African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER
NUCLEAR RADIATION / SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Japan's Fukushima Nuclear
Crisis Deepens, China
expresses 'Shock'
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and James Topham
Reuters
August 21, 2013
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear crisis escalated to its
worst level in two years on Wednesday, with its nuclear
watchdog saying it feared more tanks were leaking
contaminated water and China expressing its shock over
the disaster.
Japan's nuclear regulator also said it feared the disaster
exceeded the ability of the plant's operator, Tokyo
Electric Power Co, to cope "in some respects".
A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA) said earlier on Wednesday the agency plans to
upgrade the severity of the crisis from a level 1
"anomaly" to a level three "serious incident" on an
international scale for radiological releases.
Such a move would be the most serious action taken
since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and
tsunami in 2011.
Continued on page 2
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
2 Pump and Pray
3 Afrikan Spirituality – A Pre-Historic Nuclear War?
4 Feature –Nuclear Experimentation : Year 68
6 Feature – Fukushima 2013
8 Feature – Betrayal of Mankind
14 Incapacitation and Protection Against Truth
18 Indigenous Issues
19 Feature – Victims of the Nuclear Age
25 What are the Health Effects of Ionising Radiation
31 Feature – Epidemic of Birth Defects and Cancer in Iraq
42 Radioactive Leaks in Japan Prompt Call for Overseas Help
45 Feature – Health & Environment Destruction in Africa
50 Whose Government is it Anyway? Uranium Extraction
62 Featured – Radioprotective Potential of Plants and Herbs
71 Feature – Renewal Energy in Afria
75 Advantages of Hydroelectric Power Production and Usage
77 US Relies on Foreign Uranium, Enrichment Services
80 Feature – IEA: Renewables to Exceed Natural Gas
82 Africa can Choose its Future
89 Nuclear Energy/Radiation – The Gift that Keeps on Giving
94 Herb of the Month – Africa Moringa
-1 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013
September 2013
What is the African Traditional
Herbal Research Clinic?
We can make you healthy and wise
Nakato Lewis
Blackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd.
The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic located
in Ntinda, Uganda is a modern clinic facility
established to create a model space whereby
indigenous herbal practitioners and healers can upgrade
and update their skills through training and certification
and respond to common diseases using African healing
methods and traditions in a modern clinical
environment.
Traditional healers are the major health labor resource
in Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditional
healers are the only source of health services for the
majority of the population. An estimated 80% of the
population receives its health education and health care
from practitioners of traditional medicine. They are
knowledgeable of the culture, the local languages and
local traditions. Our purpose is to raise public
awareness and understanding on the value of African
traditional herbal medicine and other healing practices
in today’s world.
The Clinic is open and operational. Some of the
services we offer are African herbal medicine,
reflexology, acupressure, hot and cold hydrotherapy,
body massage, herbal tonics, patient counseling, blood
pressure checks, urine testing (sugar), and nutritional
profiles. We believe in spirit, mind and body. Spiritual
counseling upon request.
Visit us also at www.Blackherbals.com
Hours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday
Saturday by Appointment, Sundays – Closed
Cont’d from page 1 – Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
Deepens
"Any way you look at it, this is deplorable," Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular news
conference on Wednesday. "The government will make
every effort to halt the leak of contaminated water as soon
as possible."
The plant operator, also known as Tepco, said on Tuesday
contaminated water with dangerously high levels of
radiation is leaking from a storage tank.
The NRA said it was worried about leakage from other
tanks of the same type, which were built hastily to store
water washed over melted reactors at the station to keep
them cool.
China said it was "shocked" to hear that Fukushima was
still leaking contaminated water two years after the
disaster and urged Japan to provide information "in a
timely, thorough and relevant way".
"We hope that the Japanese side can earnestly take
effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the
after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident," China's
Foreign Ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters in
Beijing.
Water in the latest leak is so contaminated that a person
standing close to it for an hour would receive five times
the annual recommended limit for nuclear workers in a
year.
Tepco has been criticized for its failure to prepare for the
disaster and been accused of covering up the extent of the
problems at the plant.
"This certainly exceeds Tokyo Electric's ability in some
respects," NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka told a media
briefing after a regular meeting of the NRA commission.
He had been asked whether the operator could handle the
crisis.
"SEVERE CONTAMINATION"
Upgrading the warning to level 3 will mark the first time
Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear
Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns at the
plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March
2011.
A maximum INES level 7 was declared at the battered
plant after explosions led to a loss of power and cooling
two years ago, confirming Fukushima as the worst nuclear
accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.
Each one-step INES increase represents a tenfold increase
in severity, according to a factsheet on the website of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. (www.iaea.org/)
-2 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013
The level 3 rating is assigned when there is exposure of
more than 10 times the limit for workers, according to the
factsheet.
It can also be assigned when there is "severe
contamination in an area not expected by design with a
low probability of significant public exposure," the
factsheet says.
The NRA's impending assessment upgrade came in a
document posted on the agency's website on Wednesday,
with formal adoption to follow notification to the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Judging from the amount and the density of the radiation
in the contaminated water that leaked ... a level 3
assessment is appropriate," the document said.
The NRA's Tanaka said the regulator has decided to
consult with the IAEA about whether it is appropriate to
assign a rating to the leakage at the plant. The IAEA has
so far not commented on the latest developments.
The leak is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm
(1.6 feet) away that, after 10 hours, a worker in that
proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness
with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white
blood cells.
http://news.yahoo.com/japan-raise-severity-rating-fukushima-
leaks-level-3-021935392.html
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Pump and Pray: Tepco might
have to pour water on
Fukushima wreckage forever
By Christopher Busby
19 August 2013
Fukushima is a nightmare disaster area, and no one has
the slightest idea what to do. The game is to prevent the
crippled nuclear plant from turning into an “open-air
super reactor spectacular” which would result in a
hazardous, melted catastrophe.
On April 25, 2011 – one month after the explosions at the
Fukushima nuclear plant and the anniversary of
Chernobyl - I was interviewed by RT and asked to
compare Chernobyl and Fukushima. The clip, which you
can find on YouTube, was entitled, “Can’t seal
Fukushima like Chernobyl – it all goes into the sea.”
Since then, huge amounts of radioactivity have flowed
from the wrecked reactors directly into the Pacific Ocean.
Attempts to stop the flow of contaminated water from
Fukushima into the sea were always unlikely to succeed.
Continued on page 10
 AFRIKAN SPIRITUALITY
A Pre-historic Nuclear War?
– Reflections on Worlds
before Our Own
By Brad Steiger
December 21, 2007
I find myself now in the seventh decade of life still asking
two questions that in one way or another the great majority
of my 165 published books have sought to answer:
1. Who are we as a species?
2. What is our destiny?
The basic reason that I wrote Worlds Before Our Own
(2007) is that I have always found it incredible that such
sophisticated people as we judge ourselves to be, do not
really know who we are.
Archaeologists, anthropologists, and various academicians
who play the "origins of Man" game, reluctantly and only
occasionally acknowledge instances where unique skeletal
and cultural evidence from the prehistoric record suddenly
appear long before they should - and in places where they
should not.
These irritating artifacts destroy the orderly 'evolutionary
line' that academia has for so long presented to the public.
Consequently, such data have been largely left buried in
site reports, forgotten storage rooms, and dusty archives
where one suspects that there is a great deal of suppressed,
ignored, and misplaced pre-historical cultural evidence that
would alter the established interpretations of human origins
and provide us with a much clearer definition of what it
means to be human.
There is now a basic academic consensus that the "homo"
lineage goes back at least three million years, and that an
ancestor of modern man evolved about one million years
ago.
Homo Sapiens, the "thinking man," (our own species),
became the dominant planetary life form on a worldwide
basis, about 40,000 years ago.
It is difficult enough to explain the sudden appearance of
Homo Sapiens at that time, but it is an even more complex
question to ponder why Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man
--------------------------
Managing Editor: Nakato Lewis
PUBLISHER: KIWANUKA LEWIS
Published monthly and freely by BHSN for the ATHR Clinic
http://www.blackherbals.com/athrc_newsletters.htm
-3 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013
The traditional shrine as a symbol of our cultural history
correspondingly disappeared. And academic warfare
rages unceasingly over whether or not Neanderthal
and our ancestors were two separate species or
whether they interbred.
And just as scientists are adding to a growing body
of evidence that humankind developed in Africa,
• a Hungarian excavation surrenders a Homo
Sapiens skull fragment in a context more than
600,000 years out of alignment with the accepted
calendar of man's migrations across the planet
• hominid fossils are unearthed in Dmanisi, Georgia,
indicative of 1.77 million years old
• a hominid tooth found in Niocene deposits near the
Maritsa River in Bulgaria is dated at seven million
years old
What happens to Darwinian evolution when there are
such sites as the one in Australia, which yielded,
• Homo Sapiens (modern man)
• Homo erectus (our million-year-old ancestor)
• Neanderthal (our Stone Age cousin),
...in what appears to be a contemporaneous
environment?
Then there is the Tabun site where Homo Sapiens
fragments were found in strata below (which means
older than) classic Neanderthal bones.
