brought from Germany, was dumped in landfills
By HANNAH ROBERTS IN ROME 1 November 2013 Toxic nuclear and industrial waste, dumped illegally by the Neapolitan mafia, is responsible for a surge in cancers in southern Italy, it is feared.
The Italian Senate is investigating a link between buried pollutants and a rise of almost 50 per cent in tumours found in the inhabitants of several towns around Naples.
In classified documents from 1997, only now released to the public, a mafia kingpin warned authorities that the poison in the ground would kill everyone ‘within two decades’. Camorra chief Francesco Schiavone, once the world’s number one mafia fugitive, said: ‘The inhabitants are all at risk of dying from cancer within twenty years.
‘In towns like Casapesenna, Casal di Principe, Castel Volturno, and so on, they have, perhaps, twenty years to live. In fact I don’t think anyone will survive.’
Doctors first noticed that cancers in towns around Naples were on the rise in the 1990s. But since that time they have increased by 40 per cent in women and 47 per cent in men.
In secret out-of-court testimony he told lawyers how the Casalesi clan ran ‘a military style operation’ dumping millions of tonnes of waste on farmland, in caves, in quarries and even on the edge of towns. The mafia family also disposed of contaminated waste in Lake Lucrino and all along the coast.
Operatives were equipped with real police and carabinieri uniforms, as well as firearms, and the clans raked in huge profits of up to 600 million of the old lire (£200,000) a month. The industry became an officially clan-sanctioned ‘business’ in 1990 but had been going on long before. Nuclear sludge, brought in on trucks from plants in Germany, was dumped in landfills, Schiavone said. The trucks would unload waste at night before earth was thrown over with a JCB.
He said: ‘I know that some is on land where buffalo live today, and on which no grass grows’
The cost of a clean up would run into billions, he said, describing several sites in the suburbs of Naples.
Schiavone revealed: ‘We buried 520 drums of toxic waste in a specially dug quarry near the town of Pure Villaricca. But we also did it in very populated places, outside towns- at Casal di Principe behind the sports field at the edge of the motorway.’He added: ‘We disposed of 70 or 80 trucks from the north, millions and millions of tonnes.
‘To clean it up it would cost the entire Italian budget for a year I think.’ The lower house in the Italian Parliament had elected to make the documents public in the interests of transparency.
Unusual cancers in Xinjiang, China’s nuclear test area
China’s top-secret nuclear base to be revived as £30m Communist Party theme park, Telegraph, 7 Nov 13 One of China’s most secret military compounds is undergoing an unlikely transformation into a “red tourism” theme park for Communist Party aficionados By Tom Phillips, Red Mountain Command Base, Xinjiang“………According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute earlier this year, China now possesses around 250 of the world’s estimated 17,270 nuclear weapons and and appears to be expanding its nuclear arsenal…….
A “Political Department Exhibit Hall” will display the official narrative but there is no indication its displays will delve into the long-hidden controversies surrounding the tests’ human cost.
As early as 1981 Beijing-based diplomats began whispering about fears of a hidden nuclear catastrophe in Xinjiang.
Citing one local official, Canada’s Globe and Mail reported “lung, liver and skin cancer has greatly increased in the area, touching off increased fears of [nuclear] contamination”. A number of cancer patients had been sent to Beijing for “special study”, the newspaper added.
In the absence of any public investigation such concerns have persisted. In 1998, a team of Channel Four journalists accused Beijing of a systematic cover-up after they obtained evidence pointing to a dramatic rise in the number of cancer cases in the region since 1965, the year after China’s first nuclear test.
“Basically, cancer is everywhere in Xinjiang,” one local doctor told the programme, adding: “We can’t do research into it. It’s not allowed.”
Beijing rejected that report as “sheer fabrication”. But a 2008 study by a Japanese scholar claimed up to 190,000 people may have died from illnesses linked to radiation.
