Physicians for Global Survival held a press conference April 21, 2008, to call for a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in eastern Ontario and West Quebec.

PGS has asked both Quebec and Ontario to grant a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in the Ottawa River watershed due to concern for the water supply.

Press releases....

English: 

http://know-uranium.org/docs/Press_Release_eng_April_21_2008.doc

Francais:

http://know-uranium.org/docs/Press_Release_fre_21_avril_2008.doc

Related PDF on uranium mining in India (~3.5 Mb):

http://know-uranium.org/docs/black-magic-at-jadugoda2007idpd.pdf

Lanark Health and Community Services writes a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty asking for a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario:

http://know-uranium.org/docs/LanarkClinicLett.pdf

Dr. Linda Harvey, a retired medical doctor in Lanark County, makes a health-related submission to the Peterborough, Ontario session of the Citizens' Uranium Enquiry:

http://know-uranium.org/docs/LH_Peterborough_Inquiry.doc

Ontario College of Family Physicians Asks Ontario Minister of Health Promotion Margaret Best for a Health Assessment of Uranium Exploration Near Sharbot Lake

 In a letter, dated February 21, 2008, OCFP points out the following general concerns:

• exploration drilling is about to be prematurely permitted without adequate assessment of the potential health and environmental impacts
• coordination between various government agencies is needed along with public consultation
• this matter needs to be dealt with urgently

See the full text of the letter here including detailed health concerns:

 http://know-uranium.org/docs/OCFP_Feb_21_2008.pdf

Ottawa's Chief Medical Officer of Health on the Risks of Uranium Mining Near Ottawa: 

David Salisbury, the city's chief medical officer of health, said a mine in Sharbot Lake could pose a health risk in Ottawa.  It could increase incidences of diseases like cancer.

"From a health point of view, from an environmental point of view, uranium mining in this end of the country is really a very silly thing for us to be doing."

"It doesn't take much from a run-off point of view to get into the aquifer and then contaminate that aquifer and make that unusable for human consumption," he said. "Removing heavy metals from human water supplies is very difficult."

Human and Environmental Health Brief

Risks Identified by Health Canada for Regional Populations and Environments From Uranium Mining and Milling

Reference:  Health Canada’s Canadian Handbook on Health Impact Assessment Chapter 5, Section 5.4 Uranium Mining

Associated web site: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/eval/handbook-guide/vol_4/mining-miniere-2_e.html

Have you considered the human and environmental health effects of a uranium mine?  Health Canada has and the list below is a summary of its material.  This summary places an emphasis on regional health and environmental effects (not to diminish the health effects on workers or environmental effects typically contained to the immediate vicinity of the minesite). 

The regional emphasis is what matters most to Ottawa-Gatineau.  As a large population centre, it should matter a lot.... 

Canada exports more than 85% of its mined uranium and has enough reserves for about 285 years based on current consumption patterns.  There is no over-riding societal need to mine more uranium – especially in major watersheds and in the vicinity of large population centres. 

The risks from uranium mining and milling identified by Health Canada have probabilities of occurrence ranging anywhere from very rare to chronic. 

Logically speaking, given the situation, any risk is too great a risk to take.

Here Are the Risks to Our Region: 

• radiation hazards from radon gas, radium and thorium (radiation/radioactivity is seen by many as an insidious contaminant that causes adverse health effects that do not manifest themselves until far into the future and that cannot be seen, smelled, heard, or touched)

• non-radioactive contamination from dust and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and nickel

• tailings dike failure releasing tailings into surrounding waterways

• leaching of acids, heavy metals and radioactive ore into the surface and ground water (surface water and ground water provide a primary pathway by which radioactivity and toxic heavy metal contaminants, such as lead, arsenic, nickel, and cadmium, can be leached under certain conditions, particularly from tailings)

• food chain contamination from dangers of tailings and their long-term effects on human health, wildlife, vegetation, and water quality (fish, wildlife, vegetation, country foods, and drinking water are all at risk should spills or leakages occur)

• risk to drinking water supplies (the need to manage the water from waste management areas is important, particularly if there are drinking water sources in the vicinity)

• lack of availabile of financial resources to pay for decommissioning, radiation monitoring and follow-up after the mining and milling projects have been completed

Summary of Identified Potential Human Health Effects:

• respiratory and lung cancer

• other cancers

• "toxic effects"

• "uncertain" effects

• "negative" effects