In August 2007, scientists dating fossils found in
Kenya challenged the conventional view that Homo
Habilis (1.44 million years) and Homo erectus (1.55
million years) evolved one after the other. Dating of
new fossil evidence revealed that the two species
lived side by side in Africa for almost half a million
years.
Somewhere, in what would appear to be a
biological and cultural free-for-all, there must lie
the answer to that most important question: Who are
we?
Continued on page 86
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER
FEATURED ARTICLES
Nuclear Experimentation: Year 68
By Ethan Indigo Smith
May 1, 2013
No matter how we would like to ignore it, nuclear
experimentation is the most affronting problem in the
world. There are several regions which only 68 years in,
are no longer habitable. Before three of the six 100 ton
reactors at Fukushima went into meltthrough, it was the
biggest operating nuclear experimentation facility in the
world, now it is the most catastrophic disaster in the
history of mankind, except for, perhaps the disaster that is
our mind state that allowed and allows the global nuclear
experiment.
The institutions mankind has made are all disastrous and
all exemplify the downfall of the mind. The most
powerful national institutions in the world are martial,
forceful and combative. Our institutions can destroy,
invade, pollute and raid, but we cannot help each other.
Our institutions cannot avert disaster, they can only set it
up and as in the case of Fukushima, bust out the duct tape
and hoses upon the likely or inevitable postmodern doom.
All the most powerful nations in the world cannot help
one of the most powerful nations in the world because
they are only powerful because of their ability to wage
war. It is interesting and important to know how the
language of the Fukushima disaster was controlled, it was
constantly referred to as the worst nuclear experiment
(most don't the word experiment for it is too accurate and
language in reference to nuclear experimentation is
moderately or extremely euphemistic) disaster "since
Chernobyl.' Anyone who took ten minutes to research
Fukushima knew that it was the worst nuclear disaster
ever eclipsing the Chernobyl disaster.
Nuclear experimentation has destroyed whole regions of
the planet and altered the entire planet. Next on the
watch list of nuclear tragedies is the unfolding disaster in
Hanford, Washington. Deadly materials are currently
leaking from storage tanks and could ignite sometime
between now and the next few millennia.
Nuclear experimentation is the supreme catastrophe, the
very real unleashed a Pandora of mythical and equally
-4 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013
September 2013
fiery proportions. And if we do not change our mind
state, our apathetic culture of separation, of bucket list
celebration we will continue to kill ourselves. However
we can't see it, we can't even quantify it totally and as
much as we do understand its dangers, it is all an
experiment, we really don't understand it completely.
And yet it is amazing how we all act like we understand
Earth Mother and nuclear experimentation, the same
way we do weather cycles, when really we have no
idea.
When many talk of climate change caused by global
pollution in the netherworld oligarchy people use
reference points that are limited. One cannot
understand Earth Mother's cycles by referencing your
life experience for at best one has limited information
to base one's understandings on. Many people who
claim to understand global environmental climate
change are ignorant of their ignorance. The same goes
for nuclear experimentation, it is entirely too
complicated to understand completely. However the
most important thing for people to consider, the most
powerful information that might begin to get people to
wake up and stand up for doing something about the
institutions of their creation nuking the world is that
their precious children are doomed, their very
biological lineage is threatened by nuclear
experimentation, that radioactive elements cause
permanent mutations, biological deformity and
infertility in offspring and death.
More and more people are aware of the deadly sham
that is global nuclear experimentation. Many who
doubted that nuclear experimentation is a poisonous
crock are beginning to know better now. Most who
continue to support global nuclear experimentation
either work for the nuclear experiment or are ignorant
as goldfish. Many people are very sure that they are
correct about their opinions that support the
development of postmodernism, the polluted and bereft
environment of the NWO, the netherworld oligarchy,
Continued on page 5
Continued from page 4 – Nuclear Experimentation: Year 68 major disasters, Fukushima and Chernobyl, unfolding
where the few benefit from the destruction of the requiring massive generational work just so the problems
environment at the cost of the many. Many people are do not spread making more and more of the planet
very sure. Doubt leads to questioning, which leads to uninhabitable. That's about 450 nuclear power generation
development. Today people question little and develop experiments over 70 year span resulting in two global
little if at all. catastrophes.
"Great doubt, great awakening. Little doubt, little 8. There has already been a nuclear war on Earth
awakening. No doubt, no awakening." ~Zen saying Mother. There have been over 2,000 atomic/nuclear
detonations in and on every strata of creation.
Nuclear experimentation is catastrophic for all life on the
planet and requires serious questioning and problem 9. After Fukushima the EPA turned off public access to
solving. Its consequences are revelatory of our sick radiation monitors.
minded culture of separation, where we disconnect http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Nuclear-Experimentation-
ourselves from the idea we could do wrong. In the Y-by-Ethan-Indigo-Smith-130820-379.html
netherworld oligarchy selfish capitalistic desires are ☻☻☻☻☻☻
promoted and fulfilling bucket lists of perverted fetishes
is considered quality being. We, the global collective, West Coast of North America
roll over to oligarchical institutions destroying Earth
Mother and spin dreams to separate ourselves from the to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima
poisoning polluting war world. Radiation
Admittedly the global nuclear experiment is difficult to
wrap one's head around, but the fact is that we know it is Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets In
made up of entropy and death. Here are a few simple Baja California and Other West Coast Locations
ideas to remind people of who have chosen to remain By Washington’s Blog
ignorant of nuclear experimentation because it is
nightmarish and complicated: August 21, 2013
Global Research
1. Primarily and originally weaponry.
An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is
2. Some elements used in the experiment will remain bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North
toxic the next couple of million years, others the next America:
couple hundred thousand.
3. The nuclear industry elements must be mined which
like other mining as well as oil and natural gas extraction
destroys the environment it is mined from, the area it is
processed in and the area it is used.
4. The nuclear experimentation industry is based on
secrets beginning with militarization in World War
Two. The nuclear experimentation industry is based on
lies beginning with the first meltdowns and illegal
dumping of who knows what in around in beautiful
southern California at Santa Susana Labratories where
all information was hidden and covered up.
5. Nuclear experimentation threatens the genetic via-
bility of all the world's offspring, of all your children and
children's children.
6. Nuclear experimentation requires that nothing go
wrong ever. Fukushima proved natural disasters lead to
While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the
nuclear disaster. Chernobyl proved natural human
Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U.S.
imperfection leads to nuclear disaster.
government report concluded that the ocean may not
7. Currently there are about four hundred nuclear power adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and
generation experiments in the world. Consider the two Continued on page 11

-5 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013

 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8 Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
Fukushima 2013: “Remaining Radioactive Mass”,
“Dangerous Leaking Radioactive Water”, All Four
Reactors are “Getting Worse”
By William Boardman
Global Research, July 11, 2013
The first thing to know about the danger from the Watertight fuel pools are used effectively at nuclear
radioactive mass remaining on site in the three power plants around the world, including Fukushima
reactors that melted down at Fukushima is that nobody before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Now
knows how much radioactive material there is, nobody the reactor structures are no longer watertight and
knows how much uranium and plutonium it contains, TEPCO has pumped millions of gallons of fresh and
and nobody knows how to make it safe — so no one “least contaminated” into the structures since then, and
knows how great the continuing danger is. continues to do so.
In order to prevent nuclear material from being diverted Radioactive Water Is Dangerous, And It Has To Go
to use in weapons, the International Atomic Energy Somewhere
Agency of the U.N. requires each country to report
Water used to cool nuclear fuel and waste becomes
regularly on the volume of nuclear materials in its
radioactive itself, as does the groundwater that infiltrates
nuclear power plants. At Fukushima, this is currently
the structures. This radioactive water continues to reach
impossible with the cores of the three reactors that
the Pacific Ocean in varying quantities, as TEPCO
melted down.
attempts to keep it in check.
Diversion of this material to weapons use is not a
As of May 7, the Japan Times reported that TEPCO had
problem at the moment, since the level of radioactivity
installed 290 huge storage talks at Fukushima to hold
is high enough to kill anyone who comes close to it,
more than 78 million gallons (290,000 tons) of
which is why it hasn’t been moved. On the other hand,
radioactive water, with another 25 million gallons still
it is necessary to move it in order to measure it, and
uncollected. Fukushima is generating an estimated
even if it was movable now, the technology to measure
100,000-plus gallons (400 tons) of radioactive water
it does not yet exist.
every day
Cooling the Cores Keeps Them from Burning, but
TEPCO estimates that groundwater is entering the
Creates Radioactive Water
complex at a rate of at least 54,000 gallons per day. In
The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency has joined with
May 2012, the Japanese government ordered TEPCO to
the U.S. to develop the necessary new technology,
build a wall deep into the ground around the plant to
which it hopes to begin using within a decade. The
keep groundwater out, a plan that might become
Japanese agency calls this collaboration the “world’s
operational by early 2015.
first” attempt at such technology, since a similar U.S.
initiative to measure the melted core from the 1979 TEPCO is expanding its storage capacity to about 1.9
Three Mile Island accident failed. billion gallons by clearing forest and other areas around
the compound. While this would probably suffice for
As long as Fukushima’s owner, the Tokyo Electric
another three years, the site is running out of storage
Power Company (TEPCO), keeps the three melted
space. Additionally, some of the storage tanks have
cores and the fuel rods in three other storage pools
begun to leak and contaminated water is leaking into the
sufficiently submerged in cooling water, the radioactive
soil.
material will not overheat, burn, and spew radioactive
debris as far as wind or water might take it. Continued on page 7

-6 - Traditional African Clinic – May 2013

Continued from page 6 – Fukushima 2013: “Remaining
Radioactive Mass”
In the Nuclear Business, Truth Has a Limited Half-
Life
To address these difficulties, TEPCO is proposing to treat
its radioactive water to remove some of the radioactivity,
and then release the rest into the Pacific Ocean. There is
local opposition to this plan, especially from fishermen.
