From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Findings of Healing Global Wounds
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:01:36 GMT

/** native.1492: 208.0 **/
** Topic: Findings of Healing Global Wounds **
** Written  3:26 pm  Oct  7, 1992 by aptvegas in cdp:native.1492 **
                      HEALING GLOBAL WOUNDS
                 PO BOX 4082 LAS VEGAS, NV 89127
                 (702)386-8696 FAX (702)386-9335


October 5, 1992

To the Department of Energy of the United States Government:

Findings  of  Healing Global  Wounds  Indigenous  Peoples/Human 
and Environmental effects of Radiation exposure conference

     We  come  to you today, Participants of the  Healing  Global 
Wounds Forum held in Las Vegas, October 2-4, 1992, as people from 
around  the  globe  who  are threatened  and  endangered  by  the 
poisoning of radiation.

     We are representatives from indigenous sovereign nations from
the Pacific and North America, from the Republic of Kazakhstan, 
From European Nations, from Atomic Veterans deliberately  exposed 
to nuclear   experimentation,  from  the  Scientific   and   Medical 
profession, and concerned citizens of the United States.

     We  are  being  contaminated  by  radiation  throughout  the 
nuclear  cycle,  from mining uranium out of  the  earth,  through 
processing  and  production of Nuclear materials,  from  testing, 
deploying, and finally dismantling of weapons and facilities that 
should not have been built in the first place.

     Some  are  suffering  from cancers and  other  disease;  are 
children  are born deformed or already dying. We are  faced  with 
genetic  mutations  of generations yet unborn. In  a  very  short 
period  of human history vast tracts of the earth have been  made 
uninhabitable  for  untold generations to come.  The  water,  the 
earth,  and the sky above, the sources of life that  sustain  all 
peoples  are  threatened  and  poisoned  by  unsound  energy  and 
military policy.

     The  young  people  are the future, our hope,  and  we  must 
protect  them.  The words of the Shoshone  and  Northern  Arapaho 
students from the Wyoming Indian High School here with us speak
for all:
"The  Department  of Energy and the nuclear  industry  have  been 
killing  people  and  using "acceptable risk" as  an  excuse.  We 
believe  peoples lives, the animals, the plants, and  the  water, 
should not be put at risk to promote toxic technology. Listen to
the people, listen to the earth. Stop Nuclear Testing and energy
production."

RESPECTING INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGN NATIONS

     Much of the damage of radiation  has been done to indigenous 
peoples throughout the world, as though they are more expendable, 
their  lands and lives worth less than yours. The sovereignty  of 
all  peoples affected by mining, production, testing,  and  waste 
must be honored and upheld.

     As Senator Anjain of the Marshall Islands has told us:

     "For  indigenous people, the land we live on is  everything. 
It  connects  us to the Great spirit, to our ancestors,  to  each 
other.  Without  our  land,  we are no one--as  a  people  or  as 
individuals.  Thus, the radioactive contamination  of  indigenous 
people's land is but the indirect killing of people.

     Your  policies here in Nevada are in complete  violation  of 
the  Treaty  of Ruby Valley, drawn up with the  Western  Shoshone 
Nation in 1863. Odessa Ramirez, Co-chair of the Southwest Network 
for Environmental and Economic Justice speaks for all of us  when 
she says:

"We support the Western Shoshone Nation, in opposing any future 
nuclear  testing and the placement of a high level nuclear  waste 
repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This is Shoshone Territory
This  land was never transferred to the United States.  The  U.S. 
Does  not  hold title to this land. We charge the  Department  of 
Energy  with  trespassing  and  invasion  of  sovereign  land,  a 
violation of sovereign land, a violation of international law."

JOBS, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, PUBLIC HEALTH AND CLEANUP:

     For  us , the Forum we have participated in this weekend  is 
just another stop forward in our work together. Dr. H. W. Cummins 
and  others  have  presented  material  about  the  Hanford  (WA) 
veterans Study on cancer mortality. This study is a good  example 
of  the success that can be achieved by a grass roots,  privately 
funded study of the health effects of radiation exposure at  just 
one  of  the Dept. of Energy's thirteen nuclear  weapons  plants. 
Final  results  are expected in late 1993. We  intend  to  pursue 
similar  studies that will not be funded or controlled  by  those 
with a high stake in concealing the truth from the public.

