Thursday, December 15, 2011

IT COSTS THE EARTH !

We take our earth so much for granted.

It's free to use, 'free' of cost, except for what we directly spend on reaping the earth's bounty.

But the earth's resources are not unlimited. The earth's resources are certainly not free.

Here's a TED presentation by Pavan that puts across to us the dangers of our assumptions:






 


If we keep on reaping where we do not sow, there will be less and less for our generation.

And future generations are losing forever what we so casually 'take' for granted.

First, the price will now be paid by the poorest and most vulnerable.

The biggest offenders are the big corporations and the governments that let them loot our present & our future for a pittance. 


LET'S MAKE A CHANGE 

Related post: http://bit.ly/tdxuJQ  whats-in-a-name


Monday, December 12, 2011

Whitewash that's Hogwash. Nuclear Power, Safety, the WHO & the IAEA


For anyone who wants to know what Chernobyl and Fukushima mean, these documentaries have the lowdown and are very well done. The first is about 50 mins long, with subtitles and English commentary and the older of the two, told from an insider perspective:




We are still learning about the intense and sustained damage that radiation can do from the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A further long term study can be done on Chernobyl (1986) But those studies have been grossly underplayed.  It is not a pretty picture.

There is generally an expectation that organizations within the UN that deal with world health and the dangers of nuclear power will deal with these areas keeping human safety and health as their most important mandates. A huge question is why the WHO and the IAEA have proved to be nuclear industry advocates rather than safety and health advocates.

The WHO (World Health Organization (a part of the United Nations) claims now that it is not allowed to independently investigate the results of nuclear accidents, or anything nuclear for that matter, not even future effects without the permission of the IAEA.
- not the immediate health effects
- not the epidemiology (future health effects on populations).
- not anything!

This legally binding agreement with the IAEA (another part of the UN) has been in force since 1959! So, we can only conclude that the nuclear industry is very well protected by the IAEA.

The WHO actually reports to the Development Group while the IAEA directly reports to the UN Security Council!  In theory, both have equal weight, but in fact the IAEA holds absolute sway over the entire nuclear field including matters of worker and public health.

Just as Chernobyl's true extent and danger were minimized, for Fukushima too similar 'statements' have started circulating now,  e.g. "the epidemiology will take years to sort out" but then, all people in medicine know that that's hogwash.  You won't catch a single radiology technician anywhere near even an x-ray machine without a heavy lead suit and a dosimeter on the lapel! That's just for x-ray exposure, whereas nuclear energy releases gamma rays, thousands of times more damaging to life.

The radiation from a damaged nuclear plant spreads through the air, it seeps into the ground and then is spread by underground water and in the case of Fukushima, the radiation is getting right into the ocean. The radiation spreads through the food chain.

Radiation is silent, radiation is deadly, radiation effects can last unchanged for 30 years or more.  Radiation actually targets developing tissues; growing tissue; particularly children (the whole child), and for adults, at least the bone marrow, thyroid, reproductive cells, heart, skin etc.

The Chernobyl disaster is believed to have affected over 9 million people. Yet the IAEA claims only 31 direct deaths and maybe 2000 "avoidable thyroid cancers in irradiated children." They call this 'rigorous science' saying that health effects have to be validated in approved labs - of which there are only 2, one in France and one in Monaco - and all suitably far enough away from Chernobyl to completely defeat the purpose

Don't take it lightly. There is no such thing as 'safe' nuclear power!

A new NPP is to be commissioned shortly in Kudangulam in South India. At the final stages it's being held up by local protesters but the government is hard at work squelching the protests, paying off village leaders, appointing committees that will deliberate for the next 30 years, etc. - while the commissioning work goes on full swing but oh so quietly.

This NP project sits directly in the path of any powerful tsunami coming from the Indian ocean, and this area was in fact badly hit in the 2004 tsunami, yet our government and the promoters confidently state that all approvals and safety studies have been fully 'complied with'.

Look around you. There's probably a NPP project functioning or being built not too far away. Then look at the fallout maps for Chernobyl and Fukushima...

What was that Jesus once said about beautiful gravesites...?
The benevolent and protective IAEA's whitewash is increasingly being recognized as hogwash! You can't always fool everyone.


Short key to the main points in the video:
Nuclear Controversies by Vladimir Tchertkoff; Released in 2003, 51 minutes
Key Points
  • Intro – Children’s perspective
  • 2:30 – Agreement between IAEA and WHO – WHO cannot research health effects of radiation or effects of nuclear accidents if IAEA does not agree
  • 7:00 – Former head of WHO admits they answer to IAEA
  • 14:00 – Chernobyl had no effect -UN
  • 15:45 – Scientist refutes UN
  • 27:30 – 200km from Chernobyl, 10,000 becquerels measured inside child
  • 30:20 – According to Professor Yury Bandazhevsky (former director of the Medical Institute in Gomel), Over 50 Bq/kg of body weight lead to irreversible lesions in vital organs
  • 30:50 – *MUST SEE* Refutes internal radiation! -Norman Gentner, Secretary of UN UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation), ~2001 (See Gentner speak at 13:55 — No increase in leukemia, even among liquidators)
  • 34:15 – *MUST SEE* Internal or external it makes no difference!
  • 45:20 – Internal lesions
  • 49:25 – Now only 20 out of 100 considered healthy, before it was 80 out of 100
  • Keep your eye out for Chris Busby at 35:30 and 38:40

The second one is even more graphic, beautifully shot, and utterly horrifying:


 


(map courtesy of http://bit.ly/tD0pnw)

For more info see:
http://bit.ly/s0nioo THE OTHER REPORT ON CHERNOBYL (TORCH) 2006 on the 20th anniversary of the disaster.
&
http://bit.ly/uZjqdN  Avoidable Tragedy post-Chernobyl  A Critical Analysis

&

http://1.usa.gov/vItPlP  Congressman Markley's report: Dec. 9, 2011: New Report Details Conspiracy to Delay, Weaken US Nuclear Safety in Wake of Fukushima
“Regulatory Meltdown” Reveals Efforts to Improve Nuclear Safety Undermined ...

Incidentally, I just noticed that the original video embedded above had disappeared. This after more than 500 successful views and shares of this page! No conspiracy theories right now, but given that this has never happened to me before, and I do embed a lot of videos... In any case, I did find another feed, so it's up again. 
If you should view this post and not find the video loading Please Do let me know in the comments. 



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