India's generation of children crippled by uranium waste
Observer investigation uncovers link between dramatic rise in birth defects in Punjab and pollution from coal-fired power stationsHealth workers in the Punjabi cities of Bathinda and Faridkot knew something was terribly wrong when they saw a sharp increase in the number of birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers. They suspected that children were being slowly poisoned.
But it was only when a visiting scientist arranged for tests to be carried out at a German laboratory that the true nature of their plight became clear. The results were unequivocal. The children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies, in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit.
The results were both momentous and mysterious. Uranium occurs naturally throughout the world, but is normally only present in low background levels which pose no threat to human health. There was no obvious source in the Punjab that could account for such high levels of contamination.
And if a few hundred children – spread over a large area – were contaminated, how many thousands more might also be affected? Those are questions the Indian authorities appear determined not to answer. Staff at the clinics say they were visited and threatened with closure if they spoke out. The South African scientist whose curiosity exposed the scandal says she has been warned by the authorities that she may not be allowed back into the country.
But an Observer investigation has now uncovered disturbing evidence to suggest a link between the contamination and the region's coal-fired power stations. It is already known that the fine fly ash produced when coal is burned contains concentrated levels of uranium and a new report published by Russia's leading nuclear research institution warns of an increased radiation hazard to people living near coal-fired thermal power stations.
The test results for children born and living in areas around the state's power stations show high levels of uranium in their bodies. Tests on ground water show that levels of uranium around the plants are up to 15 times the World Health Organisation's maximum safe limits. Tests also show that it extends across large parts of the state, which is home to 24 million people.
The findings have implications not only for the rest of India – Punjab produces two-thirds of the wheat in the country's central reserves and 40% of its rice – but for many other countries planning to build new power plants, including China, Russia, India, Germany and the US. In Britain, there are plans for a coal-fired station at the Kingsnorth facility in Kent.
The victims are being treated at the Baba Farid centres for special children in Bathinda – where there are two coal-fired thermal plants – and in nearby Faridkot. It was staff at those clinics who first voiced concerns about the increasing numbers of admissions involving severely handicapped children. They were being born with hydrocephaly, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and other complications. Several have already died.
Dr Pritpal Singh, who runs the Faridkot clinic, said the numbers of children affected by the pollution had risen dramatically in the past six or seven years. But he added that the Indian authorities appeared determined to bury the scandal. "They can't just detoxify these kids, they have to detoxify the whole Punjab. That is the reason for their reluctance," he said. "They threatened us and said if we didn't stop commenting on what's happening, they would close our clinic.
NukeFree.Org
The Uranium & Weapons Connection
Despite the nuclear energy industry's well-funded efforts to convince the public otherwise, uranium fuel for atomic power plants is in limited supply. Like coal, oil and gas, it will soon run out, leaving scores of giant reactors useless and abandoned.
Also like fossil fuels, the impact of mining and processing fuel for nuclear power plants involves huge impacts on humans and the environment. With mines mostly in Australia, the American west, Canada, and central and southern Africa, atomic power has created huge ecological crises whose solutions are a long way off and are already proving to be exceedingly expensive.
When uranium ore is gouged out the ground, it emits radon gas that fills mine shafts with deadly fumes. Uranium miners throughout the world have historically suffered from abnormally high lung cancer rates. They also die in the same kinds of accidents that kill coal and other ore miners.
When the raw uranium is brought to the surface, it's milled into fine sands called tailings. Billions of tons of these waste granules are dumped near milling plants throughout the world, emitting huge quantities of radioactive radon gas, a well-known cause of lung cancer. Radon emissions from mills in Colorado and New Mexico have been tracked as far away as New York City and Washington DC. They are the number one source of increased background radiation from the atomic fuel cycle.
Alongside the mills are huge ponds of acid solutions used to separate the usable uranium isotopes from the waste. These ponds are extremely lethal to human beings and poisonous to the environment. Periodically the dams holding them back break, wrecking ghastly havoc on the regions downstream.
The percentage of uranium usable for fuel is less than 5% of the total ore dug out of the ground. Those rare isotopes must then be enriched in giant factories that are extremely inefficient. The dominant process actually coverts the solid ore into a gas (uranium hexafluoride), and then back to solids. The plants consume huge quantities of energy, most of it now generated by fossil fuels.
The biggest enrichment plant in the US, at Paducah, Kentucky, is powered by two huge coal plants. Though the nuke reactor industry claims to generate about 18% of the nation's electricity, some 3% of the nation's electricity is used to refine uranium for those power plants.
At every stage of the mining, milling and enrichment process, significant quantities of fossil fuel-generated greenhouse gases are poured into the atmosphere. The idea that the nuclear fuel cycle “creates no greenhouse gas emissions” is a deliberately and dangerously misleading myth.
The spent fuel rods from atomic reactors remain intensely radioactive for centuries, and are among the most lethal industrial objects ever created by human beings. Standing within a few feet of a single rod can result in death in less than five minutes.
In recent years the nuke power industry has tried to revive the myth of reprocessing, by which spent fuel can be re-formed into usable fuel. The technology has been tried in a number of nations, including the US. But it is prohibitively expensive, and makes no economic sense. It also generates substantial new quantities of intensely radioactive waste for which no long-term disposal methods have been discovered.
Reprocessing also creates large quantities of weapons-grade plutonium, the material used to build the Bomb that destroyed Nagasaki. Making more plutonium under any circumstances threatens the world with the production of still more atomic weapons. India, Pakistan, South Africa and Israel, along with numerous other countries, are known to have fashioned nuclear weapons from uranium extracted from ostensibly civilian nuclear power programs. Recently the United States has threatened war with Iran on the presumption that the civilian enrichment process would give them the fissionable materials needed to build their own atomic weapons.
From start to finish, from mining, milling, enrichment, fissioning and waste disposal to the failed re-use of radioactive fuel, the nuclear fuel cycle has proven catastrophic for human and ecological health, for the economy, and for the proliferation of atomic weapons.
But no radioactive windmill wastes will ever be used to destroy a city. Solar panels will not emit cancer-causing radon gas.
Blighted Homeland (Los Angeles Times four-part series)
No More Clunky Rooftop Panels: The Latest Solar Can Go on Everything From Your Home to Your Car to Yourself
Indigenous Peoples Call for Global Ban on Uranium Mining
Indigenous peoples from around the world, victims of uranium mining, nuclear testing, and nuclear dumping, issued a global ban on uranium mining on native lands.