Local officials say there is no risk of lingering radiation at the Red Mountain theme park and some tourists are already making the pilgrimage to the birthplace of China’s nuclear arsenal….. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10433364/Chinas-top-secret-nuclear-base-to-be-revived-as-30m-Communist-Party-theme-park.html
Secrecy still surround China’s revamped nuclear test base
China’s top-secret nuclear base to be revived as £30m Communist Party theme park, Telegraph, 7 Nov 13 One of China’s most secret military compounds is undergoing an unlikely transformation into a “red tourism” theme park for Communist Party aficionados By Tom Phillips, Red Mountain Command Base, Xinjiang
“…… Nearly half a century ago, the base was one of the most highly classified locations on earth: a heavily-guarded compound in Xinjiang province where scientists toiled day and night to catapult Chairman Mao’s China into the nuclear elite, alongside the US, the USSR, France and Britain.
With the US and the Soviet Union locked in a Cold War arms race, Mao decided China needed a bomb of its own to fend off what he saw as imperialist bullying.
And it was here, on the sand-swept fringes of the Taklamakan desert, that some of China’s most brilliant military and scientific minds gathered to plot a nuclear revolution of almost inconceivable speed that would change their country forever.
In 1964, just five years after the command centre was set up, PLA scientists detonated China’s first atom bomb at a nearby testing site – a 22-kiloton blast that set the desert sky alight and sparked jubilant celebrations in Beijing.
Today, almost 50 years on, the top-secret facility where the test was partly conceived lies largely abandoned…….Extraordinarily, after years of neglect, plans are now afoot to transform this scruffy compound into a 300 million yuan (£30 million) “red tourism” destination. Continue reading
Saskatechewan embroiled in dangerous nuclear politics
AUDIO: Saskatchewan’s Nuclear Addiction Contaminates Both Politics and the People http://www.globalresearch.ca/saskatchewans-nuclear-addiction-contaminates-both-politics-and-the-people/5355042?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=saskatchewans-nuclear-addiction-contaminates-both-politics-and-the-peopleGlobal Research News Hour Episode 42 By Michael Welch Global Research, November 07, 2013
Saskatoon is the headquarters of Cameco. Formed from the merger of two Crown Corporations in 1988, and ultimitely privatized in 2002, Cameco is one of the world’s largest Uranium producers accounting for 14% of overall world production.[3][4]
Saskatoon is also the headquarters of Areva Resources Canada Inc, a uranium mining, milling, and exploration company.[5]
To say that the nuclear sector in Saskatchewan has influence would be an understatement. For government officials, the nuclear industry represents a significant economic lever involving not only mining, but fueling of future tar sands projects.
Concerns however have arisen about the ways in which the sector is skewing initiatives in the public interest.
In a 2012 article for Briarpatch Magazine, D’Arcy Hande presented his research outlining how the nuclear industry, the government, and the University of Saskatchewan have all colluded to ensure the continued expansion and protection of uranium development in the face of public disapproval. Hande outlines a climate of corporatism nullifying critical
appraisals of Saskatchewan’s nuclear ambitions, and exposes conflicts of interest at the government and university level.
Hande spoke to the Global Research News Hour about how this collusion came about.
About 2 million spent nuclear fuel rods sit above ground at nuclear sites in Eastern Canada. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has a plan to turn Northern Saskatchewan into a long-term repository for these nuclear wastes.
Three communities – Creighton, English River, and Pinehouse, after being subjected to bribes and intense lobbying, have signed on to this plan.
The Committee for Future Generations was formed in May of 2011 to monitor and resist this plan. One of its representatives, Candyce Paul, who lives in one of the affected communities spoke to us in Saskatoon about her concerns about the plan, the crackdown on dissenting voices, and the stakes both for her community, and for the wider region.
Partial Transcript of interview with Candyce Paul………
Fact Checking Israel’s claims about Iran’s nuclear programme
FACT CHECK: A look at Israel’s claims on Iran’s nuclear program “…..A look at the claims: WP, 6 Nov 13
CLAIM: At an Oct. 27 meeting of the Israeli Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “improvements” in Iran’s nuclear program in the past year would allow it push past the “barrier” of 20 percent enriched uranium — the highest level acknowledged by Iran — to reach 90 percent enrichment within “weeks at most.” Uranium at 90 percent enrichment is close to weapons-grade.
