HEALTH INFORMATION



Why Are Health Studies for Port Hope Necessary?

The history of this issue begins with the construction of a gold, then radium refinery in the 1930's on Lake Ontario in Port Hope which subsequently was converted to a uranium refining facility during World War II to assist the Canadian and United States Governments with the development of nuclear weapons.

The refinery was operated as a Crown Corporation until 1988 under the name Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. when it was privatized as Cameco Corporation. Port Hope is a unique community in North America because it has been contaminated through a number of pathways with low level radioactive and heavy metal waste from these operations.

The broad community contamination gradually became public knowledge in the mid 1970's and early 1980's. More sites around the community were still being discovered in 2001, including an area in the town park. All properties in Port Hope have still not been surveyed. What is known however, is that 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. In addition, extensive soil contamination has occurred over time from ongoing air emissions of uranium, arsenic, fluoride, etc.

The refinery continues to operated under the regulations of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Provincial Ministry of Environment. The Federal Government and the community continue to work towards a long-term storage solution for the wastes. Many residents want proper health studies to determine if their health has been impacted by their many years of exposure to toxic elements.

To date, however, funding to the community for comprehensive independent health studies has not been made available despite the millions of dollars spent by the Federal Government to manage the waste and develop long term storage options.

Dr. Eric Mintz February 2004 health study report
A critique of the Mortality Study for Port Hope 2002
Read the Report

Links to relevant health information

U.M.R.C
Uranium Medical Research Center Inc.
UMRC is the only independent research group providing analysis for exposed individuals and populations. Often, individuals have been sick for many years and unable to get proper testing. They include veterans who were exposed during wars where depleted uranium (DU) munitions were used and civilians who have worked or lived near nuclear facilities.... Read more

Dr. Asaf Durakovic Gives a Rare Interview About
Depleted Uranium in Iraq
Decmocracy Now - January 30th, 2003
He Was the First Military Doctor to Test Gulf War Veterans for Radiation Exposure and Was Terminated for His Work.Iraqis say DU is a major cause of the severe health problems such as cancer and birth defects. The director of the cancer ward at Basra's Saddam Teaching Hospital says pre-war cancer rates have increased eleven times.
Hear Now Once at website-click on "Listen to Segment" to play interview

Doctor's Gulf War Studies Link Cancer to Depleted Uranium
New York Times - January 29, 2001
Asaf Durakovic began examining gulf war veterans when he worked as chief of nuclear medicine at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Wilmington, Del., in the 1990's. Since that post was abolished in 1997, he has continued with his privately funded research in Toronto....Read More

U.S Environmental Protection Agency
Health Effects of Radiation
You can find answers to many common questions about the health effects of radiation in the following categories: radiation and health, effects of radiation type and exposure pathway, non-radiation health effects of radioactive materials, estimating health effects.... Read More

The Port Hope Cancer Incidence Study
A Health Canada study
The study, designed to investigate cancer patterns in Port Hope, was commissioned by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) as part of its responsibility to the community for matters of health, safety, security and the environment....Read More

U.S. Acknowledges Radiation Killed Weapons Workers
 NewYork Times - January 29, 2000
After decades of denials, the government is conceding that since the dawn of the atomic age, workers making nuclear weapons have been exposed to radiation and chemicals that have produced cancer and early death....Read More

Veterans' Nuclear Exposure Underestimated, Panel Says
New York Times - May 9, 2003
Some soldiers, sailors and aviators who developed cancer from exposure to radiation from 1945 to 1962 were denied compensation because the Pentagon grossly underestimated their doses, a panel of independent scientists said today. For a majority of veterans who took part in cold war nuclear tests or were in Japan near Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the underestimation does not matter because ''ionizing radiation is not a potent cause of cancer,'' said the panel, which was convened....Read More

Cancer in Belarus increased 40% after Chernobyl
THE LOW LEVEL RADIATION CAMPAIGN - New study published
In November 2004 The Swiss Medical Weekly published findings by workers at the Clinical Institute of Radiation Medicine and Endocrinology Research in Minsk, Belarus. It shows that between 1990 and 2000 cancer rates have risen by 40% overall, compared with rates before the catastrophe in April 1986....Read More

A national cancer registry to assess trends after the Chernobyl accident
A. E. Okeanov, E. Y. Sosnovskaya, O. P. Priatkina; Clinical Institute of Radiation Medicine and Endocrinology Research, Minsk, Belarus SWISS MED WKLY 2004;134:645–649 Issue 43/44, Nov 2004
UNSCEAR (2000) United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Sources and Effects of Ionising Radiation 2000. UN General Assembly, with Scientific Annexes. United Nations New York. Annex J Final Summary

Forgotten victims of Chernobyl
PRAVDA.Ru 04/23/2004
In the meantime, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, 94,5% of those who took part in liquidating the catastrophe (i.e. rescue workers, volunteers), are all considered ill. At the same time, significantly lower percentage (89,8%) of local residents who have been evacuated from the region have been diagnosed with illnesses connected to high radiation levels. 79,8% of children are also currently sick.....Read More

Project Tooth Fairy
Radio Active Strontium-90 in Baby Teeth of New Jersey Children
and the Link with Cancer: A Special Report Published By The Radiation and Public Health Project. May 19, 2003

Since 1996, the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) has conducted a study of radiation levels in the bodies of persons living near nuclear reactors. Specifically, it has measured Strontium-90 (Sr-90) concentrations in baby teeth. Strontium is chemically similar to calcium; after it enters the body by breathing, food, or water, it attaches to bone and teeth. Sr-90 has a slow decay rate, and remains in the body for many years.....Read More

The Dene People of Great Bear Lake call for a Federal
Response to Uranium Deaths
Articles that document their struggle.
The Sahtugot'ine (the Dene of Great Bear Lake) have been subjected to and continue to suffer from a grave injustice imposed on us by the Canadian government. Without being told of the deadly hazards of radiation, our men carried radioactive ore and our families and children have been exposed to radiation for over 60 years......Read More