By Published by The Editorial Board, Danville Register & Bee
Published: October 9, 2008
To the editor:
I am writing in response to several letters recently written to your paper criticizing the educational seminars given by Southside Concerned Citizens regarding the dangers of uranium mining.
I, too, have attended many of their seminars, as I am certainly a concerned citizen. Call me a tree hugger, environmentalist or any other name you wish to call me, but I will never stop trying to protect human health and the environment.
If we don’t protect these things, our children, grandchildren and all future generations will be the ones to suffer because of our stupidity. I find it interesting that most of the letters that favor uranium mining seem to be written by people who are VUI investors or employees. In other words, by people who stand to reap significant financial gains if uranium is mined and milled at the Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania County.
The people that oppose uranium mining are spending their own money and countless hours trying to educate the public on the dangers of uranium mining and milling — and they don’t get paid to do that. They, like me, do it because they love Virginia and don’t want their land, water, livestock and health destroyed.
In one of the letters, it was mentioned that the Coles Hill deposit would supply enough uranium to run the nuclear power plants in the United States for two years. So what! What happens after two years? Is two years worth of nuclear energy worth a lifetime of negative environmental impact on the residents of Virginia? Not in my mind.
Another thing that I keep reading are quotes from sources saying that there are no higher incidences of cancers in people living next to “nuclear facilities.” That may very well be true, but we are not talking about nuclear facilities. We are talking about a potential uranium mine. We, as concerned citizens, have been accused of trying to scare the citizens of Virginia. Well, first of all, they should be afraid. Second, “nuclear facilities” and uranium mines are two different things. The uranium that is used in nuclear facilities has been refined. It has already been mined and milled. Show me literature that says there is not a higher incidence of cancer and birth defects near uranium mines.
I recently read an article where a physician was quoted as saying that there is a higher incidence of cancers (lung, bone and blood), kidney problems and birth defects in areas where uranium is mined. He was endorsing a resolution in Colorado that opposes uranium mining “in geographical areas that are utilized by the farming or ranching communities or where there are human residents, due to the adverse health conditions associated with the mining process …”
In a similar article from Utah, the results of a study by a state epidemiologist determined that “Monticello residents suffered from lung cancer and stomach cancers at up to twice the normal rate over three decades, a possible legacy of a uranium mill near the town in southeastern Utah.”
In yet another article, a study was conducted on children with autism and it was found that “the children with autism had significantly higher in-hair concentration levels of lead, mercury and uranium.”
Wake up, people. Cancer and autism are very real in this area and we don’t need to allow corporate greed to wreak havoc on Southside Virginia. If we don’t take a stand to protect our health and environment, then we will have to suffer the consequences of our ignorance. In this case, ignorance is not bliss — and the study that VUI keeps harping on cannot and will not ever change the fact that uranium mining and milling are dangerous to human health and the environment.
TERRY ANDREWS, R.N.
Halifax
http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/uranium_mining_and_market_mayhem/6697/
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