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| «Events 'No one should live in Port Hope' A candid interview with Dr. Hellen Caldicott Dr. Helen Caldicott, the world renowned author, doctor and long-time campaigner against the medical consequences of the nuclear industry, spoke in Peterborough on Oct. 14, 2009. She was interviewed by several board members of F.A.R.E. including Derrick Kelly, and Louise and Bert Barraclough. Here is an edited transcript of their conversation. Q. Like many people in Port Hope, my family located here to get jobs in the nuclear industry. My uncle, who was 12 years old at the time, died of leukemia. He lived within 300 metres of the plant and doctors in Toronto told my grandparents that they thought it was radiation that caused the problem. Robert Kennedy Jr. has called Port Hope the “national sacrifice zone” for the nuclear industry…. (But) most long-time Port Hopers are afraid to speak out because their friends would say they’re losing jobs, losing business for the community. A. I tell you what, when the next meltdown occurs, hopefully in the U.S. – and what a terrible thing for me to say – that’s the end point. Port Hope will be closed down. You’ll all have to move. The reactors (in Darlington and Pickering) will all be closed. Q. A few years ago, a scientist, a retired government worker, moved to Port Hope and got involved with F.A.R.E. and other groups in the community who were fighting to get Cameco out of town, and he said that probably the best bet for Port Hope was to move Port Hope. A. Yes. Q. So you think that …. A. Oh, it’s medically indicated. People shouldn’t live there. Q. Do you think there’s any way all the low-level radioactive waste in the municipality can be remediated safely? A. No. How are you going to get the stuff out from under the houses, to stop the radon coming in? Q. One of our concerns, over and above that, is the inhalation of it. A. Yes. Q. And when they dig it all up in order to consolidate it in one facility, there’s going to be all this re-suspended low-level stuff in the air. A. Of course, in the dust. Q. Do you think there’s any way they can remediate that safely and do it? A. No. There’s no way to clean it up that way. The way to clean it up is to move everyone out of Port Hope, because no one should be living there. It’s too dangerous. Q. That’s a fine thing to tell a person! A. Well, you’re probably okay. As my daughter told me – she’s a doctor too – ‘Mom, don’t worry, you won’t live long enough to die from cancer. Something else is bound to get you first.’ Q. The government tells us there’s 1.2 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope. Some estimates say there’s really 3.5 million. Over and above relocating Port Hope, which in my humble opinion … . A. Are you on a lake? Q. Yes, Port Hope is on Lake Ontario. A. So that means when it rains, the radium dissolves and goes to the lake. Q. Yes. Um, Cameco also pumps it in (from the temporary dump at Welcome). A. And do people drink water from the lake? Q. What was the estimate? Twenty-two million people drink water from Lake Ontario. A. Port Hope gets its water there too? They pump it out? Q. Actually, they pump it out two kilometres away from the pipe from Welcome. A. I want to know the incidence of cancer in Port Hope. Q. So would we, Helen. So would we. The Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee has been lobbying for about 15 years now to get health testing in Port Hope. The government, although it promised, it always reneged on it. A. Do you have renal (kidney) disease in Port Hope? Q. Again, I believe the scratch-the-surface studies that have been done that the government has released don’t show anything “of statistical significance.” What was significant, but has never been further studied, were brain cancers in women, leukemia in kids, lymphomas … . A. It would be good to be a pathologist there. You’d make a lot of money… . Q. We’ve had … . A. … and run a mortuary. Q. We’ve had Dr. Rosalie Bertell, who’s been involved with Port Hope… we’ve got a retired geneticist … . A. Are they finding chromosomal irregularities? Q. They’re pointing out a lot of interesting things, and they try to make it public to the powers that be, and they won’t even listen, they just shut them out. Years ago, there was a doctor out of Peterborough and a local one in Port Hope that had raised some question about what was going on in Port Hope and they were both basically threatened by the College of Physicians and Surgeons and told to keep their mouths shut….The nuclear regulator, the CNSC, just put out a synthesis report, which supposedly analyzed health studies done on Port Hope … they are saying that there are no health issues in Port Hope, we’re as healthy as any other community in Canada, and don’t talk about it anymore. A. Sounds like Nazi Germany. Q. This dump for the low-level waste is going to be located in a wet area … . A. That’s a good idea! Q. ….and at elevation, so it runs down to the lake. Now this thing, they’re talking about (storing it for) 500 years … . A. The half-life of Uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years. Don’t even talk about hundreds. It’s forever. Q. What’s between … there’s what, a kilometre and a half to Lake Ontario? The city of Toronto gets its water from Lake Ontario. And no one seems to care. They don’t care, Helen. The politicians don’t care. A. You should kidnap your MP and lock him up in your laundry. Feed him cat food. You need to do something quite extraordinary. You know in France the unions are kidnapping the CEOs now. They are. I think we’re too polite and we have to go beyond being polite to what is clinically appropriate. Then people will say why are you locking up your MP in the laundry, and you’ll tell them the real problem. We need a revolution…. a Gandhi-style revolution. (Disclaimer: F.A.R.E. believes Dr. Caldicott was exaggerating to make a point when she suggested kidnapping. We wish to assure Rick Norlock that our organization has no wish to spend that kind of quality time with him.) Q. So many people in Port Hope seem to be in denial. They’re worried about property values. A. But the properties have no value. Do you have pediatricians in Port Hope? I’d like to speak to one of them. Is there one who may be amenable to me giving them a call and asking what sort of diseases they’re finding in children? Q. They’re all very, very quiet about it. A. No, but I’m a colleague. They’ll often open up. Get me a name. You’ve got my card. | 'No one should live in Port Hope' A candid interview with Dr. Hellen Caldicott CNSC health report has no basis in fact FARE challenges it and demands a rewrite Citizen's Forum this Tuesday in Peterborough FARE to outline concerns of life in the buffer zone Meet the Walrus at March 26 event Author of Nuclear Reaction at FARE's annual meeting FARE Forum on Nov. 24 postponed Geneticist to talk on uranium and science Nine big questions still need answers CNSC heard from 284 at Port Hope hearings Cameco refuses to set any limits on U emissions Why are they going up when a majority of us want them to go down? Zircatec president at December meeting Dec. 14: Lloyd Jones talks about SEU plans FARE is scrutinizing Vision 2010 plans Cameco includes us in public consultation  Victory! FARE forces Cameco to scrap SEU project "We regret the division that this project caused"  My FARE Lady The performance that was too "hot" for the Capitol Where FARE stands Most councillors out of touch with majority view in community: We want a panel review What a fiasco! 'Consultation' session didn't have any mandate to listen  How to get your lawn sign We want to get more up around town now. Here's where to phone to get yours. SEU Peer Review Report to Council (Sept. 14, 2004 at 7:00pm) | |||||
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