The declaration, signed during the Indigenous World Uranium Summit, held Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2006 on the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Arizona, brought together Australian aboriginals and villagers from India and Africa. Pacific islanders joined with indigenous peoples from the Americas to take action and halt the cancer, birth defects, and death from uranium and nuclear industries on native lands.
Villagers from India testified to the alarming number of babies who die before they are born or are born with serious birth defects, and of the high rates of cancer that are claiming the lives of those who live near the uranium mines.
 Nuclear Free Future Award recipients and presenters: Standing, from left to right: Phil Harrison, Gordon Edwards, Paul Robinson, Willem Malten, Manny Pino, Heike Hoedt, Feng Congde, Esther Yazzie-Lewis, Chris Shuey, Ed Grothus, Claus Biegert, Jill Momaday-Gray. Kneeling and sitting in front, from left to right: Wolfgang Scheffler, Robert Del Tredici, Sofia Martinez. |
Australia Aboriginal Rebecca Bear-Wingfield, stolen as an infant and now an activist, told of the death threats for those who oppose the expansion of uranium mining in South Australia. Corporations have attempted to buy Aboriginals' approval for new uranium mining projects on native lands.
From northern China came the voice of Sun Xiaodi, a whistleblower who has exposed massive unregulated uranium contamination. Xiaodi is now under house arrest in Gansu Province after he was "disappeared" and imprisoned in 2004-2005.
Xiaodi, along with five other anti-nuclear activists, was awarded the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2006. The awards highlighted not only the personal and collective achievements of the recipients but also the international collaboration that has grown within the movement. Those honored came from several continents.
Organizing International Resistance to Uranium Mining: From Salzburg to Window Rock
The Navajo Nation provides a fitting backdrop for discussions of the dangers of uranium mining. The history of uranium mining on these native lands goes back decades to when Navajo workers were sent to their deaths in Cold War uranium mines, unknowingly aiding the production of the world's first weapons of mass destruction.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. remarked, "As a result, radiation exposure has cost the Navajo Nation the accumulated wisdom, knowledge, stories, songs, and ceremonies--to say nothing of the lives--of hundreds of our people. Now, aged Navajo uranium miners and their families continue to fight the Cold War in their doctors' offices as they try to understand how the invisible killer of radiation exposure left them with many forms of cancer and other illnesses decades after leaving the uranium mines."
The tragedy spurred a growing resistance to the mines, and the Navajo Nation today is at the head of an international movement. In one of the movement's greatest achievements, in 2005 the tribe passed the Dineh Natural Resources Protection Act banning uranium mining on Navajo lands. Norman Brown, a Navajo and member of the organization Dineh Bidzill Coalition that co-organized the Summit, said, "The heart of this movement is here--we are at the center of this movement today."
Major challengesFor years uranium mining was shrouded in secrecy as part of the Cold War and its victims were isolated. Compensation has been hard to win in the courts and although recognized in the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for Navajo Uranium Miners, only a small percentage of mining families have received their due. A general lack of political power in indigenous communities makes them easy marks for dangerous uranium mining and dumping projects. The rising price of uranium has caused renewed pressure on indigenous lands. |
Like Navajos, Pueblos were also victims of the Cold War. As the truth emerged, Navajo and Pueblos in nearby New Mexico at first believed they were the lone victims of this death march. Uranium mining was enveloped in secrecy and carried out surreptitiously under the guise of national security, shielding it from public scrutiny and isolating its victims.
But as they became more vocal in their demands, the peoples of the U.S. Southwest soon met indigenous peoples from other parts of the world who shared similar histories as victims of uranium mining, nuclear testing, and nuclear waste dumps. Indignation grew as they realized that American Indian uranium miners in both the United States and Canada had been sent to their deaths to work in the uranium mines long after scientists warned of the health hazards of radon gas and radiation.
The first international meeting to exchange experiences and begin to develop demands took place at the World Uranium Hearing in Salzburg, Austria, in 1992, where activists began their struggle to halt uranium mining on indigenous land. In the words of the organizers, the Navajo meeting was held to follow up on that experience, develop coordinated actions and issue an international and energetic call for a halt to uranium mining on native lands throughout the world.
More than 300 participants from 14 countries participated in the event, with speeches covering all aspects of uranium mining, international activists efforts to halt the mining, and the devastating health effects.
Their message to the world: "Leave the uranium in the ground."
Global Threats to Local Life: Defending Communities
At the Navajo summit, Manuel Pino, Acoma Pueblo from New Mexico and college professor, recalled that in Salzburg, Dene from Canada described the cancer that resulted from working in uranium mines without protective clothing. Mining in Canada and the United States was often carried out by the same corporations.
"As we went to Salzburg, we realized that many of our people were sick and dying," Pino said. He pointed out that Laguna Pueblo's Paguate village is only 2,000 feet from the largest open-pit uranium mine in North America , the Jackpile Mine. Pino said radioactive particles have been found in the animals, water, air, and in the bodies of people of the Pueblos.
Residents of the Laguna Pueblo waged a pitched battle for reclamation of the Jackpile Mine. Originally owned by Anaconda, and now owned by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) the lease owners simply walked away when mining stopped, leaving radioactive waste strewn and the earth torn apart. Ultimately, reclamation efforts began, but it was too late for the many Pueblos dying or already dead from cancer.
Pino noted that Acoma Pueblo members live downwind and downstream from the Grants, New Mexico, mineral belt--a 60-mile stretch where uranium was produced from 1948 through the 1990s. He claimed that most of the uranium mined on Indian lands by the United States Department of Defense was used in the production of weapons of mass destruction.
According to Pino, recent efforts endorsed by the United States and other nations to stall passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations stem from material interests. He stated that indigenous peoples have vast mineral resources beneath the surface of their lands, along with timber, water and other natural resources, and these nations view the exercise of indigenous rights as a threat to corporate access to and exploitation of this natural wealth.
"Our permanent sovereignty over our resources is a threat to the nation states of the world," Pino told the uranium summit.
He added that here on the Navajo Nation in the past the tribe has entered into leases that favor the corporations, often without being duly informed of the risks. In the Pueblos, he said, the people were never told of the harm that would result from the radioactive dust settling on their traditional drying fruit and drying meat.
Nation states, he said, do not realize that Indigenous Peoples take their responsibility as caretakers of Mother Earth seriously and will not back down. Recalling the words of Sitting Bull, Pino urged the people to "come together to form a fist to protect Mother Earth."
Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai from the Grand Canyon in Arizona, attended both uranium summits, in Salzburg and Window Rock. Tilousi praised Havasupai tribal leaders for passing a ban on uranium mining in Havasupai territory in the Grand Canyon and placing the ban in the Havasupai Tribal Constitution.