In July 2012, as some officials were assuring the public
that fish from the Pacific were safe to eat, the Japan
Fisheries Agency compiled statistics showing the
opposite. As reported by a Canadian website,
Vancouver’s straight.com:
“The numbers show that far from dissipating with time,
as government officials and scientists in Canada and
elsewhere claimed they would, levels of radiation from
Fukushima have stayed stubbornly high in fish.
“In June 2012, the average contaminated fish catch had
65 becquerels of cesium per kilo. That’s much higher
than the average of five Bq/kg found in the days after the
accident back in March 2011, before cesium from
Fukushima had spread widely through the region’s food
chain. In some species, radiation levels are actually
higher this year than last.”
What We Know is Dwarfed by What We Don’t Know
About Radioactivity
In March 2013, researchers from the Stanford University
Hopkins Marine Station issued a report on Bluefin tuna
caught off the California coast and tested for radioactive
cesium. The report found that Bluefin tuna were 100 per
cent contaminated, that not one was cesium-free. The
report did not address such questions as whether cesium
would continue to accumulate in tuna or whether it was
appearing in other fish species.
The important aspect of this research, according to the
Stanford News, was that:
“The work supports the idea that the Fukushima
radioisotopes can be used to reliably determine the
previously unknown trans-oceanic movements of juvenile
Pacific bluefin tuna. This information could be used to
prevent tuna from being overfished.”
Would You Like a Side of Hot Seaweed With Your
Hot Tuna?
Reporting on the same information, the Two Rivers
Tribune in northern California noted:
“On the coast of California, there is a deep sea kelp forest
at Corona del Mar that now contains concentrations of
radiation that are 250 times higher than levels found in
kelp prior to the Japanese nuclear accidents. A research
article published in Scientific American reports that
7-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
radiation accumulated in fish that ate near the kelp….
Presently, there is no research as to what is the exact
effect on fish and their offspring will be from the
increased levels of radiation that are being found….
“The Japanese government has banned both the domestic
sale and international export of most fish that are caught
off the Fukushima coast. Radiation levels are still rising
two years after the nuclear accidents. In January of 2013
the tested levels of cesium were about 2,540 times what is
considered safe for human consumption. Strontium levels
are 240 times the legal limit.”
It’s Not a Cover-up If Governments Gather No Useful
Information, Is It?
Apparently there is no comprehensive, Fukushima-related
radiation testing being carried on by the U.S. Canadian,
or other governments whose people are directly affected.
Nor is there any international body publicly performing
this work.
The Global Monitoring Division of the Earth System
Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Dept.
of Commerce monitors global levels of “carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, surface and
stratospheric ozone, halogenated compounds including
CFC replacements, hydrocarbons, sulfur gases, aerosols,
and solar and infrared radiation.”
Worldwide nuclear weapons programs and nuclear power
generation add ionizing radiation to the atmosphere
continuously. NOAA’s website offers five different
safety programs related to ionizing radiation. But if
NOAA (or any other government entity) is measuring
ionizing radiation in the atmosphere, that information is
not easily found.
What if “National Security” Depends on Citizens’
Insecurity?
Search the NOAA website for strontium-90 or cesium-
137 (one of the more common and more serious products
of the Fukushima meltdowns with a half-life of 30 years)
and there is one result, which begins promisingly:
“The Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML)
has maintained a global network of deposition sampling
sites for nearly 40 years. Through CMDL support,
American Samoa (SMO) and Mauna Loa (MLO) have
been a part of this network for many years. This network
was initiated to investigate the transport and fate of
radioactivity produced from atmospheric testing of
nuclear weapons. Strontium-90 was the radionuclide of
primary interest due to the relatively high quantity
released and its physical and chemical properties that
made it a concern to human health.”
Continued on page 12
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
The Betrayal of Mankind by the Radiation
Protection Agencies
Both the great Truths and the great Falsehoods of the twentieth century lie hidden in the arcane, widely
inaccessible, and seemingly mundane domain of the radiation sciences
By Ronnie Cummins
AlterNet
The Trial of the Cult of Nuclearists: SCAM below regulatory concern. This is a routine method of
NUMBER ONE complying with environmental regulation. For instance,
What follows is the continuation, in serial form, of a hospitals, universities and research centers are
central chapter from my book A Primer in the Art of permitted to routinely flush limited concentrations of
Deception: The Cult of Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons low-level radioactive waste into sewers. By diluting the
and Fraudulent Science. quantity of radiation in a volume of water, the
perception is altered as to what is going on without
SCAM NUMBER ONE: According to the equation,
actually changing the end result of how much
dose = energy/mass, a dose of radiation can be reduced
radioactivity is being dumped into the environment.
(and made to appear within the guidelines of safety) by
increasing the mass that absorbs it. This same sleight of hand has been applied to dosages
received from internal emitters. In the United Kingdom,
One of the secret incantations recited by those charged
a major controversy has erupted concerning the health
with managing radioactive waste goes like this:
effects to the population from plutonium-239 released
DILUTION is the SOLUTION to the POLLUTION. from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing facility.
An example of how this maxim can be implemented to The Irish Sea is heavily contaminated with plutonium.
the benefit of the nuclear industry is illustrated by Karl Radioactivity is brought inland by sea spray and
Morgan in his book The Angry Genie. While employed evidence exists that coastal communities are more
at Oak Ridge during the 1940s, Morgan shared the heavily contaminated than those further inland. The
responsibility of safely disposing of the radioactive winds also carry plutonium-laced effluent from
waste generated as a byproduct of the nuclear weapons Sellafield throughout much of the UK.
program. Broaching the subject with members of the Autopsies have confirmed that a proportional
Atomic Energy Commission, Morgan received a relationship exists between the amount of plutonium
striking response: “Why not just dilute the radioactive lodged in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes and how
waste to the occupational maximum permissible far the deceased lived from the facility [2]. Further
concentration, discharge it into White Oak Creek where testifying to the extent of environmental contamin-
it will seep into the Clinch River, and forget it?” [1]. ation, plutonium has been detected in the feces of sheep
The implications of following this advice must be grazing as far as 100 km from Sellafield and within the
amplified. Regardless of whether or not the teeth of children living up to 200 km away.
radioactivity being alluded to was diluted prior to The plutonium escaping the plant primarily poses an
discharge, the same quantity of radioactivity would be inhalation hazard. Once deposited in the lungs, the
released into the waterway. Diluting it first, however, insoluble particles of plutonium are available for
gives the appearance of being in compliance with legal scavenging by white blood cells which then ferry the
statutes while not diluting it is a criminal violation. pollutants to the tracheobronchial lymph nodes. It is
Presto! A magical way of transforming hazardous important to note that the combined mass of these tiny
concentrations of radioactive waste into benign levels bodies of tissue is approximately 15 grams. (Inhaled
Continued on page 9
8-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued from page 8 – The Betrayal of Mankind by the
Radiation Protection Agencies
particles of DU are likewise scavenged from the lungs
and transported to the tracheobronchial lymph nodes.)
In a contaminated individual, these lymph nodes can
contain plutonium in concentrations between 100 to
10,000 times higher than in any other tissues of the
body [3].
Due to alpha emissions from the intensely radioactive
plutonium, it can be assumed that a frighteningly high
dosage of radiation is being deposited in these tiny
tissue masses. As a consequence, there is an elevated
risk for leukemia, induced by mutations to stem cells
present within the nodes. As noted by Dr. Chris Busby:
“Given that this organ [the tracheobronchial lymph
nodes] has been identified as a source of lymphoma
and leukemia in animals, this sounds very like the
cause of the Sellafield leukemia cluster” [4]. For the
nuclear establishment, such talk is heresy. If the public
embraced the idea that pollution from a nuclear facility
was causing leukemia, the weight of opinion might
topple the government and force closure of Britain’s
nuclear program. The Cult of Nuclearists of that
country cannot allow for such a possibility. As related
by Busby [5], the National Radiation Protection Board
came to the rescue, armed with the prestidigitation of
the corrupted computational system for calculating
dosage.
In NRPB R-276, Risk of Leukemia and other Cancers
in Seascale from All Sources of Radiation [6],
plutonium dosage to the population was calculated by
modeling the lymphatic system as consisting of a mass
of 8000 grams that included the lymph nodes, liver,
spleen, kidneys, pancreas, uterus, thymus, thyroid,
stomach, both intestines, colon, red bone marrow, and
cells on bone surfaces. The reader is challenged to find
a single physiology book written anywhere in the
world that offers such a definition for the “lymphatic
system.” Here, indisputable evidence is apparent of
blatant criminality masquerading as science. In this
publication, the dose actually deposited by plutonium
to the tiny tracheobronchial lymph nodes is
intentionally misrepresented as a dose to the whole
“lymphatic system” following the conventional but
sometimes questionable practice of stating exposure in
terms of an organ dose. The lymphatic system, in turn,
is modeled as consisting of a huge mass of tissue, a
mass which for the most part is receiving no radiation.