DETAILS: Netanyahu may be talking about the amount of 20 percent material now on hand. This is close to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Experts say 250 kilograms (550 pounds) would be needed to produce a single bomb by enriching that amount to above 90 percent. There is significant debate over a possible timetable, but many experts say it could be several months or longer, based on the hypothetical scenario that Iran would move ahead with higher enrichment.
Netanyahu also could be referring to the number of centrifuges installed in the past year or upgrades that allow faster production of enriched uranium. Except for a test station, however, none of the new generation machines are running. CLAIM: At the same meeting, Netanyahu said Iran’s planned heavy water reactor in the city of Arak has “no connection with energy for peace, but only for nuclear weapons.”
DETAILS: The heavy water reactor — currently under construction in central Iran — uses a molecular variant of water as a coolant and can use natural, non-enriched uranium as a fuel. Such reactors produce a higher amount of plutonium as a byproduct. The plutonium can be reused in nuclear weapons production, but needs a special extraction and enrichment process that Iran currently does not possess. Iran has not released details on its plans for plutonium, but said the reactor’s main purpose is to produce isotopes for cancer treatment and other medical uses. Iran has said it will allow 24-hour video surveillance at the reactor by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. Similar around-the-clock monitoring is in place at other enrichment and nuclear sites.
LAIM: Israel’s Security Cabinet said Oct. 15 that Iran has “systematically defied” U.N. Security Council resolutions to halt uranium enrichment.
DETAILS: The U.N. Security Council in July 2006 passed the first in a series of resolutions demanding Iran halt its enrichment program. Iran dismissed the resolution and moved ahead with advances in enrichment, as well as the then-secret construction of a new and fortified enrichment facility built into a mountain south of Tehran……….http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/fact-check-look-at-israels-claims-over-irans-nuclear-program/2013/11/06/ae607770-46dd-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html
Cover-ups and lies about Fukushima radiation amazed Australian reporter
Reporter in Japan: I’m stunned by brazen cover-up and lies over effects of Fukushima radiation; An epic, unfolding tragedy — Physician: Response has been ‘unthinkable’ (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/reporter-in-japan-im-stunned-by-brazen-cover-up-and-lies-over-effects-of-fukushima-radiation-physician-response-has-been-unthinkable-video
Title: Japan – The Next Wave – Foreign Correspondent – ABC
Source: ABC’s Foreign Correspondent
Date: Nov. 5, 2013
Transcript Excerpts
Mark Willacy, reporter: I’ve been stunned by the brazen and often clumsy efforts to cover-up and lie about the effects and extent of the radiation damage. […] It’s abundantly clear many aspects of this epic, unfolding tragedy are yet to be written — the nuclear fallout will see to that.
Tomoko Koike. mother of 2 and 4 year old in Fukushima Precture: We do not know the real situation. We don’t know whats going on. I can’t trust them. […] My children had never contracted influenza before, even without vaccination. But they contracted it last year. Their vulnerability to illness has increased. […]
Willacy: Her children have already been screened and cleared in tests run by the Fukushima local government. But a follow up screening here at the private Hirata hospital revealed cysts on the thyroid gland of 4 year old Saki.
Koike: A couple of cysts were found. I was very shocked. I don’t know whether the examination by the prefecture was sloppy, or that she wasn’t examined properly.
Dr. Minoru Kamata: It was disclosed that the Fuksuhima health investigation committee was having several secret meetings. I feel the response to this issue has been unthinkable for a democratic nation.
Watch the broadcast here
Public and scientists do not believe Shinzo Abe’s statement that Fukushima nuclear radiation is controlled
For former nuclear engineer Michael Friedlander, who describes himself as “an avid supporter of responsible nuclear power,” these comments are damaging to the atomic industry.
“It’s a very Japanese way of handling the situation, the authorities telling everybody that everything’s OK, don’t worry, we’re in control,” Friedlander said in an interview from Hong Kong.
Abe’s comments haven’t persuaded the Japanese public. A Kyodo News poll conducted Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 found that 83 percent of respondents said they didn’t believe his “under control” statement.
The residents of Namie, a town 8 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear station that was evacuated, said that Abe is making “irresponsible comments.