Still, with the rising price of uranium and new threats to Indian lands, Tilousi said tribes must be vigilant to support one another in the protection of Mother Earth.
search results "tag:uranium mining"
India's generation of children crippled by uranium waste
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/30/india-punjab-children-u...sent by protect_democracy since 10 days 9 hours 21 minutes, published about 9 days 17 hours 7 minutes
Health workers in the Punjabi cities of Bathinda and Faridkot knew something was terribly wrong when they saw a sharp increase in the number of birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers. They suspected that children were being slowly poisoned. But it was only when a visiting scientist arranged for tests to be carried out at a German laboratory that the true nature of their plight became clear. The results were unequivocal. The children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies, in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit.
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Havasupai Gather to Halt Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon
americas.irc-online.org/am/6386sent by thedazeahead since 11 days 13 hours 3 minutes, published about 11 days 2 hours 57 minutes
". . .Havasupai elders gathered on sacred Red Butte and listened to the legacy of uranium mining on Indian lands. They heard directly from the victims of the trail of death and cancer left behind by uranium mining corporations that were never held responsible on Pueblo and Navajo lands in the Southwest United States. They also listened to the promise of solidarity from the hundreds who gathered here to stand with them: Navajos from Big Mountain, Hualapai, Hopi, Kaibab Paiute, Paiute, Aztecs, and other American Indians from throughout the Americas."
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NYT: 137 Years Later
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/opinion/21tue3.html?_r=1sent by nasrudin since 50 days 10 hours 32 minutes
It’s hard to believe that the 1872 mining law is still with us. Signed by Ulysses S. Grant four years before the invention of the telephone, the law sets the rules for mining hardrock minerals like gold and copper. Useful in the days of westward expansion, it is a disaster now. It demands no royalties from the mining companies and provides minimal environmental protections. Its legacy, if it can be called that, is a battered landscape of abandoned mines and poisoned streams. Republican and Democratic presidents alike have urged Congress to reform the law. Yet it survives, thanks largely to Congressional inertia and friends in high places. At the moment, that friend is Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader who resists reform because mining is big business in his home state of Nevada.
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Mr. President, go and see for yourself
www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/23/746023/-Mr.-President,-...sent by partynut since 73 days 13 hours 57 minutes, published about 72 days 19 hours 32 minutes
President Obama, You don't have to travel to the far side of the world to see protesters being arrested as they attempt to save their families, communities, and future. You don't have to travel to the far side of the world to find a place where the powerful oppress the poor, and where corruption breeds poverty. You don't have to travel to the far side of the world to find tragedy being written in people's lives and in the land. You can get in your car and drive there in less than six hours. .....However there are those in your own administration who are telling you that you should not insert yourself more powerfully into the issue of mountaintop removal. That you should step back, wait for Congress, and use the power of your office to constrain, rather than end, this practice. Mr. President, those people are wrong. You cannot bargain with mountaintop removal, any more than you can make a deal with a disease. Mountaintop removal mining is unsupportable -- and unconscionable. It's not needed to meet America's energy needs. It's not needed to provide jobs in Appalachia. It's simply not needed.
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Barack Obama and the Contours of African American Social Protest Movements
Deeply embedded within even these notions of Black freedom, moreover, were two strategic concepts implying collective action to maximize Black civic capacity. The strongest of these was the struggle for equality.
no commentscategory: Barack Obama
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Obama admin. announces new mountaintop mining policy
Taking aim at mountaintop removal mining, this week, the Obama administration announced a new effort to strengthen federal oversight of the practice and to punish mining companies who fail to protect the environment.
no commentscategory: Environment
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No Oil for Genocide: Indigenous Activists in Peru Clash With Government Over U.S. Free Trade Deal
Depending upon who you listen to, there is either a populist uprising or a coordinated domestic terrorism onslaught that has been ongoing in Peru for the past month or so. The only thing clear from photos and videos leaking out of the country is that tensions are running high and people are killing each other.
2 commentscategory: The World
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Uranium Mining at the Grand Canyon
The Obama administration has been quick to overturn several anti-environmental moves ushered in during the 11th hour of George W. Bush’s presidency, but halting uranium exploration and mining near the Grand Canyon has not been one of them.
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Activists arrested protesting dangerous coal sludge dam in West Virginia
www.southernstudies.org/2009/05/power-politics-activists-arr...sent by PatriotDem since 106 days 2 hours 5 minutes, published about 105 days 14 hours 12 minutes
Say what?!! A Massey Energy subsidiary is planning to blast just 100 feet away from a dam holding back billions of gallons of toxic coal waste. "Massey Energy's own filings with the [West Virginia] state Department of Environmental Protection estimate a minimum death toll of 988 people should the dam break...The impoundment is built over a honeycomb of abandoned underground mines, raising questions about its long-term stability...The Sunday afternoon protest involved more than 70 people and took place at Massey's Marfork mining complex near Whiteville, W.V."
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Fun with Uranium: coming soon to a national park near you
coloradoindependent.com/29505/fun-with-uranium-coming-soon-t...sent by PatriotDem since 111 days 59 minutes, published about 110 days 5 hours 57 minutes
"a new twist this summer could be rollicking in the yellow-cake uranium at one of eight new claims near the Grand Canyon. Or how about zip lines between gas rigs in your favorite National Forest roadless area in Colorado?...Even as the National Park Service this week was reminding summer vacationers of our nation’s outdoor bounty, the Pew Environment Group was reminding Interior Secretary Ken Salazar of the energy-industry threats to that bounty. The nonprofit group fired off a letter requesting Salazar remove 1 million acres of public lands from consideration for new mining claims under the — do we have to even note that it’s 'antiquated'? — 1872 Mining Law.."
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Weapon of Choice (videos)
discuss.epluribusmedia.net/node/4250sent by carolwhite since 115 days 12 hours 24 minutes, published about 115 days 1 hour 57 minutes
Jim Staro's coverage relies on true investigative journalism. In this his latest piece, he discusses how major media ignore claims that the mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome" that has affected many soldiers, most likely comes from urnaium poisoning because the army uses depleted uranium in bullets. He asks, " Since 1991 the U.S. military has admitted to using depleted uranium in armor and ammunition on a large scale. But since then, a debate has raged about its long-term health effects on soldiers and their families. Could one of the most effective military tools in their arsenal actually be harming soldiers?"