Only by this clever trick of mathematical dilution can
the hazardous dose deposited in the tracheobronchial
lymph nodes be made to appear as falling below
regulatory concern as defined by the radiation pro-
9-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
tection community. While seriously contaminated people
are becoming sick and dying from plutonium
contamination, the National Radiation PROTECTION
Board is covering up a public health tragedy with lies so as
to run interference for that nation’s nuclear programs.
Bibliography
[1] Morgan K.Z., Peterson K.M. The Angry Genie: One Man’s
Walk Through the Nuclear Age. University of Oklahoma Press;
1999.
[2] Popplewell D.S. Plutonium in Autopsy Tissues in Great
Britain. NRPB Radiological Protection Bulletin No. 74. Chilton.
1968.
[3] Taylor D.M. Environmental Plutonium in Humans. Applied
Radiation and Isotopes. 1995; 46:(11):1245-1252.
[4] Busby C. Health Risks Following Exposure to Aerosols
Produced by the use of Depleted Uranium Weapons. Paper
submitted to the Conference on Facts on Depleted Uranium.
Prague, Czech Republic. November 24-25, 2001.
http://www.greenaudit.org/health_risks_from_depleted_uranium
__prague_conference_2001.htm
[5] Busby C. Depleted Science: Health Consequences and
Mechanisms of Exposure to Fallout from Depleted Uranium
Weapons. Contribution to International DU Conference,
Hamburg, October 16-19, 2003. Aberystwyth: Green Audit;
2003.
[6] Simmonds J.R., et al. NRPB R276: Risk of Leukaemia and
Other Cancers in Seascale from All Sources of Radiation.
Chilton: National Radiological Protection Board; 1995).
http://du-deceptions.blogspot.com/2010/05/trial-of-cult-of-
nuclearists-scam.html
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 2 – Pump and Pray
It is like trying to push water uphill. Now they all seem to
have woken up to the issue and have begun to panic.
The problem is this: the fission process in a reactor creates
huge amounts of heat. Of course, that is the whole point of
the machine - the heat makes steam which runs turbines.
Water is pumped through channels between the fuel rods
and this cools them and heats the water. If there is no water,
or the channels are blocked, the heat actually melts the fuel
into a big blob which falls to the bottom of the steel vessel
in which all this occurs - the pressure vessel - and then
melts its way through the steel, into the ground, and down
in the direction of China. Well, not China in this case, but
actually Buenos Aires, Argentina (I figured out).
I have been keeping an eye on developments, and it is quite
clear that the reactors are no longer containing the molten
fuel - some proportion of which is now in the ground
underneath them. Both this material and the remaining
material in what was the containment are very hot and are
Continued on page 10
Continued from page 9 – Pump and Pray
fissioning. Tepco is quite aware - and so is everyone else
in the know - that the only hope of preventing what could
become an open-air super reactor spectacular is to cool
the fuel, the lumps of fuel distributed throughout the
system, mainly in the holed pressure vessels, and also in
the spent fuel tanks and in the ground under the reactors.
That all this is fissioning away merrily (though at a low
level) is clear from the occasional reports of short half
life nuclides like the radioXenons. The game is to prevent
it all turning into the open air super reactor located
somewhere under the ground. To do this, they have to
pump vast amounts of water into the reactors, the fuel
pond and generally all over the area where they think the
stuff is or might be. This means seawater since luckily
they are near the sea. But they are also unluckily near the
sea - since you cannot pump the sea onto the land without
it wanting to flow back into the sea.
Now a good proportion of the radioactive elements, the
radionuclides, are soluble in water. The Caesiums 137
and 134, Strontiums 89 and 90, Barium 140, Radium 226,
Lead 210, Rutheniums and Rhodiums, Silvers and
Mercuries, Carbons and Tritiums, Iodines and noble
gases Kryptons and Xenons merrily dissolve in the hot
seawater. There is also a likelihood that the normally
insoluble Uraniums, Plutoniums and Neptuniums will
dissolve in seawater to some extent, because of the
chloride ions. And if they don’t, the micron and nano-
particles of these materials will disperse in the water as
colloidal suspensions. So a lot of this stuff gets into the
sea. Of course, most of the fuss is being made by the
Americans who are on the other side of the Pacific
Ocean. How unfair that the USA should suffer from the
Japanese affair, they think. And also feel a level of fear,
underneath all this. As perhaps they should since it is
their crappy reactors that blew up.
We hear that 400 tons of highly radioactive water is now
escaping the barriers that Tepco erected and is reaching
the sea. Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said on
August 7 that “stabilizing Fukushima is our challenge.”
Tepco said, “This is extremely serious — we are unable
to control radioactive water seeping out of the Fukushima
plant.” CNN quoted “industry experts” saying that
“Tepco has failed to address the problem... [the experts]
question Tepco’s ability to safely decommission the
plant.”
There are some things I want to say about all this. First is
the inevitable discourse manipulation - something that we
have seen in the media ever since this disaster occurred.
“Decommission the plant” suggests some calm and
ordered scientific process akin to shutting down and
10-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
defueling an old reactor which has reached the end of its
design life. It sparks images of a wise nuclear engineer
in a lab coat consulting a document, discussing some
issue with a worker in brilliant white overalls with a
Tepco logo, wearing a white hard-hat. The reality is that
this is a nightmare disaster area where no one has the
slightest idea what to do and which has always been out
of control. All that they can do is continue to pump in
the seawater to hope that the various lumps of molten
fuel will not increase their rate of fissioning. And pray.
The water will then pick up the radionuclides and flow
downhill back to the sea. Of course, they can put up a
barrier; surround the plant with a wall. But eventually
the water will fill up the pond and flow over the wall.
All that water will create a soggy marsh and destabilize
the foundations of the reactor buildings which will then
collapse and prevent further cooling. Then the
Spectacular. All this is predictable enough.
Let us look at some numbers. Four hundred tons of
seawater a day is flowing into the sea. That is 400 cubic
meters. In one year, that is 146,000 cubic meters. That is
a pond 10 meters deep and 120 meters square. This will
have to go on forever, a new pond every year, unless
they can get the radioactive material out. But here is the
other problem. They can’t get close enough because the
radiation levels are too high. The water itself is lethally
radioactive. Gamma radiation levels tens of meters from
the water are enormously high. No one can approach
without being fried.
'Anyone living within 1km of the coast near
Fukushima should get out'
But I want to make two other points. The first is that the
Pacific Ocean is big enough for this level of release not
to represent the global catastrophe that some are
predicting. Let’s get some scoping perspective on this.
The volume of the North Pacific is 300 million cubic
kilometers. The total inventory of the four Fukushima
Daiichi reactors, including their spent fuel pools, is 732
tons of Uranium and Plutonium fuel which is largely
insoluble in sea water. The inventory in terms of the
medium half-life nuclides of radiological significance
Cs-137, Cs-134 and Strontium-90, is 3 x 1018
becquerels (Bq) each. Adding these up gives about 1019
Bq. If we dissolve that entire amount into the Pacific, we
get a mean concentration of 33 Bq per cubic meter - not
great, but not lethal. Of course this is ridiculous since
the catastrophe released less than 1017 Bq of these
combined nuclides and even if all of this ends up in the
sea (which it may do), the overall dilution will result in a
concentration of 1 Bq per cubic meter. So the people in
California can relax. In fact, the contamination of
Continued on page 11
Continued from page 10 – Pump and Pray publish this in scientific literature.
California and indeed the rest of the planet from the Nevertheless, the sea-to-land effect is real. And anyone
global weapons test fallout of 1959-1962 was far worse, living within 1km of the coast to at least 200km north or
and resulted in the cancer epidemic which began in south of Fukushima should get out. They should evacuate
1980. The atmospheric megaton explosions drove the inland. It is not eating the fish and shellfish that gets you -
radioactivity into the stratosphere and the rain brought it it’s breathing.
back to earth to get into the milk, the food, the air, and
And what about the future? The future is bleak. I see no
our children’s bones. Kennedy and Kruschev called a
way of resolving the catastrophe. They will either have to
halt in 1963, saving millions.
pour water on the wreckage forever, and thus continue to
What we have here in Fukushima is more local, but still contaminate the local sea, or find some more drastic
very deadly and certainly worse than Chernobyl since immediate solution. I was told that US experts had the idea
the populations are so large. And this brings me to my at the beginning of bombing the reactors into the harbour.
second point, and a warning to the Japanese people. The Not so stupid in my opinion. That at least may enable them
contamination of the sea results in adsorption of the to get sufficiently close to the pieces to pick them up, and
radionuclides by the sand and silt on the coast and river should also solve the cooling problem. Apparently (my
estuaries. The east coast of Japan, the sediment and sand contact said) the French argued them out of it because of
on the shores, will now be horribly radioactive. This the negative effect on nuclear energy (and Uranium shares).
material is re-suspended into the air through a process
Professor Christopher Busby is from the European Committee
called sea-to-land transfer. The coastal air they inhale is
laden with radioactive particles. on Radiation Risks for RT.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20131808-24704.html
I know about this since I was asked in 1998 by the Irish ☻☻☻☻☻☻
State to carry out a two-year study of the cancer effects
Continued from page 5 - West Coast of North
of releases into the Irish Sea by the nuclear reprocessing
plant at Sellafield. We looked at small area data leaked
America to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation
to us by the Welsh Cancer Registry covering the period there could be “pockets” and “streams” of highly-concen-
of 1974-1989, when Sellafield was releasing significant trated radiation.
amounts of radio-Caesium, radio-Strontium, and
Plutonium. Results showed a remarkable and sharp 30
per cent increase in cancer rates in those living within
1km of the coast. The effect was very local and dropped
away sharply at 2km. In trying to discover the cause, we
came across measurements made by the UK Atomic
Energy Research Establishment.