Abe’s stance on Fukushima water fuels skepticism Claim radioactivity contained scoffed at by public, scientists The Columbian, By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuriy Humber, Bloomberg News November 2, 2013, TOKYO — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says radioactive water flowing into the sea from the crippled Fukushima atomic station is being contained within the plant’s harbor, a view maintained by operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Marine scientists, Fukushima residents and Japan’s general public don’t agree. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Waste Confidence” rule is indeed a “con”
Of greatest concern are Limerick’s fuel pools, already packed beyond design capacity, and dangerously vulnerable to meltdowns with potential for unthinkable health and economic devastation. Limerick’s two fuel pools hold more than two and a half times the amount of fuel rod assemblies (6,200) than four fuel pools at Fukushima (2,400) and far more than other older U.S. nuclear plants like TMI and Oyster Creek. NRC can’t or won’t tell ACE why.
Shedding light on NRC’s nuke waste con game http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20131101/op-ed-shedding-light-on-nrcs-nuke-waste-con-game 10/31/13,
Evan Brandt’s article on Oct. 5, “Gov’t Shutdown May Delay Relicensing of Limerick Nuke Plant”, explained that NRC’s 2012 court-ordered spent fuel study would be delayed by the 2013 government shutdown. Actually, the government shutdown shed light on NRC’s nuke waste con game.
There is NO safe solution for radioactive fuel rods that can remain radioactive for a million years (EPA). They’re among the deadliest materials on earth. Yet, NRC’s “Nuclear Waste Confidence” game makes unsubstantiated claims that high-level radioactive wastes can be stored safely, soundly, and securely, virtually forever. This applies to nuclear plant sites like Limerick and allows them to continue producing and piling up deadly radioactive wastes under the absurd pretense that there is a safe solution.
Unthinkable devastating health and economic consequences threaten our future whether stored in fuel pools, above ground casks, from reprocessing, or from dangerous transport to a central location. NRC’s assumptions are far-fetched and negligent, including that dry cask storage systems, structures, and components can and will be entirely replaced once per century. NRC fails to identify astronomical public costs or where funds would come from for expensive massive replacements forever. NRC irrationally assumes society is willing or able to pay such costs, even if replacement is possible.
It was insanity for NRC to even consider relicensing Limerick Nuclear Plant when there is no safe solution for its deadly radioactive wastes. Continue reading
Fukushima “aid” from French nuclear industry – calls radiation illnesses “psychological”
Chernobyl Children Fukushima Children The French nuclear industry establishes Fukushima “aid” programs right now, with co-support by Fukushima Medical University. The aim is: All Fukushima diseases are psychological and “pure panic reaction” – people overreact. NGOs who talk of danger are irrelevant and irresponsible. These “aid” programs work closely together with local government and are even supported by some anti-nuclear activists and vip’s – national and abroad. Scientists and journalists also cooperate. Meanwhile radioactive atoms remain invisible in breast milk, and bone sarcomas grow fast.
How badly Hansford nuclear whistleblower was treated
Shocking Treatment of US Nuclear Whisteblowers: Sent to office in basement with rat poison after warning of Fukushima-like explosion — Another given office in storage room with drums of radioactive waste and asbestos soon after having chemotherapy (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/shocking-treatment-of-us-nuclear-whisteblowers-sent-to-office-in-basement-with-rat-poison-after-warning-of-fukushima-like-explosion-another-given-office-in-storage-room-with-drums-of-radioactive-w
KING 5 News,, Nov. 1, 2013: Hanford whistleblower: ‘I was now the enemy’ […] [Dr. Walt] Tamosaitis determined that the mixers, as designed, would not be able to mix the waste sufficiently, posing a risk that heavy radioactive elements would collect at the bottom of the tanks and begin a nuclear chain reaction. The reaction, in turn, would generate large amounts of explosive hydrogen gas (a similar hydrogen build up at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan caused large explosions after the 2011 Tsunami damaged that facility). […] “The worst case scenario would be a criticality and trapping of hydrogen gas which could lead to a hydrogen explosion,” said Tamosaitis. […] URS moved Tamosaitis to another building where he was assigned to a makeshift office in the basement. He sat alone in a cramped space full of storage boxes, rat poison feeders and copy machines. He was not assigned any work and had no boss to report to. “The message was, ‘Don’t do what Walter did. Don’t raise issues. Shut up (and) do what we say,’” said Tamosaitis. […] The Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board and the Government Accountability Office both issued reports highlighting Tamosaitis’ work. And in early 2012 Energy Secretary Steven Chu ordered a halt to WTP construction. Continue reading
The secrets of the Trans Pacific Partnership
The first language in both these deals goes something along the lines with, “All signatories are required to make their laws and regulations conform to the standards of this agreement.” They are literally required to make their nation-based laws subordinate to the terms of these agreements.