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Moab Uranium Tailings Pile Starts Moving At Last
The process of removing 16 million tons of radioactive waste that has been piled on the Colorado River bank for decades began on Monday in the southeastern Utah city of Moab. The uranium tailings are being moved to a permanent disposal site 30 miles north, near the town of Crescent Junction. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman; Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, a California Democrat; former Grand County Council member Joette Langianese and others joined the Grand Canyon Trust's Executive Director Bill Hedden, for the opening ceremony. "The people of Moab and Grand County so cared about this issue that they made this a priority," Governor Huntsman said. "This is a big deal." Hedden is one of those who cared. He has spent 17 years working to get the radioactive tailings pile removed. "This has been leaching into the Colorado River since the late 1950s and has created a real dead zone along the river. A big flood could conceivably wash the whole thing into the Colorado River," he warned. The Moab tailings pile adjacent to the Columbia River (Photo courtesy DOE)
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U.S. seeks to end Bush mountaintop coal mining rule
www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q57820090427sent by Fiore since 135 days 8 hours, published about 134 days 20 hours 12 minutes
The U.S. Interior Department said on Monday it will try to overturn a Bush administration rule that made it easier for coal mining companies to dump mountaintop debris into valley streams. Calling the rule a "major misstep," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will ask the Justice Department to go to the courts to withdraw the Bush regulation and send it back to Interior to stop the policy. Salazar said the Bush-era rule allowed coal mine operators to use "the cheapest and most convenient disposal option" for mountaintop fill. "We must responsibly develop our coal supplies to help us achieve energy independence, but we cannot do so without appropriately assessing the impact such development might have on local communities and natural habitat and the species it supports," Salazar said.
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Two U.S. Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Streams From Mountaintop Removal
newsblaze.com/story/20090326114901zzzz.nb/topstory.htmlsent by partynut since 167 days 10 hours 1 minute, published about 167 days 4 hours 12 minutes
Two U.S. senators from coal-producing states introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday that would protect Appalachia from mountaintop removal coal mining. The Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696), introduced by Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), would amend the Clean Water Act to prevent the dumping of toxic mining waste from mountaintop removal coal mining into headwater streams and rivers. "My goal is to put a stop to one of the most destructive mining practices that has already destroyed some of America's most beautiful and ecologically significant regions," said Senator Cardin, Chairman of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. "This legislation will put a stop to the smothering of our nation's streams and water systems and will restore the Clean Water Act to its original intent." ~~~~ "It is not necessary to destroy our mountaintops in order to have enough coal," said Senator Alexander. "Millions of tourists spend tens of millions of dollars in Tennessee every year to enjoy the natural beauty of our mountains-a beauty that, for me, and I believe for most Tennesseans, makes us proud to live [there]."
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EPA Delays Hundreds of Mountaintop Mining Permits
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/24/washington/AP-EPA-Mounta...sent by partynut since 169 days 7 hours 4 minutes
The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands. The decision by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands. Between 150 and 200 applications for new or expanded surface coal mines, many mountaintop removal operations, are pending before the federal government. EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said the agency does not expect problems with the overwhelming majority of permits. The permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal. Under the Clean Water Act, companies cannot discharge rock, dirt and other debris into streams unless they can show that it will not cause permanent damage to waterways or the fish and other wildlife that live in them. Last month, a three-judge appeals panel in Richmond, Va., overturned a lower court's ruling that would have required the Corps to conduct more extensive reviews. The appeals court decision cleared the way for a backlog of permits that had been delayed until the lawsuit was resolved.
no commentscategory: Environment
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Appalachia's Agony
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/opinion/16mon2.html?ref=opinionsent by Fiore since 177 days 17 hours 3 minutes
The longstanding disgrace of mountaintop mining is now squarely in President Obama’s hands. A recent court decision has given the green light to as many as 90 mountaintop mining projects in Appalachia’s coal-rich hills, which in turn could destroy more than 200 miles of valleys and streams on top of the 1,200 miles that have already been obliterated. The right course for the administration is clear: stop the projects until the underlying regulations are revised so as to end the practice altogether.
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Of Blood and Gold: How Canadian Mining Companies Loot the Congo
In the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where some analysts say a decade-long "resource war" has taken the lives of millions, a Canadian mining company has caught a fever over gold. Once again, the presence of a foreign mining company in the DRC offers a stunning example of disparity between the "have-mores" of the West and the local Congolese, who in turn seemingly have nothing but violence and struggle.
no commentscategory: The World
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(John Denver's) West Virginia....Country Roads Parody Video
Almost level, West Virginia. Flattened Mountains, coal filth in our rivers. Life is cheap here, cheaper by the ton. We lose more by law here than if they used a gun. Strip mine roads ruin my home, all the places I belong. West Virginia...stripped off Mama...Where's my home? My country roads?
1 commentscategory: Video
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Ashley Judd urges end to mountaintop coal mining
www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D96DIT601.htmlsent by Nomen since 204 days 4 hours 55 minutes
Actress Ashley Judd added her voice Tuesday to calls to stop a destructive mining practice that blasts away mountaintops to unearth coal. The Kentucky native was among some 500 demonstrators who gathered Tuesday outside the state Capitol for a rally against so-called mountaintop removal coal mining. "Mountaintop removal coal mining is a scourge on our land and on our people," the two-time Golden Globe nominee said from a podium on the Capitol steps. "Mountaintop removal coal mining is devouring vast acreages of irreplaceable hardwood forests." Judd told the protesters, who waved placards reading "Save The Mountains" and "Got Pollution? Thank Coal," that she saw "barren moonscapes" and "nothingness" on a visit last September to the eastern Kentucky mountains. Throughout Appalachia, environmentalists have been fighting mountaintop coal removal, holding protests, filing lawsuits against federal agencies and coal companies, and pushing for legislation at the state and federal level to ban the practice. [ MORE AT STORY SITE ]
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U.S. court overturns ban on West Virginia surface mining
www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE51C65820090213sent by Fiore since 208 days 9 hours 56 minutes
The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia on Friday overturned a court ruling that had banned surface or mountaintop mining in West Virginia, according to court documents. The judges reversed a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chambers, who found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had not fully evaluated the potential environmental damage before approving permits for mountaintop mining for four mines operated by subsidiaries of Massey Energy.