Using special cloth filters, they had measured
Plutonium in the air by distance from the contaminated
coast. The trend was the same as the cancer trend,
increasing sharply in the 1km strip near the coast. We
later examined cancer rates in a higher resolution
questionnaire study in Carlingford, Ireland. This clearly
showed the effect increasing inside the 1km radius in
the same way. The results were never published in
scientific literature but were presented to the UK
CERRIE committee and eventually made it into a book
which I wrote in 2007 entitled, “Wolves of Water.”
Make no mistake, this is a deadly effect. By 2003, we
had found 20-fold excess risk of leukemia and brain The University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research
tumours in the population of children on the north Center created a graphic showing the projected dispersion
Wales coast. The children were denied of course by the of debris from Japan (above).
Welsh Cancer Intelligence Unit that supplanted the old
Welsh Cancer Registry - which had been shut down
immediately after the data was released to us. We did Continued on page 12
11-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued on page 11- Pump and Pray
Last year, scientists from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine
Environmental Laboratory and 3 scientists from the
GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences
showed that radiation on the West Coast of North
America could end up being 10 times higher than in
Japan:
After 10 years the concentrations become nearly
homogeneous over the whole Pacific, with higher
values in the east, extending along the North
American coast with a maximum (~1 × 10−4) off
Baja California.
With caution given to the various idealizations
(unknown actual oceanic state during release, unknown
release area, no biological effects included, see section
3.4), the following conclusions may be drawn. (i)
Dilution due to swift horizontal and vertical dispersion
in the vicinity of the energetic Kuroshio regime leads to
a rapid decrease of radioactivity levels during the first 2
years, with a decline of near-surface peak
concentrations to values around 10 Bq m−3 (based on a
total input of 10 PBq).
The strong lateral dispersion, related to the vigorous
eddy fields in the mid-latitude western Pacific, appears
sig-nificantly under-estimated in the non-eddying (0.5°)
model version. (ii) The subsequent pace of dilution is
strongly reduced, owing to the eastward advection
of the main tracer cloud towards the much less
energetic areas of the central and eastern North
Pacific. (iii) The magnitude of additional peak
radioactivity should drop to values comparable to the
pre-Fukushima levels after 6–9 years (i.e. total peak
concentrations would then have declined below twice
pre-Fukushima levels). (iv) By then the tracer cloud
will span almost the entire North Pacific, with peak
concentrations off the North American coast an
order-of-magnitude higher than in the western
Pacific.
(“Order-of-magnitude” is a scientific term which
means 10 times higher. The “Western Pacific” means
Japan’s East Coast.)
And a team of top Chinese scientists has just published
a study in the Science China Earth Sciences journal
showing that Fukushima nuclear pollution is
becoming more concentrated as it approaches the West
Coast of the United States, that the plume crosses the
ocean in a nearly straight line toward North America,
and that it appears to stay together with little
dispersion:
12-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
On March 30, 2011, the Japan Central News Agency
reported the monitored radioactive pollutions that were
4000 times higher than the standard level. Whether or not
these nuclear pollutants will be transported to the Pacific-
neighboring countries through oceanic circulations
becomes a world-wide concern.
The time scale of the nuclear pollutants reaching the west
coast of America is 3.2 years if it is estimated using the
surface drifting buoys and 3.9 years if it is estimated using
the nuclear pollutant particulate tracers.
The half life of cesium-137 is so long that it produces more
damage to human. Figure 4 gives the examples of the
distribution of the impact strength of Cesium-137 at year
1.5 (panel (a)), year 3.5 (panel (b)), and year 4 (panel (c)).
It is worth noting that due to the current near the shore
cannot be well reconstructed by the global ocean reanalysis,
some nuclear pollutant particulate tracers may come to rest
in near shore area, which may result in additional
uncertainty in the estimation of the impact strength.
Since the major transport mechanism of nuclear pollutants
for the west coast of America is the Kuroshio-extension
currents, after four years, the impact strength of Cesium-
137 in the west coast area of America is as high as 4%.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/west-coast-of-north-america-to-be-
hit-hard-by-fukushima-radiation/5346470
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 7 - Fukushima 2013:
“Remaining Radioactive Mass”
But this posting dates from 1996 and includes no data later
than 1996.
Radiation Dose So Far Not Harmful, U.N. says – But
It’s not Over Yet
In February the World Health Organization (WHO) of the
U.N. released an almost 200-page assessment of the
healthrisks from the Fukushima disaster, “the first-ever
analysis of global health effects due to radiation exposure”
from Fukushima. In a press release issued in Geneva,
Continued on page 13
Continued from page 12- Fukushima 2013: “Remaining
Radioactive Mass”
WHO concluded that: “for the general population inside
and outside of Japan, the predicted risks are low and no
observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates
are anticipated.”
Using preliminary dose estimation data to make its
predictions, the WHO report also found “that the estimated
risk for specific cancers in certain subsets of the population
in Fukushima Prefecture has increased and, as such, it calls
for long term continued monitoring and health screening
for those people.”
The release quotes Dr Angelika Tritscher, Acting Director
for WHO’s Food Safety and Zoonosis Department, saying
that: “In addition to strengthening medical support and
services, continued environmental monitoring, in particular
of food and water supplies, backed by the enforcement of
existing regulations, is required to reduce potential
radiation exposure in the future.”
And the WHO report “notes that the psychosocial impact
of Fukushima] may have a consequence on health and
well-being. These should not be ignored as part of the
overall response.”
If decommissioning of Fukushima ever starts, it will
take decades.
According to Natural News reporter Ethan Huff, the lack
of reliable information — at least in Japan — may be less
the fault of government than mainstream media:
“New data released by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor
and Welfare (MHLW) shows once again that the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is far from over.
Despite a complete media blackout on the current
situation, levels of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) and Cesium-134
(Cs-134) found in produce and rice crackers located
roughly 225 miles (~ 362 km) away from Fukushima are
high enough to cause residents to exceed the annual
radiation exposure limit in just a few months, or even
weeks.
“According to Fukushima-Diary.com, which posts up-to-
date information about the Fukushima disaster, rice
crackers and tangerines produced in the Shizuoka prefec-
ture are testing high for both Cs-137 and Cs-134.”
Meanwhile in recent weeks, TEPCO reportedly dumped
contaminated groundwater into the Pacific, then
announced that radiation levels in the seawater near
Fukushima had reached record levels, probably because
the radioactive water “leaked.”
At the Fukushima site, Energy News reports, workers are
expecting the situation with all four reactors to get worse.
13-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
While there are somewhat credible contingency plans
for three of the reactors, the fourth – reactor #2 – has
radiation levels that are already so intense, one worker
said, that in an emergency, “a prepared squad is likely
to perish before it accomplishes its mission.”
Another said, “We are clueless about reactor #2.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-2013-remaining-
radioactive-mass-dangerous-leaking-radioactive-water-all-
four-reactors-are-getting-worse/5342466
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Government slammed over
Monitoring of Japanese
Seafood
By Suk Gee-hyun
18 August 2013
Korean Herald
Debate is brewing over the authorities’ monitoring of
seafood imported from Japan due to radiation fears as a
far stricter watch is being applied on agricultural
products. Seafood contaminated by radiation leaks from
the Fukushima nuclear plant has been found in the local
market recently, adding to public fears about the after
effects of the 2011 disaster.
About 3,010 tons of fish requested for import
declaration has been found to contain radioactive
cesium since March 11, 2011, according to the Ministry
of Food and Drug Safety.
However, the food ministry was found not to have
carried out additional inspections nor tightened return
procedures, after radioactive materials were detected.
“They were below the threshold level, which causes no
problem for market distribution,” an official from the
ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.
While most products had below 10 becquerels of
radiocesium (134Cs and 137Cs) per kilogram, some
products showed up to 98 becquerels ― just two
becquerels less than the level considered unsafe.
However, the same approach has not been taken with
agricultural products, which have been sent back to
Japan immediately if even tiny traces of radioactive
materials were detected.
“Seafood easily rots, but it’s imported in a large
quantity at an expensive price. It’s difficult to go
through a test that takes about 60 days,” the official
added.