Quebec has an anti-fracking prohibition to protect the Saint Lawrence River Valley. There’s a US company that’s suing $250 million. And if they win that case before the special panel, the Quebec government will have to pay that amount. Under the TPP, you’ll see an enormous expansion of that kind of power.
One of the aspects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is it’s an everyone-but-China deal. One of the intentions of the deal is to isolate China. So if you think isolating China is a good thing, then that would be a reason to support the deal.
VIDEO: Yves Smith and Dean Baker on Secrets in Trade http://billmoyers.com/segment/yves-smith-and-dean-baker-on-secrets-in-trade/ TRANSCRIPT of VIDEO November 1, 2013 Let’s turn now to another big story most of us know even less about than drones. TPP — the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It’s a trade agreement the United States is negotiating with Australia, Canada, Japan andeight other countries in the Pacific region. If you don’t know about the TPP, and few do, it’s because the powerful people behind it — including President Obama — don’t want you to know.
The negotiations are shrouded in secrecy, and once they are completed, Obama wants to rush the agreement through Congress — fast-tracking, they call it — with our elected representatives given the choice only of voting it up or down. Last year, over 130 members of Congress asked the White House for more transparency about what’s being negotiated, and were essentially told to go fly a kite. You can be sure of this, however: a select group of corporate partners — companies like General Electric, Goldman Sachs, and Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant — are not likely to be in the dark. Players like these stand to be the real beneficiaries of the agreement, because like other so-called “free trade” agreements, TPP actually will reward those at the top, even as it creates rules to override domestic laws on the environment, workplace safety, and investment. Corporate lobbyists already are lining up in Washington to ram the agreement through once the White House hurries it out of the delivery room. How do we know this? Because some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations, with sources they trust, and two are with me now. Continue reading
World Health Organisation’s subservience to the nuclear club
Fukushima: Life and the Transnationality of Radioactive Contamination 生命と国境を越える放射能汚染 Adam Broinowski Asia Pacific Journal 14 Oct 2013“……….Following the formation of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC 1954) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA 1955), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957. Article 2 of its foundational mandate referred to the promotion of ‘safe, responsible development of uranium resources’ and the mission to ‘accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity world wide’.
Just as Japan eagerly committed itself to the ‘peaceful use of nuclear power’, so too did signatory nations to the nuclear club agree to the IAEA assuming the role of key promoter of the nuclear industry worldwide. In 1959, the WHO agreed to the IAEA taking primary responsibility for reporting the health effects of nuclear radiation despite the heavy concentration of IAEA expertise in nuclear physics (28 May 1959, WHO WHA 12-40).
Along with establishing radiation safety and environmental protection standards, the IAEA and other radiation protection authorities have consistently downplayed events and evidence and pathologised health concerns for low dose radiation as ‘radiophobia’, which it characterised as more hazardous than radiation itself. Their understanding of and response to the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is no exception. ……” http://www.japanfocus.org/-Adam-Broinowski/4009#sthash.boeUaiWq.dpuf
Revise inaccurate statement on Fukushima – 64 Japanese organisations ask UNSCEAR and UN General assembly
Statement: Japanese civil society requests that the reports of the United Nations Scientific Committee on Fukushima be revised
{Title corrected for accuracy – Arclight2011part2]
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) is about to submit a report on Fukushima to the United Nations General Assembly.
Human Rights Now, along with 63 Japanese civil society organizations, has issued a statement requesting UNSCEAR, and the General Assembly Fourth Committee to revise the report and its finding from a human rights perspective.
The statement outlines the case for a more cautious approach to low level radiation exposure in order to help protect the most vulnerable people after the Fukushima nuclear accident.