2 commentscategory: Environment
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Australia debates selling uranium to India to combat climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/australia-debates-selling-uranium-to-india-to-combat-climate-change_10077876.html
July 30.2008
Australia debates selling uranium to India to combat climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/australia-debates-selling-uranium-to-india-to-combat-climate-change_10077876.html
July 30.2008
| Mining in-depth homepage | |
| From Down to Earth magazine | |
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| Mining firms set up shop in Orissa Lanjigarh block, Kalahandi, Orissa, May 17: At its summit, the north-eastern ridge of the Niyamgiri hill range has a bald patch, typical of hilltops with bauxite deposits. A dense tree cover that provides a welcome shade to climbers struggling some 8 km up the steep forest path gives way to a vast stretch of open grassland. A leopard silently pads across the open expanse. Up here, all is at peace. But short-lived. It is environmental, political and human rights activists and local people vs a multi-million dollar company, Vedanta Resources Plc. that wants to tear apart the hilltop for what lies beneath, and a state government eager to hand over its mineral treasures to private companies. The final decision rests with the Supreme Court. Stakes are high, on all sides. Down to Earth, July 15, 2007 Read more | |
| Making India's mining sector socially and environmentally viable A government committee wants regime change to facilitate private investment in mining. What it is oblivious of is the need for more regulation to protect the environment and people displaced and impoverished. Travelling through some of the worst affected areas in Orissa DTE looks at the options that can make the sector viable—industrially, socially and environmentally. DTE, April 30, 2007 Read more | |
| Rivers Shankhini and Dankini in Chhattisgarh run dirty The waters of rivers Shankhini and Dankini is part viscous bog and part a molten brown liquid that resembles something straight out of Willy Wonka’s scrumptious chocolate factory but is sure to taste quite the opposite. No, I didn’t attempt to taste. These waters, I wouldn’t recommend dipping a toe in, let alone taking a drink from it. Yet people from about 100 villages on the banks of the rivers use it for most of their daily needs. Shankhini emerges from the Bailadila mountain range, which is known for its high quality iron ore deposits, and Dankini meets the river downstream. DTE tries to understand what is the cause for water transforming into this brown viscous liquid. DTE, December 31, 2006 Read more | |
| Red alert in Chhattisgarh Land acquisition is at the centre of intense political and social disputes in the tribal hinterland of Chhattisgarh. Naxal extremists enforce their version of justice by opposing land alienation. But the new state has its compulsion — industrialisation. That is when the Salwa Judum movement started: moving tribal people out of their land to expose rich subterranean resources. DTE discovers the nuances of the struggle. DTE, October 31, 2006 Read more | |
| Theirs to mine? This is the question angry and beleaguered tribals in Orissa and Jharkhand are asking, as mining companies set up shop in the midst of their land and forests, rooting to uproot them. In 1993, the government of India began to deregulate the mining sector. States rich in mineral wealth, such as Orissa and Jharkhand, literally took up the call to ‘open up’. Agog, private mining interests queued up. Awed, state governments went on a spree, signing one joint venture after another. The states seem proud to venture on as the repressive arm of projects hell-bent on meeting production deadlines. The Centre looks on, blind. April 15, 2005 Read more | |
| Red alert in nuclear India India’s pampered nuclear power programme is losing steam. Uranium stocks are almost over; people won’t let the government dig new mines; all projects are running late and new technology is almost impossible to get, as decommissioning reactors is the trend world over. Is the Indian nuclear establishment’s target of 20,000 MW by 2020 just a fantasy? DTE, April 30, 2004 Read more | |
| Coal dust, fly ash and slurry How has the river that flows through one of the most industrialised regions in India fared since it was first written about in 1993? Down to Earth revisits the coal dust and slurry-ridden Damodar basin to see if anything has changed - for better or worse. DTE, March 15, 2003 Read more | |
| Consigned to flames “Abandon all hope, all ye who enter" This inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno could well be true for Jharia town in Jharkhand. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields here for over several decades are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well. And for the local people — trapped between officialdom and realpolitik — mere existence now means hell on earth. DTE explores. DTE, November 30, 2002 Read more | |
| Poor little rich states Rich in natural resources but extremely poor, the three new states are in need of a new strategy for development. For the people of the three states the struggle for statehood was strung around the battle for rights over "jal, jungle, jamin" (water, forests and land) - the axis around which their life revolves. The new states have to deliver on these three issues. But the signs are ominous. No blueprints have been drawn so far. DOWN TO EARTH reports on the posers thrown up by the birth of Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. DTE, January 15, 2001 Read more | |
| Nationalised nightmare One of the main reasons given for nationalising the coalmines of India was to protect workers from accidents. What followed was large-scale destruction of the environment. Now, the danger is not just from accidents that kill. For the residents of coal towns, the future is like a tunnel with no light at the end. Only coal. And accidents. Down To Earth takes a fresh glance at life and death in some of India’s coal towns. DTE, July 15, 2000 Read more | |
| Blogspots | |
| Golublog is an anthropology blog with information on mining and indigenous communities in Australia. click here | |
| Chronicle of a Canadian woman’s hunger strike aimed at preventing uranium mining in Ontario. click here | |
| The Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium is a group of concerned citizens in Ontario, Canada. click here | |
| PICA blog discusses community-level opposition to a Canadian mining company in El Salvador. click here | |
| Blog detailing indigenous people’s struggle in North America, against coal mining. click here | |
| Black Mesa Indigenous Support operates on the Navajo Reservation in the Western U.S. and has had some success opposing mining projects in the area. click here | |
| A photojournalist details the harsh evictions of a community in Guatemala at the hands of a foreign mining company. click here | |
| On community resistance to a silver mine in El Salvador. click here | |
| A collection of articles discussing a violent confrontation between community-level activists and paramilitary pro-mining force in Bangladesh. click here | |
| On solidarity movement in Columbia opposing gold mining. click here | |
| On many contemporary political issues, including community activism against uranium mining. click here | |
| Comprehensive blog from the Philippines with updated information about mining resistance. click here | |
| Megh Barta is an online forum for activism that includes details on mining resistance in South Asia click here | |
| A site produced by Appalachian Voices, which demonstrates the disturbing impacts of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. click here | |
| On the proposed construction of a new power plant near the Four Corners area of New Mexico. click here | |
| A community coalition of Australians, with affiliates in North American and the U.K., opposing the increase in use of coal as it contributes to global warming. click here | |