Continued on page 14
Continued from page 13 – Government slammed over
monitoring of Japanese seafood
The government’s stance has sparked strong public
backlash.
“Even if the government explains that it’s a small
amount of radioactive materials, who would eat that if
they knew that it could be dangerous?” a Twitter user
(@Tipstory) wrote on his account on Sunday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. has recently confirmed
long-held suspicions that the sea had been contaminated
by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
TEPCO officials explained about 300 tons of radioactive
water was leaking every day into the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese government plans to remove 300 tons of
groundwater per day by December as part of a cleanup,
which experts expect will take more than 40 years and
cost $11 billion.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130818000195
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Calls for US Seafood Testing
after Revelations of
Fukushima Radiation Leaks
By Ida Torres
August 16, 2013
Nuclear experts in the United States are calling for
testing of seafood caught in the West Coast waters as
news came out that the Fukushima Daiichi plant has
been leaking contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean
for some time now. The plant operator Tokyo Electric
Power admitted last week that everyday, 300 tons of
water containing radioactive materials have been
seeping into the ocean.
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for
Energy and Environmental Research, said that because
the Pacific Ocean is such a large body of water, the
contaminated water would have already been diluted by
the time it reached the West Coast. But he acknowledges
that no one knows up until now how contaminated the
ocean has become and so a sampling of the US West
Coast waters would be helpful, as well as a random
sampling of seafood caught from that area.
The immediate concern though is for the people in
Fukushima, particularly the fishermen, residents and
cleanup crews, who are possibly directly affected by the
leaks. There is fear that the spike in levels of strontium
90 which bio-concentrates in the bones of fish and algae.
14-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
He said the accumulation effect of the radioactive
strontium 90 could be extremely dangerous for a pregnant
woman who has eaten or drank contaminated materials
because the baby will be born with a weak immune
system. Joseph Mangano, executive director of the
nonprofit Radiation and Public Health Project, said that “a
cocktail of more than 100 radioactive chemicals” from
Fukushima can bring certain dangers when ingested
through food or just breathing contaminated air. Health
risks include birth defects and thyroid cancer.
http://japandailypress.com/calls-for-us-seafood-testing-after-
revelations-of-fukushima-radiation-leaks-1633993/
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Incapacitation and Protection
AGAINST Truth
By Mikkai
June 2, 2013
It is remarkable how reports always include “stress” /
“fear” / “might” / “concern” / “risk” / “Danger” in their
headlines and MAIN goals of reporting. The real damage
occurring moves into the background. The dead, the
injured, not worth looking at, only the concern counts.
This is important, especially during nuclear catastrophes
(which never end), to create the illusion of an “end”, to
overcome the “current situation”. This is not about hope or
strength, but to cover up, so that the Holocaust industry
can live on.
Nourished by the death of children, sponsored by the
IAEA and the World Health Organization. I present
you two instruments which are used: 1) The invention of
an unethical, non-medical term: “Radiophobia” and 2) the
exclusion of NGOs as alarmists. Compare everything you
have read and seen with this information. Be ready to see
everything in a totally new light. Even the term “stress” is
today overused, for everything, as if stress is something
new in human history and could be responsible for all the
diseases. It’s not. Internal Emitters from Reactors are. Risk
is a virtual term, which conceals existing, current,
happening damage.
Experts suggest that we accept that cancer thins the ranks
around us. At the same time our experts tell us Nuclear
Reactors cause no health effect. And even the victims
promote “Living with Cancer”, “my life with cancer”….
The romanticizing of murder is one of the means of
repression and powerlessness.
And is imposed on the coming generations. The same with
diabetes, allergies, dead or premature birth, birth defects,
Continued on page 15
Continued frm page 14- Incapacitation and Protection
AGAINST Truth
autoimmune diseases, ADD,disabilities, etc…
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/Asleep@Wheel.html#P
art2
At the same time our human emotions that are vital for
life, are more and more misunderstood as aberrations.
By a diabolical mechanization of our lives. Also
powered by experts. That’s why we always read “risk”,
“may”, “concern” – instead of REAL DAMAGE
happening RIGHT NOW.
A reactor means for each country the following:
• People do not want reactors
• The reactors are imposed on them
• Reactors scatter death more sophisticated (effect
after Generationns) and more effective (food, soil,
water) than nuclear bombs
• People are allowed to become irradiated by reactors
through dose limits (these are justified by
NOTHING)
• The people pay the reactors, although they never
wanted them
A reactor may cost 15 billion - one thousandth (15
million) is sufficient to control the press, experts,
politicians
• Few countries have mastered the fuel cycle or have
the required money, or no know-how: financing,
operation, and raw materials come from outside –
whole nations become hostages
• If a reactor explodes – people pay for it, the people
who were NEVER wanted the reactors
Doctors are not set in radiation biology knowledge
• The victims pay the perpetrator
• The perpetrator plays as a victim who badly needs
more money
• The victims even have to complain to get a single
cent
• For children with cancer by Fukushima, there is
absolutely NOTHING
• The criteria according to which a child is sick by
reactors, the industry sets. NOT doctors
• Parents who still dare to do so are persecuted and
marginalized
• In court ONLY the methodology of the perpetrator /
nuclear industry counts
15-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
• The established health ministeries rely on the
Commission on Radiological Protection
• The Radiation Protection Commission refers to the
international Commission on Radiological Protection
• The International Commission on Radiological
Protection relies on the IAEA / RERF
• The IAEA / RERF relies on the military industrial
nuclear complex of five veto-wielding Security Council
and the fraud Hiroshima & Nagasaki findings
• The natural radiation was responsible for almost all
mutations of evolution
A radiation dose produced far below the dose limits
emitted by reactors increases the mutation rate easily
(genomic instability, point mutation)
Almost every mutation is bad and brings only (fatal)
Cons
• The victims are even ostracized by their own fellows
• Children and fetuses die faster, be misunderstood even
by adults, who are also victims
• The Incapacitation of the victims happens legally, by
illegal (emergency) laws
• The WHO refers to the IAEA, since 1959 (WHA 12-40
contract)
• NGOs who are doing work (measurements, evacuation)
are attacked as “panic makers” & “unpatriotic”
• Nuclear Safety means: Safety for the Reactor, NOT the
people
• Nuclear Safety means: MORE MONEY for the
Industry
• The Devil acts as Angel (WHO, IAEA)
Thanks to the invention of the atomic reactors a way was
found to perform an extremely slow, barely measurable, but
extremely effective Holocaust. Not only before but also
behind the door- and even in the womb.
Invisible, peaceful and financed by the victims. This and
nothing else is this “industry”. Stress is the slightest cause
for all disorders and diseases. Internal radiation emitters
from Nuclear Reactors imitate natural radiation, the cause
for mutation / genomic instability. Natural Radiation was
always there, from the first kind of life. In this light,
allergies do not arise because children are barely out, and
lack of pregnancies do not remain unfulfilled because of
stress. This is superstition. Modern medicine tells fairy
tales, drummed by ministries of health, they get their
recommendations from the nuclear industry: ICRP, IAEA
and WHO. The Atom is smaller than the Gene. What
Continued on page 16
Continued from page 15 - Incapacitation and Protection
AGAINST Truth
Monsanto entered was invented by the Nuclear Industry.
The force used to push both and defend them is no
coincidence. They are thinking in generations. So what
is a current trend to them? So we must also think in
generations.
HOW can you clean up atoms? Atoms are everywhere,
mixed with everything, you have to bury the whole earth,
in another dimension.
• Radiogases which reactors emit do not disappear.
Instead they become more deadly.
• Krypton 89 stays 18,4 seconds (full decay time) and
becomes Strontium 89
• Krypton 90 stays 323 seconds and delievers Strontium
90 (285 years) via Rubidium 90.
• Xenon 137 stays 384 minutes and decays into Cesium
137 (300 years= which becomes stable Barium 137.
• Plutonium 241 stays 147 years, becomes Americium
241 which stays 4,000 years and then becomes
Neptunium 237, which stays 22 million years.
Welcome to the next level.
People are amazed by the emission rates given out by
TEPCO. But if you compare TEPCO’s officials numbers
with normal legal emissions, it seems Fukushima is
emitting LESS than before the explosions. How is this
possible? TEPCO is criminal. The industry is. If a reactor
explodes THEY give out numbers. From the textbook.
Not from measurements. You can scale down or up the
instruments or put them out of order, or simply conceal.
You can do everything. And if independent civilian
monitoring stations contradict this, they are called “panic
makers”. What we are for people that we tolerate that? Is
that pride or courage? Is it more cowardice and stupidity
and slow suicide for our children?
Tepco is concealing the situation of the reactor fuel in
reactor 2. it has nothing to to with a technical blackout or
“problems”. Tepco knows excatly that: situation a) –
meltdown much much deeper – or: b) the whole reactor
fuel inventory was blown out. if b) is the case, the
contamination is so brutal high with actual reactor fuel –
that there are no words to describe it. the IAEA supports
the cover up and advises them. part of the cover up
agenda are the fake fact finding missions. the devil is
relying on the bible, from day one.
The Radioactivity and Becquerel Inventory of ONE
Reactor is the Equivalent of one or more Full Scale
Nuclear Wars.
