Media Advisory

CCAMU MEDIA ADVISORY

April 22, 2008

The Citizens' Inquiry into the Impacts of the Uranium Cycle: Ottawa

41 presentations were made to a full house at the final venue of the Citizens' Inquiry into the Impacts of the Uranium Cycle yesterday at the Rideau Park Church in Ottawa. Several notable speakers came forward with very detailed research regarding uranium mining, nuclear energy and the government's use of private and public land.

Dr. Chris Busby PhD. made a stunning presentation where he revealed that the Ontario Nuclear "… project cannot go ahead because new science shows that the basis on which it is environmentally acceptable is false. The whole ethical basis of this project, and indeed for uranium mining, refining and dispersion has been overturned by discoveries in science made in the last ten years. This is critical. As a consequence of research into the health effects of Depleted Uranium weapons, first employed in 1991 in Iraq, there has been a new focus on the biological effects of uranium exposure. Scientists have examined the interaction of uranium with biological systems in the laboratory through cell culture experiments and through physico-chemical investigations of uranium oxide particles and uranyl salts. Epidemiologists have conducted surveys of those exposed to Depleted Uranium and of Uranium workers. Gulf war and Balkan war veterans, exposed to uranium particles have been found to exhibit a bewildering range of genotoxic and other effects. Areas where uranium weapons have been used, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Kosovo, have shown consequent effects in civilians, cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, hereditary malformations out of all proportion to the intrinsic radioactivity of uranium. Those exposed, whether as miners or as Gulf War veterans, have shown objective evidence of serious genotoxic damage though chromosome aberration analysis."

He went on to say, "…agencies and governments that employ their erroneous risk models ignore, indeed do not even cite or discuss the massive evidence that their model is worthless when applied to internal exposures to elements that bind to DNA. This is an open scandal. Indeed, the senior advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) on radiation and health, Dr Keith Baverstock, recently resigned on the issue of the health effects of uranium and how they were being ignored."

Stephan Hazell of the Sierra Club Canada stated that under the Nuclear Liability Act nuclear operators are limited to $75 million dollar liability for off-site damage from spills of radioactive spills or meltdown. Chernobyl's clean-up for Ukraine and Belarus alone is expected to total $460 Billion. "If no one will insure this industry, how safe can it be?"

Bruce H. Moore, Director of the International Land Coalition (ILC), Rome, had a presentation done on his behalf. The ILC is an alliance of United Nations Organizations, the World Bank, the European Commission, civil society organizations, researchers and academics who are working together in over 50 countries to support secure and equitable access to natural resources, especially land.

Mr. Moore said, "On the surface, global demand for minerals, is rich with promises of jobs for workers and bull markets for investors. However, the story below the surface is different. Worldwide, growing numbers of local land owners and indigenous peoples are losing their land and resource rights to the powerful forces of international mining, energy and forestry, frequently under outdated legislation or the “questionable” granting of concessions to extractive industries."

Dr. Gordon Edwards, of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said, "we must remember that Canadian uranium is used in nuclear weapons." He went on to say, "We must have zero nuclear weapons before we can even consider further uranium mining or we are continuing to perpetuate the greatest single threat to human life on this planet."

Roger Peters, of The Pembina Institute, covered their study 'Renewable is Doable.' The study reviewed the Ontario Power Association's plan to refurbish most existing nuclear plants and bring in new nuclear by about 2020. They found that renewable alternatives were more affordable and greener than nuclear or coal. They also emit half the greenhouse gas emissions. Pembina's proposals are based on what is already being done in other parts of the world such as Germany. They are currently presenting these findings to the Ontario Energy Board and are bringing in experts from outside of Canada.

Robert Lovelace, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation Elder, submitted his presentation from prison via telephone. It was read by Mireille LaPointe, the acting Co-Chief of the Ardoch's.

Mr. Lovelace stated, "We live in a critical age. Never before has humanity faced such great peril and never before has the human conscience been so alive in its collective recognition and understanding of the way forward. As a species we have become intimate with almost every ecosystem on the planet. And beyond that we have an empirical understanding of the beginning and end of this universe. However, our human systems embrace a self-defeating dilemma through reactive resistance or acquiescence to Solomon's lament that everything is vanity. And while the real choices seem ultimately confusing now is the time that we must decide the fate of generations to come."

CCAMU Contact:

Lynn Daniluk 613-267-0539