"Port Hope has been called upon
to make itself the national sacrifice
zone for Canada."
 
Robert Kennedy Jr.
June 27,2004

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"Listen to the warnings coming from scientific communities and
then act."

David Suzuki
in Port Hope

April 11, 2005

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Quick links

F.A.R.E
Families Against Radioactive Exposure

Uranium Medical
Research
Centre
The UMRC is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1997 to provide objective
and expert scientific and medical research into the effects of uranium.


Lake Ontario

Waterkeeper
A licensed member of the
New York-based
Waterkeeper Alliance, led
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr
.

Energy Probe

A consumer and environment research team, active in the fight against nuclear power, and dedicated to resource conservation, economic efficiency and effective utility regulation.


































































 

 

 

 

 







PORT HOPE COMMUNITY
HEALTH CONCERNS COMMITTEE

UPDATED - Sunday May 4, 2008
 

Approximately 3.5 million cubic metres of radioactive and heavy metal waste remains within the boundaries of the Municipality of Port Hope at numerous
sites, awaiting proper long-term storage...To date, however, there has been no funding available to the community of
Port Hope for comprehensive independent health studies despite the $260,000,000 to be spent by the Federal Government to manage this low level waste and develop long term storage options. 


READ
"LATEST NEWS" - SUNDAY MAY 4, 2008


Public Letter from
the UMRC to

Hon.Tony Clement,

Minister of Health, Health Canada


READ LETTER


April 30, 2008
Health Canada says UMRC verifies its studies

by Joyce Cassin, Northumberland News

The latest volley in the continuing battle of the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee and Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) versus Health Canada and the Municipality Port Hope has been revealed in a letter presented at Port Hope council Tuesday night.

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The United States Government Has Acknowledged in Law,
Harm from Uranium Exposure to Military Personnel, Atomic Workers and Community Downwinders


WHY hasnt the Canadian Govenment?

The US. Dept. of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act and the US Dept. of Justice Radiation Exposure Compensation Act recognize more than 35 diseases, mostly cancers, as associated with ionizing radiation exposure. More than $5 billion dollars has been paid in compensation to nuclear energy workers, military personnel and community downwinders. Uranium exposure has been causing harm to people for decades.
USA recognizes 34 illnesses / CANADA recognizes 4
Read more



May 2, 2008

I Miss Rick Austin as Mayor

Letter to the Editor, Northumberland News


Letter to the Editor

There will be no cease-fire on the uranium debate in Port Hope on my part. I will not stop until the presence and associated dangers of the radioactive waste under Dr. Powers School are exposed and those responsible held accountable.

Many of the questions to the Auditor General that Mayor Thompson referred in her "speech from the throne" last week deal specifically with Dr. Powers’ issues. These are questions that were never answered or not answered truthfully. Questions to the Auditor General and the subsequent responses, become part of the public record and will be used in upcoming legal action against those responsible.

I submitted a petition to the Auditor General on the inadequacy of the level of environmental assessment for the cleanup of Port Hope. Once again, It is our opportunity to have our questions answered truthfully and to become part of the public record.

The last petition I submitted to the Auditor General in January questions the allowable levels of various radioactive contaminants in Canada. For example: we assume the allowable level of gamma radiation at the fence-line of the nuclear reactors is safe for people. So why is the allowable level of gamma radiation at Cameco’s fence-line six times higher than at the nuclear reactors?

I will be submitting another petition to the Auditor General soon on the foundation and contamination problems under the UF6 building, the contamination Cameco hid under the Building 2 (They bricked over the pits containing radionuclides that are draining to Lake Ontario) and concerns about Vision 2010.

It is unfortunate that Port Hope businesses are suffering but that problem goes back to 1975 when the radiation was discovered in St. Mary’s School. That was when businesses started leaving Port Hope. Cobourg and Port Hope had similar sized manufacturing communities at that time and now Port Hope has virtually nothing.

It wasn’t nuclear activists that caused the problem; it was the Canadian Government. There should have been full disclosure of the problem at the time and a course set to clean up the mess as well as commission the comprehensive health studies to ascertain the impact on the health of Port Hope residents. 30 years later, we’re still waiting.

I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I miss Rick Austin as Mayor of Port Hope. Mr. Austin promised Port Hope a "pristine" community when the cleanup was completed. Mayor Thompson has backtracked to the point where 2 million cubic metres will be left all over Port Hope. Mayor Thompson and Council have done nothing to get comprehensive health studies done, which they ALL supported during the election campaign.

Don’t expect a cease-fire Mayor Thompson. Leaving 2 million cubic metres of waste is not a cleanup. Force the Federal Government to come forward with the money that’s needed. Rick Austin promised a "pristine" town. Wish you were still Mayor Rick.

Patrick McNamara
Alberta


Health Canada hypocrisy
Letter to the Editor
, Northumberland News
April 29, 2008

To the Editor:
The Northumberland News article 'Health Concerns Committee proud of its work'
(April 25) does not clearly reflect the points I was making regarding application of the Precautionary Principle to human exposures to uranium in Port Hope and elsewhere
.

The people of Port Hope and indeed, Canada, should have the benefit of the Precautionary Principle approach to regulating uranium exposures, the approach which the federal Minister of Health Tony Clement announced last week is being applied to the substance bisphenol A. Many people across Canada and other countries have been pressing this case for years.

The bisphenol A announcement is being heralded by many as an unusually strong, leadership position for the Canadian government to take on a toxic substance and the Minister is quoted as saying it is "better to be safe than sorry."
Read more


THE PORT HOPE RADIOBIOLOGICAL STUDIES PROJECT 2007


The Quantitative Analysis of Uranium Isotopes in
the Population of Port Hope, Ontario Canada

Asaf Durakovic, Axel Gerdes, Isaac Zimmerman
Uranium Medical Research Center

Peer review conducted by European Association of Nuclear Medicine Copenhagen, Denmark 2007


LISTEN FREE to "Living at the Barricades" Podcasts
by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper


"Speaking out against pollution" PODCAST - Dec. 03 / 2007
"Uranium Contamination in Port Hope" PODCAST - (1 hr, 2 parts) - Nov 16 / 2007

WATCH -
CBC Headline News Coverage - Nov. 13/07

READ - Local news posted



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