It is not “Living in irradiated areas”
It is “dying in irradiated areas“
16-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
It is not “2 years after Fukushima”
It is “2 years with Fukushima”
Reproduction can not stop the nuclear destruction of the
genome.
We are at this point
Studies and scientists are too slow.
Only the eternal can help us:
Love, ethics and imagination.
Only with these eternal instruments we can handle this
CRIME – which is as BIG as EVOLUTION
“What did you do to prevent the current situation?” Can
such a question come from future children?
For they will have no comparison. And the curiosity is
expelled in school. Right now, we accept allergies and
even cancer as cause for death. We are already in the
future we want to avoid, because we are protected from
truth and believe in symbols rather in emotions and
reality.
The infinite World War is invisible. By Shadow Powers,
with the help of the UN.
The Invisible Weapons are supplied by Food, Water,
Breast Milk supplied with substances, with Life!
They “kill” unborn Life. They “prevent” Life. Even after
they are gone. Their effect is attributed to other causes by
Doctors and Experts.
And they change the Core of Life of the Survivors.
Reproduction can not catch up the Damage. This subtlety
is as complex as Evolution.
The Human Mind activates the Fear – as a final warning.
This is the last Chance thing the Evolution taught us.
But even the Victims dismiss the Fear as Neurosis
(“overcome the radiation”) With support of the UN
Organisations.
And so the ranks are thinning. With cancer, Alzheimer’s,
disabilities, genomic instability. Until an acceptable
residual amount remains or genetic Clean Out has been
reached. Similar results were achieved with the Black
Plague.
Fear is the last Chance. To wake up. Not from a
Nightmare but from murderous gentle illusion.
“We are constantly being told about a ‘permissible
amount of radiation.’ Who permitted it? Who has any
right to permit it?” / “I cling to life because of my
reverence for life. For, when it begins to think, the will-
to-live realizes that it is free.” – Albert Schweitzer
http://tekknorg.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/incapacitation-and-
protection-against-truth/
☻☻☻☻☻☻

US Sailor believes Health
Deterioration is linked to
Fukushima Radiation
Exposure
By Faith Aquino
August 15, 2013
A sailor who was part of the USS Ronald Reagan crew
that responded at the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
and the Fukushima disaster became sick months
following the relief operations. Lt. j.g. Steve Simmons,
once as healthy as a horse, has now become dependent
on most of his activities for daily living. He believes that
his health deterioration was caused by radiation exposure
and contamination while serving in 2011 relief
operations. However, medical professionals including
the U.S. Department of Defense, could not provide any
diagnosis. Without one, Simmons is unlikely to apply for
any medical aid, despite his condition.
“We’ve never had any kind of health issues until he was
exposed to radiation from Fukushima,” his wife Summer
said. The couple has frequented the Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
for Steve’s treatments. He lost 30 percent of his muscle
mass, causing him to lose the strength to stand on his
own or take care of himself. “The muscle weakness has
progressed to the point where he needs 24-hour care,”
Summer said.
Other sailors have also been greatly affected by radiation
contamination. “Their lives are at stake as well,”
Simmons said. Some of them filed suit against TEPCO.
Simmons is not one of them. According to his wife, they
are not asking for much, but for the Navy to return the
favor. “We’re asking them to step up and take care of
those they put in harm’s way.” The couple is seeking to
get a diagnosis for his condition. “Our biggest frustration
is the lack of accountability,” the wife said. “The fact
that nobody is willing to say this was a mistake, and it
needs to be acknowledged.”
San Diego-based USS Ronald Reagan was the first ship
to arrive and respond to Japan when an earthquake and
tsunami took the lives of thousands of people. The
aircraft carrier was also the first to deploy assistance
when Fukushima Daiichi made history as one of its
reactors suffered a meltdown. Although sailors were
aware of the nature of their operation, some filed suit
charging TEPCO of lying about the severity of radiation
leaks at the facility. Simmons expressed his concern for
other sailors who may have no idea about what hit them.
17-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
There were more than 5,000 on board when USS Reagan
reached Japan.
http://japandailypress.com/us-sailor-believes-health-
deterioration-is-linked-to-fukushima-radiation-exposure-
1533974/
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to
Sprinkle Nuclear Waste from
Airplanes
By Tim Murphy
August 16, 2013
After months of in-fighting, the beleaguered Oregon
Republican Party elected a new chairman last
weekend. His name is Art Robinson, and he wants to
sprinkle radioactive waste from airplanes to build up our
resistance to degenerative illnesses. Robinson, who
unsuccessfully ran for Congress against progressive Rep.
Peter DeFazio in 2010 and 2012, took over after the
previous chair resigned in advance of a recall campaign
over her alleged financial mismanagement.
Robinson, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, has marketed
himself for the last three decades as an expert on
everything from nuclear fallout to AIDS to climate
science in the pages of a monthly newsletter, Access to
Energy, which he published from his compound in the
small town of Cave Junction. A quick glance at his
writings, which were publicized during his ill-fated
challenges to DeFazio, suggest that whatever the failings
of the previous party leadership—Democrats now hold
all statewide elected offices and control both houses of
the state Legislature—Robinson brings with him a new
set of challenges entirely.
On nuclear waste: "All we need do with nuclear waste is
dilute it to a low radiation level and sprinkle it over the
ocean—or even over America after hormesis is better
understood and verified with respect to more diseases."
And: "If we could use it to enhance our own drinking
water here in Oregon, where background radiation is low,
it would hormetically enhance our resistance to
degenerative diseases. Alas, this would be against the
law."
On public schools: "Public education (tax-financed
socialism) has become the most widespread and
devastating form of child abuse and racism in the United
States. Moreover, people who have been cut off at the
knees by public education are so mentally handicapped
that they cannot be responsiblecustodians of the energy
Continued to page 18
Continued from page 17 – Transgenic Grass Skirts Still, Robinson's questionable scientific theories could
Regulators make him some bipartisan allies; the deep-blue voters of
technology base or other advanced accomplishments of Portland recently voted to ban fluoride from the city's
our civilization." (Robinson, a home-schooling activist, drinking water.
sells a DIY curriculum for $195.) http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/oregon-gop-art-
robinson-nuclear-waste-airplanes
On AIDS: "There is a possibility that the entire 'war' on
☻☻☻☻☻☻
HIV and AIDS is in error. U.S. government AIDS
programs are now receiving $6 billion per year and are
based entirely upon the hypothesis that HIV virus
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
causes AIDS. Yet, the articles referenced above and By Nuclear News
numerous additional publications by scientists who have
become involved in this controversy state that: attempts
to cause AIDS experimentally with HIV have
completely failed; thousands of AIDS victims are HIV-
free; and HIV shows none of the classical characteristics
of a disease-producing organism. Moreover, AIDS is
not a unique disease—it is an increased susceptibility to
many ordinary diseases presumably as a result of
depressed immune response. This depressed immunity
can result from many other factors including those
especially prevalent in the AIDS afflicted population—
drug abuse and unhygienic exposure to very large
numbers of different disease vectors. Moreover, large
numbers of HIV carriers who are symptom-free are
being treated by powerful life-threatening drugs that kill
people in ways very similar to AIDS."
(His conclusion on the AIDS epidemic: Homosexuality Indigenous peoples BELONG to the land.They have been
might be a natural consequence of the gay lifestyle, and the custodians of it, of its waterways, plants and animals,
the federal government had cooked the books "as an for thousands of years.
excuse for all sorts of social engineering, especially in
the public schools.") So-called “developed” peoples OWN the land, and seek to
conquer it, to dominate and exploit it, and its waterways,
On climate change: "[T]here is substantial scientific plants and animals.
evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide
produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant This culture of dominance is degrading the land, water,
and animal environments of the Earth." planst and animals. The worst expression of this
dominance is in uranium mining, nuclear power, and
On diversity: The white-male imbalance at his alma nuclear weapons.
mater, Cal Tech, Robinson argued, was due to the fact
that "its applicants are weighted toward those who seek It is not too late to learn from indigenous cultures.
severe, difficult, total-immersion training in science—an Of the nine nations in the world that have detonated
experience few women and blacks desire." nuclear weapons during the last 55 years, five have used
During his campaigns, Robinson distanced himself from the sacred land of indigenous peoples. The United States,
his past writings—without overtly rejecting them. He Russia, Britain, France, and China have “tested” their
conceded that the nuclear waste proposal was nuclear might on lands held sacred by the people of First
"politically impossible" and a "complicated scientific Nations. The Western Shoshone nation of North America,
subject," and on the subject of public education, the Marshall and other South Pacific Islanders, Australian
admitted that "had I known I would ever run for office, Aboriginals, the Kazakhs, and Tibetans are but a few of
I'd have said it differently." In an interview with those whose land has been consistently contaminated with
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, he justified his AIDS theory nuclear poison……
by noting that "15 years ago, the scientific debate was ………Worldwide, uranium mining has been the most
different than it is today," before attempting to change hazardous step in nuclear materials production, in terms of
the subject to taxes. Continued on page 29
18-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER
FEATURED ARTICLES
Victims of the Nuclear Age
By Dr. Rosalie Bertell
Issue of The Ecologist, November 1999; pp. 408-411.