    The  Cold  War has been a very "hot" war for the  victims  of 
radiation exposure. With at least temporary moratorium on nuclear 
testing  in place, we must turn our attention to  rectifying  the 
damage  already  done  in every phase of  the  nuclear  industry. 
Funding  used in the past for production can now be  directed  to 
cleanup  and dismantling. Displaced scientists  (especially  from 
the   former Soviet Union) can now be utilized to help  with  the 
dismantling,  instead of new production. Immediate  research  and 
implementation of sustainable, non destructive sources of  energy 
must  begin. We must take every necessary step to end the use  of 
nuclear  energy  and the production, testing, and  deployment  of 
nuclear weapons for all time.

    Here in Nevada, over 9,000 people are employed by you in this 
industry, and they have been placed in terrible risk. Instead  of 
threatening  them  with  job  loss,  they  can  be  employed   in 
researching  and implementing clean-up and  restoration  wherever 
possible,  and  their  concerns must be  protected.  In  Hanford, 
Washington,  between  13,000  and  14,000  people  are  currently 
employed in the cleanup process.

    In the words of Robert Alvarez:
    "In   the  United  States,  the  cleanup,   dismantling   and 
decommissioning  represents  the largest civil works  project  in 
history, estimated to cost upwards of $200 billion over 30 years. 
As  well  as  being a major risk to the  environment  and  public 
health  and  safety, the contaminated sites  and  facilities  and 
their  cleanup  are a unique health and safety  problem  for  the 
workers themselves, many of whom will be unemployable outside  of 
the  federal nuclear complex  because of their inability  to  get 
private health insurance [due to their radiation exposure]. These 
displaced workers should be provided health insurance out of  the 
cleanup funds." These workers, and other radiation victims,  must 
be provided with follow-up monitoring and health care as well.

    The public, and particularly the victims, must be involved in 
helping develop national radiation standards and cleanup policies 
and  practices. This must be done in every phase of  the  nuclear 
cycle, from where radioactive materials have been taken from  the 
earth, to where they have been returned.

STORAGE OF NUCLEAR WASTE

    We  believe  that it is necessary to change  how  radioactive 
wastes  are  defined  and reclassify wastes  and  their  disposal 
according to longevity and hazard level. A complete restructuring 
of  long-lived  waste management and disposal  is  necessary.  We 
recommend  providing for extended on-site storage for up  to  100 
years,  delaying  dismantling  in  some  cases,  and  stabilizing 
military,  high-level,  long-lived  low  level,  and  transuranic 
wastes.

    We  insist  that the Dept. of Energy  cease  shopping  Indian 
Nations for Monitored Retrieval Storage sites. The office of  the 
Nuclear Waste Negotiator should be eliminated altogether.

LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY:

    An  entirely new manner of international  accountability  for 
radiation exposure is obviously necessary. We advocate  following 
the proposal of Kitty Tucker, of the Health and Energy Institute, 
and the National Committee for Radiation Victims:

    We   are   aware  that  the   International   Commission   on 
Radiological Protection (ICRP), the United Nations advisory  body 
promulgating  radiation exposure standards is largely  funded  by 
nuclear  nations,  and  its  members  must  be  approved  by  the 
International Congress of Radiologists. Therefore, we ask:

1)  That the United Nations establish a Public Health  Commission 
to provide governments with information about radiation  exposure 
effects, to establish better radiation exposure standards, and to 
promote the end of radiation pollution of the planet, and

2)  That  Public  Health Commission members  be  approved  by  an 
advisory  panel  representing non-nuclear nations  and  radiation 
victims, and

3)  That nuclear governments such as the United States  establish 
similar  national  public health commissions  to  provide  advice 
geared to public health and environmental protection rather  than 
the radiation promotion. 

    At  this  time , we understand that no level of  exposure  to 
ionizing  radiation  can be considered safe,  and  therefore  any 
continued nuclear contamination constitutes pre-meditated  random 
mass   murder,  and  is  in  violation  of  United   States   and 
international  law. The nuclear industry has raised   many  legal 
and  political  barriers  to avoid  responsibility.  However,  we 
intend to hold you individually and collectively accountable  for 
your acts.

    The original people of these lands hold to a simple principle 
which,if  followed,  will  guarantee the "life ,  liberty  ,  and 
pursuit of happiness of all":
Look to the future, to the needs of the seventh generation of the 
unborn,  in considering the consequences of any act you make.  We 
ask  of you, please adopt this policy in your hearts  and  minds, 
and  join  with  us in a future of hope,in  a  future  where  all 
children  , ours and yours, may grow up healthy, happy, and  free 
from disease, fear, or despair.
      .
** End of text from cdp:native.1492 **