| RNCOS provides industry-specific blogs, including a blog on the energy sector. Although pro-corporate, the site does provide useful information on the expansion of coal mining in India. click here | |
| Grist, an important environmental blog, tackles the clean coal debate in developing countries and questions the tactic India should adopt. click here | |
| News on resistance to bauxite mining among tribals in Orissa. click here | |
| Petition to the Chief Justice of India - opposition to bauxite mining in Orissa. click here | |
| Discussion on the consequences of displacement from coal mining in Orissa. click here | |
| Bhumkal Bastar is a blog detailing various injustices in Orissa, including mining developments. click here | |
| On steel and coal development in Orissa. click here | |
| Discussion of sand mining in Kerala. click here | |
| About seabed mining that also discusses opposition to sand mining in Tamil Nadu. click here | |
| With a focus on tourism, also talks of the hidden costs of mining in the state. click here | |
| Coverage of an anti-mining rally in Goa. click here | |
| About development and mining in Northeastern India. click here | |
| Importance of mining sector for the Indian economy. click here | |
| ‘Anil Agarwal Dialogue on Mining, People and Environment’-April 26-27, 2007 | |
This two-day event was a precursor to the sixth Citizen’s Report ‘Rich lands, poor people: Is sustainable mining possible?’ Commencing with a media-briefing workshop, attended by 30 journalists, mining experts and grass root organizations from all over the country. The participants presented case studies from their states and the issues related to mining. | |
| List of Media fellows | |
| Anupama Kumari Anupama Kumari is a news writer with the Ranchi based Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar. She has published 10 stories with thrust on displaced tribal villages of Kolhan in West Singhbaum and special focus on problems of women and children, loss of livelihood due to mining activities. Her stories have pushed local NGOs and journalists to take up the cause of women in areas affected by mining. Brajakishor Mishra Brajakishor Mishra is a freelance journalist working as a special correspondent with Hindustan Samachar. He contributes to various Oriya media organisations like the leading Oriya daily, The Samaja and has been writing on development issues for the past 25 years. Brajakishor’s study focussed on the environmental degradation caused by mining in Keonjhar and the anticipated impact and protests in Kalahandi districts of Orissa. Ejaz Kaiser Ejaz Kaiser has been with the Hindustan Times since 2000. He has been covering a wide range of issues including forest, wildlife and environment, mining, political events, crime and tribal issues. Ejaz’s proposal focussed on mining in different regions in Chattisgarh, the state’s mineral policy; and tribals; success stories from mining industry; environmental and health impacts of mining. Kulsum Talha Kulsum Talha is a freelance journalist who has worked with the Northern India Patrika, the Times of India, the Indian Express, Doordarshan and All India Radio where she has scripted programmes on youth, women and social issues. She proposed to look at the mining activities in the Sonbhadra area, with focus on the pollution and the lack of health and sanitation facilities. Her point of interest was to cover influence of naxalism in the region and corporate social responsibility. M T Shivakumar M T Shivakumar is a staff correspondent with Prajavani and has been associated with leading Kannada dailies like Udayavani and Mysooru Mithra. He covered the special task force operation against Veerappan. He proposed to study iron ore mining in Bellary. His study included illegal mining, mine mafia, involvement of politicians, child labour in mines, labour safety, impact on World Heritage sites and other health and environmental issues. Mahesh Chadra Joshi Mahesh Chadra Joshi is an assistant editor with Hindi fortnightly Nainital Samachar and an activist. Mahesh proposed to study mining in different regions in Uttaranchal. His focus was on the mining money in politics and politicians who have risen to influential posts with the help of mining industry. Water scarcity due to magnesite mining, impact on agriculture and changes in socio-cultural set up in villages due to mining activities were other areas of his study. Raju D Nayak Raju D Nayak is a senior development journalist with the Marathi daily Loksatta, of the Indian Express group and has been associated with Rashtramat and Mumbai Sakal. His study dealt with the effects of mining on agriculture land, drinking water supplies in Goa, pollution of rivers, mining in Western Ghats and impacts on surrounding sanctuaries. He also studied success stories of mining companies that have tried to solve these problems. Ratna Bharali Talukdar Ratna Bharali Talukdar is a freelance journalist from Assam and has worked with The Times of India and the Press Information Bureau, Guwahati. She focussed on the impact of coal mining on the environment of Tinsukia (the flora and fauna in the adjoining ecosystem) and the ill effects on the health of locals. Tangsa village, which caved in due to mining, also formed a part of her study. Sasidharan Mangathil Sasidharan Mangathil is a sub editor with the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. He was awarded the Jaiji Peter Foundation fellowship for the study of landslides and its environmental impacts in Kerala in 2002. He proposed to study mineral sand mining in Kerala and its impacts on fishing and livelihood of fishing communities, beach erosion and coastal ecology, and the impact on Vembanad and Ashtamundi lakes. Sunny Sebastian Sunny Sebastian is a senior journalist from Rajasthan, working with The Hindu since 1986. He received the first Pandit Jhabarmal Sharma Award for journalism in 1999. His proposal for study included impact of mining on ground water level; impact on agriculture, soil degradation and land use; the displacement of local people and possible decline of living standards of the people in the area. | |
| Book Review | |
| State of India’s Environment: 6th Citizen's report Rich Lands, Poor People: Is Sustainable Mining Possible. Source: Mint Date: Mon, Sep 17, 2007 URL: http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/17011346/Technology-fuels-30-fewer-job.html Technology fuels 30% fewer jobs amid soaring commodity prices India continues to have a disproportionately higher number of workers than other mining nations Maitreyee Handique New Delhi Thanks to technology, total employment in India’s formal mining industry has decreased by 30% in the last decade although mineral production, fuelled by the commodities boom, has jumped threefold, says a new study. But India continues to have a disproportionately large number of workers in mines in relation to mineral revenues, when compared with most other mining nations. Employment has fallen from 710,000 lakh to 550,000 lakh between 1996 and 2004, primarily because of increased use of machinery and automation, according to data in a report compiled by the advocacy group, Centre for Science & Environment. The report will be formally released in October. The 350-page State of the Environment Report shows that value of production, including metallic and non-metallic minerals and fossil fuels, has tripled from Rs25,000 crore in 1993 to Rs84,000 crore last year. Comparing global employment practices and despite the overall reduction, the study says India has more employees for every $1 billion (Rs4,050 core) in revenue from mineral production, than key mining countries Canada, Australia and South Africa. “India provides 30,000 jobs for ever $1 billion revenue,” says Chandra Bhushan, who co-authored the paper with Monali Zeya Hazra. “It’s still the largest employer.” The other three countries employ an average of only 2,000 people for $1 billion dollar revenue. The report also predicts that local struggles in many mineral-rich districts, which also have high poverty rates, will pose a serious challenge to the mining sector. About 40% of the top 50 surveyed mineral producing districts are affected by local