UNSCEAR_Statement_Submission (PDF)
24 October 2013
Japanese civil society requests that the reports of the United Nations Scientific Committee on Fukushima be revised
1. Concern for the reports of the United Nations Scientific Committee
The United Nations Scientific Committee has inserted the results of investigations on the effects of radiation exposure from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Number 1 into its report, which will be submitted to the 68th session being held at the moment.
We, the undersigned civil society organizations in Japan express serious concern that the results of these investigations contain some problems in terms of objectivity, independence, and accuracy, and that the underestimation of the effects of radiation exposure could have negative effects on the human rights and protection of citizens.
We request that the United Nations Scientific Committee and the United Nations General Assembly Forth Committee revise the reports from a human rights perspective to protect the most vulnerable people based on careful and sufficient deliberations.
The parts of the reports which include the foremost concerns of Human Rights Now are outlined as follows: Continue reading
Trans Pacific Partnership kept secret from Australian citizens, but available to USA corporations
Right now we don’t know exactly what will be in the TPP, because it’s kept completely secret, unless you’re fortunate enough to be a wealthy lobbying organisation in the United States, who are provided access to the text through the US Trade Representative (USTR), and have direct input into it.
We urge the Abbott Government to release the TPP text before it’s too late to fix. Let’s not cripple Australian innovation in the interests of American profits.
Why can’t Australian citizens read the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/30/trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-dfat?CMP=twt_guAs Journalists have been banned from a briefing about the TPP. Why the secrecy – and why can only wealthy lobbyists access the text? Only in Australia could the phrase “public briefing” mean that the meeting will be held behind closed doors, where journalists are not welcome.
Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) rescinded the invitations of several journalists to attend a public briefing regarding a multilateral trade agreement under negotiation called theTrans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
The TPP is an extensive agreement that covers typical topics such as goods and services, but also contains chapters on labour laws, intellectual property, the environment and investor-state dispute settlement provisions. This agreement is currently being negotiated completely opaquely between the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei Darussalam. DFAT claims that it will be finished negotiating by the end of the year.
If you’ve never heard of the TPP, here’s a summary of the major issues: Continue reading
Is the World Health Organisation manipulating its own data to appease the nuclear industry?
It is shocking to see this report declare “no clear evidence” for any abnormality in rates of “spontaneous abortions”, “stillbirths”, or “congenital birth defects” anywhere in Iraq.
from ”damning evidence” to “no clear evidence” – extensive data manipulation must have taken place. How and why the data was manipulated to render such drastically different results remains unknown to us.
The ultimate question to be answered is, how can this analysis, these results, and these conclusions be believed? In March, the same MoH reported ”damning evidence” of a rise in Iraq birth defects. Now in September, this new report must be viewed with extreme caution if not with suspicion and disbelief.
‘No clear evidence’ for rise in Iraqi birth defects http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/2013915141726303111.html A March finding of ‘damning evidence’ in the increase in cancers and other health issues was reversed by a new report. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani 16 Oct 13,
This joint investigation was initiated following widespread public alarm over unusual increases in poor reproductive and birth outcomes in Iraq after the US-led invasion. Across Iraq, increasing numbers of birth defects appear to be surfacing, including in Mosul, Al-Ramadi, Najaf, Fallujah, Basra, Hawijah, and Baghdad. In some provinces, cancers also are rising. Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe birth defects – some not found in any medical books – are reported widely.
This explains why many public health scientists awaited the release of the WHO/MoH report on birth defects in Iraq.
‘Damning evidence’ In a BBC documentary which aired in March 2013, “Born under a bad sign”, a senior official of the MoH speaking on camera, said, “All studies done by the Ministry of Health prove with damning evidence that there has been a rise in birth defects and cancers” in Iraq.
During the same interview, two other MoH researchers confirmed that the situation with cancers and birth defects constitute a “big crisis” for the “next generation” of Iraqi children. In fact one researcher, pointing to a colour bar chart, said that cancers and birth defects are increasing simultaneously in three areas. As she pointed to the peaks in the figure, she named these areas “Nineveh, Anbar and Najaf”. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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