By ANDREW LESTER
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:07 AM EST
The implication that uranium ore is no more harmful than a bunch of bananas is well, bananas.
In his conclusion, uranium industry consultant Steven Brown states that people are not entitled to their own science, implying that critics of uranium mining in Virginia have not been truthful.
Yet Brown forgets to mention any of the science that demonstrates negative health effects from uranium mining.
In addition, he mentions that uranium mining has occurred in Utah and Colorado for years, while failing to mention how many of those mining sites have had accidental releases and contamination.
The people of Virginia deserve access to all of the information before they decide on the important issue of whether to allow this potentially dangerous activity to occur in their backyard.
Brown is correct to say that we are constantly exposed to natural levels of background radiation. But not all radiation is created equal.
Bananas can be considered radioactive because of their natural potassium, but only .012 percent of potassium in the world is its radioactive isotope.
Our bodies safely regulate this essential mineral. They do not similarly regulate uranium, nor do we need it to survive.
Uranium, like many other radioactive elements, decays into daughter elements, one of which is radium-226. Radium-226 emits gamma radiation that can cause leukemia and bone cancer in humans.
Radon, another daughter product of uranium known by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry to be a human carcinogen, is a tasteless, odorless gas that can be released by uranium mining and can enter even the best sealed home.
Contrary to Mr. Brown's opinion, studies on the impacts of uranium mining in the Navajo Nation, which includes land in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah - where extensive mining began in the 1940's - have demonstrated a link between residency near uranium mining sites and increased incidences of health problems.
Higher rates of kidney disease have been linked to uranium waste exposure; and higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, cancers, genetic damage, and autoimmune diseases have plagued residents close to mining sites in the Navajo nation.
One hopes that Brown would not attribute their health problems to bananas or smoke detectors.
Another key difference between bananas and uranium waste is their respective concentrations of heavy metals: a banana does not typically contain other heavy metals, but uranium mining waste is chock full of them, including arsenic, lead, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese, zinc, and more.
(Note: although the trace amounts of some of the above in bananas are important to health, the heavy metals in uranium waste do not constitute good nutrition).
Since uranium is only .2 percent of the mined ore on average in the United States, almost everything is left over as waste that is potentially toxic to humans, plants, and animals.
As evidenced by numerous incidences of water contamination across the country, uranium tailings (the waste), pose a threat to both groundwater and surface water.
Surface waterways can be contaminated by runoff from tailings ponds resulting from accidents, dam failure, and weather events as well as through recharge from contaminated aquifers.
Heavy metals like arsenic can leach into soil and rock and contaminate groundwater aquifers.
These toxic contaminants can affect people far away from actual mining facilities, and have been linked to numerous health issues, including many forms of cancer, nervous system disorders, infertility, and birth defects.
Brown does not talk about uranium mining's dirty secrets: if there really are no health effects from uranium mining, why did the Navajo nation, with its long history of experience with the industry, pass a ban in 2005 prohibiting any new uranium mining on their lands?
Virginia would be wise to learn from the lessons of the past, and yes, look at the science - all of the science.
Better make sure that Brown and other uranium industry consultants divulge all the data, instead of throwing bananas at us.
Andrew Lester is executive director of the Roanoke River Basin Association.
Read more:
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2011/11/22/chatham/opinion/opinion04.txt
