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Apply Health Canada’s “Better Safe Than Sorry”
Approach to Uranium Exposure
Statement to be Presented By the Committee at the Media Conference Sheraton Hotel in Ottawa - Sponsored By Physicians for Global Survival 
Monday April 21, 2008


“ We believe that the current safety margin needs to be higher. We have
concluded that it is better to be safe than sorry.”
- The Honourable Tony Clement, Globe and Mail, April 19, 2008

Health Canada has taken an international lead with this precautionary position with respect to listing the synthetic chemical bisphenol A as a toxic substance and banning the use of polycarbonate baby bottles. Why is Health Canada telling Port Hope and Canadians that industrial uranium, inhaled and incorporated into our bodies, is good news??

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

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.

Federal Health Data for Port Hope is Dismissed by Health Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Port Hope health data has shown elevated rates of diseases for selected periods and cohorts for: Overall death rate, circulatory disease, leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, cancers including childhood cancer deaths, and cancers of the lung, brain, nasal/sinus, esophageal, lip, bone, and colorectal. Source: 2000, 2002 Health Canada/CNSC Data for Port Hope (Reassessed by Mintz, 2004)

Causes of death 1986-92 significantly higher than Ontario include: hereditary, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory diseases; cancers, including lip and oral cavity, pharynx, gallbladder, lung, trachea, bronchus, bone. Source: 1998 Health Canada Great Lakes Health Effects Program Health Study on the Population Around Port Hope Harbour.

2007 Independent Radio-biological Health Study Results are Dismissed by Health Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

1. Subjects have been exposed to materials Eldorado Nuclear, Cameco Uranium Conversion Facility, and Zircatec Precision Industries.

2. Clinical study, 9 subjects and 2 controls; 4 Port Hope nuclear industry workers and 5 Port Hope civilians, including a child under age 14 years..

3. Project conducted by the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC), overseas laboratory costs paid through fundraising by the PHCHCC

4. Uranium isotope analysis by Plasma Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

5. Peer reviewed at the October 2007 conference of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine

UMRC findings made public November 13, 2007 in Toronto:

1. Chronic, long-term uranium contamination in Port Hope samples but NOT in the two control subjects.

2. Workers bodies releasing industrial and depleted uranium 23, 17 and 11 years since exposure. Contamination and anomalies in 100% of Port Hope samples by:
- 236U (Uranium 236), a waste and spent fuel product of nuclear reactors, not known to be in Port Hope, in three former workers many years after their employment.
- Enriched levels of the 234U including a child
- Depleted Uranium in one former worker

Health Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission have consistently avoided dealing with the real implications of these results. Its representatives who collaborated in replying to Port Hope, have told Port Hope people that these results are common to everyone across Canada (incorrect), that the results are good news (incorrect) , and no health studies of the community are needed (incorrect). A letter from the Uranium Medical Research Centre to the Minister of Health responding to the misleading, inaccurate statements from our government are posted on our web site and in the media packages.

To date, the Minister has not responded.

What the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee wants

1. Canadian legislation that recognizes the dangers of uranium, provides compensation to those harmed. Legislation should provide a precautionary regulatory framework for all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including mandatory health monitoring of downwind communities. It must focus on protection of human health.

2. The highest level of environmental assessment for nuclear projects, not the lowest.

3. Comprehensive independent multidisciplinary health studies and testing, with long-term health surveillance established for Port Hope and other communities affected by uranium.

4. Examination of the unexplained presence of 236U in Port Hope and all available health results for Port Hope, should occur at the Parliamentary level. There should be an investigation into health and regulatory agencies’ denials of the real health risks of uranium exposure in Port Hope and other communities.

5. An end to the on-going uranium contamination of our communities.

 


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