Post by Okwes on Dec 19, 2006 13:21:54 GMT -5
Paper: Indians in U.S. hit by higher cancer rate
http://www.chinaview.www.chinaview.<WBR>cn 2
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- American Indians suffered a much
higher cancer death rate as a result of contaminated waste of uranium
mines during the Cold War, but the U.S. government did little to
address the problem, a newspaper report said Sunday.
Uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around the Indians
whose homes were built with the material that silently pulsed with
radiation, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The cancer death rate on the Indian reservation - historically
much lower than that of the general U.S. population - doubled from the
early 1970s to the late 1990s, the paper quoted Indian Health Service
data as saying. The overall U.S. cancer death rate declined slightly
over the same period.
Though no definitive link has been established, researchers say
exposure to mining byproducts in the soil, air and water almost
certainly contributed to the increase in Navajo cancer mortality.
"The government has never conducted a comprehensive study of the
health effects of uranium mining on the reservation,health effects of
"But individual scientists working on their own have documented
sharply elevated cancer rates near old mines and mills.High
concentrations of uranium, arsenic and other heavy metals have been
found in one out of five drinking-water sources sampled."
Particularly toxic were the "hot" houses built with radioactive
debris, said the paper.
From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled
and blasted from the mountains and plains. The mines provided uranium
for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret effort to develop an atomic
bomb, and for the weapons stockpile built up during the arms race with
the then Soviet Union, according to the paper.
The U.S. government was the "sole customer" of all the uranium
produced there by private companies.
The boom lasted through the early '60s. As the Cold War threat
gradually diminished over the next two decades, more than 1,000 mines
and four processing mills on tribal land shut down.
"The companies often left behind radioactive waste piles and open
tunnels and pits. Few bothered to fence the properties or post warning
signs. Federal inspectors seldom intervened," said the paper.
Over the decades, Navajos inhaled radioactive dust from the waste
piles, borne aloft by fierce desert winds. They drank contaminated
water from abandoned pit mines that filled with rain. They watered
their herds there, then butchered the animals and ate the meat. Their
children dug caves in piles of mill tailings and played in the spent
mines.
"Today, there is no talk of cancer immunity in the Navajos," said
the paper.
http://www.chinaview.www.chinaview.<WBR>cn 2
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- American Indians suffered a much
higher cancer death rate as a result of contaminated waste of uranium
mines during the Cold War, but the U.S. government did little to
address the problem, a newspaper report said Sunday.
Uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around the Indians
whose homes were built with the material that silently pulsed with
radiation, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The cancer death rate on the Indian reservation - historically
much lower than that of the general U.S. population - doubled from the
early 1970s to the late 1990s, the paper quoted Indian Health Service
data as saying. The overall U.S. cancer death rate declined slightly
over the same period.
Though no definitive link has been established, researchers say
exposure to mining byproducts in the soil, air and water almost
certainly contributed to the increase in Navajo cancer mortality.
"The government has never conducted a comprehensive study of the
health effects of uranium mining on the reservation,health effects of
"But individual scientists working on their own have documented
sharply elevated cancer rates near old mines and mills.High
concentrations of uranium, arsenic and other heavy metals have been
found in one out of five drinking-water sources sampled."
Particularly toxic were the "hot" houses built with radioactive
debris, said the paper.
From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled
and blasted from the mountains and plains. The mines provided uranium
for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret effort to develop an atomic
bomb, and for the weapons stockpile built up during the arms race with
the then Soviet Union, according to the paper.
The U.S. government was the "sole customer" of all the uranium
produced there by private companies.
The boom lasted through the early '60s. As the Cold War threat
gradually diminished over the next two decades, more than 1,000 mines
and four processing mills on tribal land shut down.
"The companies often left behind radioactive waste piles and open
tunnels and pits. Few bothered to fence the properties or post warning
signs. Federal inspectors seldom intervened," said the paper.
Over the decades, Navajos inhaled radioactive dust from the waste
piles, borne aloft by fierce desert winds. They drank contaminated
water from abandoned pit mines that filled with rain. They watered
their herds there, then butchered the animals and ate the meat. Their
children dug caves in piles of mill tailings and played in the spent
mines.
"Today, there is no talk of cancer immunity in the Navajos," said
the paper.