extremist forces, including naxalism. The states most affected by armed resistance are Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Nearly 31 of the 50 top mineral-rich districts that produce coal and bulk minerals, such as iron ore, limestone and bauxite, fall under the 115 most backward districts category. Lagging behind in human development index and economic backwardness are Orissa with 27 districts out of 30, Jharkhand with 19 out of 22 and the entire state of Chhattisgarh, barring one district. Orissa has a quarter of the country’s iron assets, with an estimated reserves of four billion tonnes. But its largest iron ore producing district of Keonjhar ranks 24th out of the state’s 30 districts in human development index. Various parameters such as poverty rate, infant mortality, literacy and per capita income were used to measure social and economic progress. Many of these states with vast mineral resources have higher forest cover at 40% than the national average of 18%. A total of 0.75 million hectares been leased out for mining in the country, the study notes. The study is coming at a time when the Centre and states are engaged in a debate whether investors should obtain a captive mine to set up a manufacturing plant, particular steel mills. This is the heart of a controversy over the new mineral policy, which says “value addition” should not be criteria for mine development. States, meanwhile, want to usher in investment by handing out captive mines to generate employment. The report also states that coal producing districts have a better human development index than iron ore producing districts. Coal mines, which are led by government companies, were the highest employer at 410,000 in 2003. Iron ore miners had 35,023 people on payroll during the period. The report also highlights that poor regulation of air quality and mines inspections, and non-existent guidelines for mineral transport and watershed conservation, will remain problems for the mining sector. | |
| Experts and Activists | |
 Prof. S. P. Banerjee, AISM, B.Sc. (Hons.) Mining, M.Eng., Ph.D (Sheffield). Former Director, Indian School of Mines. Past President, MGMI, Kolkata. Former Member, Supervision and Monitoring Team, World Bank’s Coal Sector Environmental and Social Mitigation Project. Former Member, Expert Committee (Mining) of MoEF, Govt. of India.Contact: sakti.banerjee@gmail.com | |
 Dr. Ananth Chikkatur is a Research Fellow in the STPP and ENRP's Energy Technology Innovation Policy project. He has been working with the Indian Planning Commission on a project to assess the Indian coal and coal-power sectors. His research interests include technology innovation, cleaner coal-power technologies, energy efficiency, small-scale/rural energy systems, and the politics of climate change.Contact: ananth_chikkatur@harvard.edu | |
 Ravi Rebbapragada is the Executive Director of Samata and the Chairperson of Mines, Minerals & People. He has been active in working with tribal people for 22 years now and has been instrumental in winning the landmark Samata Judgment in the Supreme Court of India in 1997".Contact: samataindia@gmail.com | |
 Sreedhar, currently the Managing Trustee of Environics Trust, is also the convenor of the New Delhi Centre of mines minerals & PEOPLE. Sreedhar is formally trained in Geology and Risk Management and has been involved with institutional development as co-founder of several environmental and community organisations for over two decades.Contact: environics@gmail.com or mmpdelhi@yahoo.co.in or environics@gmail.com | |
 Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt is a Fellow at the Resource Management in Asia Pacific Program at The Australian National University. Kuntala has extensively researched the environmental and social impacts of the coal mining industry in India. Her research interests include coal mining and community development, and informal mining as a livelihood in developing countries.Contact: kuntala.lahiri-dutt@anu.edu.au | |
 Prof. Gurdeep Singh is head, Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering & Centre of Mining Environment at the Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad. He has been worked on several World Bank-aided projects and Coal India Limited on environmental management capacity building for the mining sector. He has organised over 70 executive development programs on the environmental aspects of mining.Contact: s_gurdeep2001@yahoo.com | |
 Biswajit Mohanty, winner of the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO Wildlife Service Award in 2001, runs the Wildlife Society of Orissa, is the Honorary Wildlife Warden for the Dhenkanal Forest Division and the coordinator for Operation Kachhapa, an ambitious sea turtle conservation programme.Contact: biswajit_m@vsnl.com | |
 Philip Neri de Souza is a member of the Society of Salesians of Don Bosco, an international religious institution that works on education, empowerment and development of marginalized youth, street children and rural development. He is also a member of the executive committee of Mines, Minerals & People (MM&P), working to voice concerns of neglected tribal communities of remote villages in South Goa.Contact: neri244@rediffmail.com | |
 Dr. Y.K. Saxena is Vice President, Ambuja Cements and looking after the corporate environment cell. His responsibility includes overall environmental management for the cement plants and mines. CSE had adjudged him the "Best Environmental Manager of India, 2003 " for his contribution in greening the cement industry.Contact: yks@ambujamail.com or envdel@ambujamail.com | |
 Mahesh K. Patil is general manager (environment) at Sesa Goa Ltd. an iron-ore mining company based in Goa. As in-charge of mine land reclamation, his responsibilities include land reclamation, restoring the productivity of agricultural land affected by the mining waste, and developing community programmes for those affected around mining areas.Contact: mpatil@sesagoa.com | |
 Achyut Das, a social worker with over 20 years experience in rural and tribal development, was member of the State Planning Board from 1991-1994 and has also held memberships in numerous state and national-level committees. Das has played a crucial role in influencing state policy on tribal development and is widely known for his unequivocal stand on human rights of indigenous communities.Contact: achyutdas@agragamee.org or achyuta@gmail.com or fok@rediffmail.com | |
 Shriprakash is one of the founder members of JAOR - Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation, which is fighting for the rights of the locals in and around Jadugoda (East Singhbaum dist., Jharkhand), where the Uranium Corporation of India Limited has been operating for the past 40 years. He is also a film maker and activist, using the visual media to bring about change.Contact: prakash.shri@gmail.com | |
 Kanchi Kohli is a social and environmental activist who has been working on environment and forest clearance issues, and their impact on local communities and biodiversity. Her articles powerfully articulate the current impacts of the implementation of policies and laws, including the National Environmental Policy, Environment Impact Assessment and the Biological Diversity Act.Contact: kvdelhi@vsnl.net or kanchikohli@gmail.com | |
 Madhumita Dutta is an activist working on issues of corporate accountability, justice and environmental health. Her research and investigations support community led campaigns across the country for justice, rights over natural resources, clean environment and health, safe livelihood with dignity, including occupational health issues.Contact: madhu.dutta@gmail.com | |
 Dr Sanjay Raj has expertise as a consultant in the fields of Geology, natural resource management, environmental studies, EIA & EMP studies, groundwater studies, drawing up mining plans & mineral exploration, including remote sensing. His interests also span watershed management, rainwater harvesting, wastewater recycling, among others.Contact: drsanjayraj@satyam.net.in | |
