Kelly O

1

Citizens Inquiry on the Impacts of the Uranium
Cycle
Kelly OGrady RN April 22, 2008
2
Research Report

• Aborigines and Uranium Monitoring the Health
  Hazards(2006)

3
Mishaps and Occurrences

• Since 1981, three years after mining began, at
  least 120 mishaps and occurrences leakages,
  spillages of contaminated water, and breaches of
  regulations have occurred.

4
No Harm

• Office of the Supervising Scientist consistently
  claimed no harm to either the environment or
  human health a claim difficult to substantiate.

• Social Impact

5
Research Question

• Uranium has been mined and milled in a Northern
  Territory Aboriginal domain the Kakadu Region
  for the past three decades, ostensibly under
  strictly controlled conditions.
• Have uranium operations adversely affected
  Aboriginal health in the Region?

6
Increase in Cancer

• Exploratory research undertaken in 2005 and 2006
  found a significant overall increase in the
  incidence of cancer among Aboriginal people in
  the Kakadu region some ninety per cent greater
  than would be expected.

7
Actual and expected number of cancer cases in the
Aboriginal population of the Kakadu Region,
19942003
Site Actual cases Expected cases Ratio (95 CI)
Lung 4 2.6 1.5 (0.4-3.9)
All cancers 27 14.4 1.9 (1.2-2.7)
8
Parting Thought

• If caution is called social responsibility, we
  suggest that any committee holding a brief to act
  in the Aboriginal interest has first and foremost
  to protect the health of present and future
  generations albeit at the very slight
  inconvenience of industrial concerns.

Dr Carmel Schrire, (1982)