Health Impacts of Uranium Mining

In 2007, IPPNW's Indian affiliate, Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), conducted health surveys among the communities who live and work near the Jadugoda uranium mining and milling complex in northeast India. Their findings-that mine workers and their families manifest significant increases in cancers and reproductive illnesses typically associated with uranium mining operations-echoed the experiences of similar communities over many decades of fuel production for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear energy.

In 2008 and 2009, IPPNW will continue to work with IDPD and other affiliates where uranium mining is a serious public health concern by:

a) conducting followup studies of the health of tribal uranium mining communities in India, and educating community leaders about the findings;
b) supporting and empowering community activists in India in their efforts to obtain medical care and meaningful compensation programs for affected mine workers and their families;
c) creating a network of experts on uranium mining and health from several countries, who can share research findings, campaigning experiences, and strategies for influencing government and industry policies and practices;
d) linking the health and environmental impacts of uranium mining and processing to the broader policy issues of nuclear abolition and the transition to clean, safe, sustainable energy production.

Resources

Powerpoint Presentation - "Study on health status of indigenous people living around Jadugoda Uranium mines", Dr. Shakeel ur Rahman and Dr. Satayajit Kumar Singh (IDPD) - the study was supported by the Ploughshare Fund
[PPT]

Powerpoint Presentation - "Health implications of Australia's uranium rush", Bill Williams, MBBS (MAPW) [PPT]

For more information about the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), contact John Loretz, Program Director, IPPNW, 727 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139; 617-868-5050, ext. 280.