 Dr Patrik Oskarsson is a researcher at the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. His present research is examining governance issues and the current efforts to establish bauxite mines and refineries in the Scheduled Areas in Andhra Pradesh. Patrik was earlier associated with CSE in Delhi and Samatha in Hyderabad.Contact: p.oskarsson@uea.ac.uk | |
| R C Kataria is a senior environmental engineer with the Central Pollution Control Board. His technical expertise includes the development & implementation of environmental standards for integrated iron & steel industry, stone crushers, coal mining, assessment of environmental problems of Aravali & preparing action plans. Contact: cpcb@alpha.nic.in or kataria14001@yahoo.com | |
 Ashok Mahapatra is editor-in-chief, naxatranews.com. Armed with years of experience in the media, Ashok firmly believes that the media needs to do more for Orissa’s brand-building. Presenting an image of Orissa that is beyond the stereotypes is a dream he has nurtured for long.Contact: ashmohapatra@gmail.com | |
 Samit Kumar Carr is founder and secretary general of Occupational Safety & Health Association of Jharkhand, (OSHAJ),. He is also executive council member & convener of Thematic Area Mine Closure Workers. He was instrumental in forming stakeholder committees for safe mining, proper implementation of mine closure plans and reducing environmental degradation and occurrences of mine mishaps.Contact: oshajindia@gmail.com or bapisdoc@yahoo.com | |
 Manshi Ahser is an independent researcher-activist. As a part of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies, she was involved in researching how industrial and mining projects affect livelihoods and environmental rights of local communities, specifically in the central-eastern belt of the country. This included detailed documentation on the issue of iron ore mining and sponge iron industries, specifically in Orissa.Contact: manshi_asher@yahoo.co.in or manshi.asher@gmail.com | |
 Asha Krishnaswamy, special correspondent, Deccan Herald, is a Bangalore-based journalist and functions as chief reporter heading a team of 14 reporters. Her reporting beats include development, politics, education, environment and civic issues. At the CSE seminar, she highlighted how the government has locked its horns in Bellary mine owners for personal gain.Contact: ashakrishnaswamy@deccanherald.co.in | |
 Dr M P Narayanan is a mining professional with over 40 years of experience. He retired from public service as Chairman, Coal India Limited. He has also served as Chairman, Neyvelli Lignite Corporation Limited and Chairman, Environmental Appraisal Committee for Industries, Ministry Environment and Forests, Government of India.Contact: mpn88@hotmail.com | |
 Rana Sengupta, a social worker by profession, has been managing Mine Labour Protection Campaign (MLPC) for over 5 years. MLPC is working in ten districts of Rajasthan and one district in Gujarat-Banaskatha to ensure economic stability, rights and dignity of mineworkers, who constitute a vast majority of the rural poor.Contact: rana@minelabour.org or mlpc@satyam.net.in | |
| Ashim Roy is the general secretary of New Trade Union Initiative, a national federation of non-partisan left-democratic trade unions in the formal and informal sectors, which represent workers in agriculture, forest, construction, mining, manufacturing and services. Contact: ashim_cmp@yahoo.com | |
| B Babu Rao is the former controller of mines, Indian Bureau of Mines, Nagpur, Maharashtra. | |
| Himanshu Upadhyay is an independent researcher working on public finance and accountability issues, and is also associated with Intercultural Resources, New Delhi. Contact: info@icrindia.org or himanshugreen@gmail.com | |
| Prafulla Samantra is a social and environmental activist deeply involved in issues concerning tribal communities and the environment. He, together with his group, have been involved in voicing the concerns of tribals affected by mining activities in Orissa. He is also the President of Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Orissa unit. Contact: psamantara@rediffmail.com | |
| Ranjan Sahai is the controller of mines, Indian Bureau of Mines, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Contact: ranjan.sahai@rediffmail.com | |
| Yousuf Beg is the secretary of a grassroot NGO, Patthar Khadan Mazdoor Sangh, based in Panna, Madhya Pradesh. Contact: pkms-panna@yahoo.co.in | |
| M Bhagyalakhsmi is the director of Sakhi, a local NGO based at Hospet, Karnataka, working for the upliftment of women artisans from rural and tribal areas. Contact: sakhihyka@gmail.com or sakhi.hyka@rediffmail.com Fallujah is Iraq's City Of Deformed Babies An Iraqi doctor has told Sky News the number of babies born with deformities in the heavily-bombed area of Fallujah is still on the increase. Skip related content Related photos / videosFifteen months ago a Sky News investigation revealed growing numbers of children being born with defects in Fallujah. Concerns were that the rise in deformities may have been linked to the use of chemical weapons by US forces. We recently returned to find out the current situation and what has happened to some of the children we featured. In May last year we told the story of a three-year-old girl called Fatima Ahmed who was born with two heads. When we filmed her she seemed like a listless bundle - she lay there barely able to breathe and unable to move. Even now and having seen the pictures many times since I still feel shocked and saddened when I look at her. But the prognosis for Fatima never looked good and, as feared, she never made it to her fourth birthday. Her mother Shukriya told us about the night her daughter died. Wiping away her tears, Shukriya said she had put her daughter to bed as normal one night but woke with the dreadful sense that something was wrong. She told us she felt it was her daughter's moment to die, but of course that does not make the pain any easier. Fatima's father had taken his little girl's hand but it was cold. "She is gone," he had said to his distraught wife. Another girl we met last year was Tiba Aftan who was born with a huge growth across her face. Now she is a toddler her future is looking brighter having gone to neighbouring Jordan to have it removed. The growth had covered half of Tiba's forehead and was invading one of her eyes - and it was getting bigger as she got older. Although the operation was a success Tiba will need more surgery and the last trip cost her family almost every penny they have. But since our original investigation, we have built up a new dossier of cases of deformed children in Fallujah born in the last eight months. There are a wide range of problems - from abnormalities of the abdomen to facial disfigurements. We have also seen pictures of all kinds of deformed foetuses which have not survived. There is no precise explanation as to what has caused the deformities and there are no figures to compare cases with those a decade or more ago as records were not kept during the time of Saddam Hussein. All of our evidence is anecdotal, but repeatedly people tell us they believe the deformities must be linked to the heavy bombardment of Fallujah - a Sunni insurgent stronghold - by America in 2004. People want an independent investigation into the impact of the kinds of weapons used - including controversial white phosphorus. Yet even since we first started to give a voice to the calls for help from the people of Fallujah things seem to have got worse. Dr Ahmed Uraibi, a specialist paediatrician in Fallujah, told us that the number of deformities he has dealt with has increased in the last year. The people of Fallujah want to know how many more deformed babies there will be before someone sits up and takes notice of them. http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/09/istanbul-survivors-re-live-floods-ordeal Fowler questions Canada's Afghan mission"It strikes me as rather extreme that one goes out and looks for particularly complex misery to fix," Fowler said about Canada's mission in Afghanistan. "There's lots of things to fix that can be done more efficiently and probably more effectively." | |
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