Up to 1,300 million people have been killed, maimed
or diseased by nuclear power since it's inception. The
industry's figures massively underestimate the real
cost of nuclear power, in an attempt to hide its
victims from the world. Here, the author calculates
the real number of victims of the nuclear age
. On the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, I
was standing at a public meeting in Kiev, Ukraine,
listening to the story of one of the firemen employed
to clean up the site after the explosion. These workers
took huge doses of radiation during this task, and
their story is a terrifying one. About 600,000 men
were conscripted as Chernobyl `liquidators' [also
called bio-robots']: farmers, factory workers, miners,
and soldiers -- as well as professionals like the
firemen -- from all across Russia. Some of these men
lifted pieces of radioactive metal with their bare
hands. They had to fight more than 300 fires created
by the chunks of burning material spewed off by the
inferno. They buried trucks, fire engines, cars and all
sorts of personal belongings. They felled a forest and
completely buried it, removed topsoil, bulldozed
houses and filled all available clay-lined trenches
with radioactive debris. The minimum conscription
time was 180 days, but many stayed for a year. Some
were threatened with severe punishment to their
families if they failed to stay and do their duty.
These `liquidators' are now discarded and forgotten,
many vainly trying to establish that the ill health most
have suffered ever since 1986 is a result of their
massive exposure to radiation. At the Centre for
Radiation Research outside Kiev, there is an
organization of former liquidators. This group reports
that by 1995, 13,000 of their members had died-
almost 20 percent of which deaths were suicides.
About 70,000 members were estimated to be
permanently disabled. But the members of this
organization are the lucky ones. Because many
19-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
September 2013
former liquidators are now scattered throughout
Russia, they neither have the benefit of the
organization's special hospital, nor of membership of
a survivor organization. They are known as the
`living dead.'
The fireman whose story I was listening to seemed to
be an exception to this grim litany of illness and
death. He was telling the meeting how pleased and
excited he was that, for the first time in ten years, his
blood test findings were in the normal range. I was
standing next to a delegate from the International
Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] -- the organisation
charged with promoting the use of atomic energy. On
hearing the fireman's story, he leaned over to me and
said: "You see! We said these were only transient
disorders." A rough translation might read:
Chernobyl? What's the problem?
Ignoring the Victims
The IAEA man's attitude was perfectly in keeping
with that of his organization which, along with the
International Commission on Radiation Protection
[ICRP] exists in practice largely to play down the
effects of radiation on human health, and to shield the
nuclear industry from compensation claims from the
public. The IAEA was set up in the late 1950s by he
UN, to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to
promote the peaceful use of atomic energy --
ironically, two contradictory objectives. The ICRP
which evlved from the 1928 International Committee
on X-Ray and Radium Protection, was set up in the
fifties to explore the health effects of radiation and
[theoretically] to protect the public from it. In fact,
both organizations have come to serve the industry
rather than the public.
The Chernobyl case is a classic example of the
IAEA's inadequacy and questionable science. Despite
massive evidence to the contrary, not least from the
Continued on page 20
Continued from page 19 – Victims of the Nuclear Age
many thousands of victims themselves, the IAEA
insists that only 32 people have so far died as a result of
Chernobyl -- those who died in the radiation ward of
Hospital six in Moscow. All other deaths related to the
disaster and its aftermath [and there have been many
more than 10,000 in Ukraine alone according to the
Minister of Health there] are ignored. Belarus had the
highest fallout, and yet there is an international
blackout among the IAEA and the rest of the "radiation
protection community" on the suffering of its people
The essential problem is that both the IAEA and the
ICRP are dealing not with science but with politics and
administration; not with public health but with
maintaining an increasingly dubious industry. It is their
interests, and those of the nuclear industry, to play
down the health effects of radiation.
Restrictive Definitions
The main way in which the "radiation protection
industry" has succeeded in hugely underrating the ill-
health caused by nuclear power is by insisting on a
group of extremely restrictive definitions as to what
qualifies as a radiation-caused illness statistic. For
example, under IAEA's criteria:
• If a radiation-caused cancer is not fatal, it is not
counted in the IAEA's figures
• If a cancer is initiated by another carcenogen, but
accelerated or promoted by exposure to radiation, it is
not counted.
• If an auto-immune disease or any non-cancer is
caused by radiation, it is not counted.
• Radiation-damaged embryos or foetuses which
result in miscarriage or stillbirth do not count
• A congenitally blind, deaf or malformed child
whose illnesses are are radiation-related are not
included in the figures because this is not genetic
damage, but rather is teratogenic, and will not be
passed on later to the child's offspring.
• Causing the genetic predisposition to breast cancer
or heart disease does not count since it is not a "serious
genetic disease" in the Mendelian sense.
• Even if radiation causes a fatal cancer or serious
genetic disease in a live born infant, it is discounted if
the estimated radiation dose is below 100 mSv [mSv=
millisievert, a measurement of radiation exposure. One
hundred millsievert is the equivalent in radiation of
about 100 X-Rays].
• Even if radiation causes a lung cancer, it does not
20-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
count if the person smokes -- in fact whenever there is a
possibility of another cause, radiation cannot be blamed.
• If all else fails, it is possible to claim that radiation
below some designated dose does not cause cancer, and
then average over the whole body the radiation dose
which has actually been received by one part of the body
or even organ, as for instance when radio-iodine
concentrates in the thyroid. This arbitrary dilution of the
dose will ensure that the 100 mSv cut-off point is
nowhere near reached. It is a technique used to dismiss
the sickness of Gulf War veterans who inhaled small
particles of ceramic uranium which stayed in their lungs
for more than two years and in their bodies for more than
eight years, irradiating and damaging cells in a particular
part of the body.
The Real Victims
Despite the authorities' attempt at concealment, we can
still begin to enumerate the real victims of the nuclear
age. Although the calculations and statistics which I have
brought to bear below do not include all of the human
suffering that has been caused by the nuclear age, a closer
look will show that the methodology is adequate for a first
estimate of major damage. The magnitude of the harm
already caused is startling, and even more so when we
realise many types of damage have been omitted from this
first estimate.
In my estimate cancer, whether fatal or non-fatal
[excluding non-fatal skin cancer], genetic damage and
serious congenital malformations and diseases will be
included in the figures. Other damage is acknowledged
but not estimated. Ultimately, whether or not one cares
about the damage caused by radiation exposure is
ultimately a human, not a scientific question. Damage is
damage, and causing an unwanted attack on someone's
person or reproductive capacity is a violation of human
rights. Such damage can be rated for importance, but it
should not be arbitrarily ignored.
"Statistics are the people with the tears wiped away"
stated one of the Rongelap people of the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, who `hosted' the United States Bikini
nuclear testing in the 1950s. This is the story of many
tears, and of a hard hearted mindset that laid down the
degree of suffering and ill-health that would be the
`acceptable' price to pay for the world `benefitting' from
nuclear technology.
Risk Estimates Used in this Analysis
In order to estimate the real victims of the nuclear
industry [as oppossed to those figures enumerated by the
ICRP, IAEA and other nuclear apologists] I will take the
customary risk estimates, indicate their probable range of
Continued on page 21
Continued from page 20 – Victims of the Nuclear Age
error, and then extend the definition to cover related events
not recognized as 'detriments' by the regulators. For
example, while the nuclear regulators only take fatal
cancers into consideration as 'detriments' by the regulators,
others, especially those who endure a non-fatal cancer,
may find their suffering equally worthy of consideration.
And limiting genetic effects to live born offspring does not
wipe away the tears of a family that has endured a
spontaneous miscarriage or stillbirth.
Estimating the Fatal and Non-Fatal Cancer Risks
In 1991, the ICRP concluded that the projected lifetime
risk of fatal cancer for members of the population exposed
Sievert whole-body radiation at a low dose rate, was
between seven and 11 excess fatal cancers, and seven to
eight excess fatalities for in the nuclear industry aged 25 to
64 years. We extend these estimates to non-fatal cancers by
estimating the total number of cancers which were used by
the ICRP in order to obtain the number of fatalities. We
therefore estimate 16 fatal and non-fatal cancers if we
exclude non-fatal skin cancers or 36 if we count them. If
the estimate of fatal cancers was off by a factor of two then
we can double all those numbers.
The estimate I use for cancer 16 per 100 Person Sieverts,
but the reader can adjust this estimate to suit other
inclusions, exclusions or uncertainties.
Estimating Damage to an Embryo or Foetus
According to the BEIR Committee [Bilogical Effects of
Ionizing Radiation] 1990 report, a dose of 150 mSv to
human male testes will cause temporary sterility, and a
single dose of 3.5 Sv will cause permanent sterility.
According to the ICRP in 1991, just 5 mSv to the testes
will cause damage to offspring -- yet this dose was
permitted yearly to members of the public, and ten times
more to nuclear workers, in all countries prior to 1990. It
continues today to be permitted yearly for nuclear workers
in most countries.
Women carry with them all of the ova from birth which
they will ever have. The threshold for permanent female
sterilisation decreases with age, but in general about 650
mSv is considered to be the threshold for temporary
sterility in women. After the Bravo event -- the detonation
of a hydrogen bomb at the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in
March 1954 -- the women of Rongelap Atoll experienced
about five years of sterility. As they regained their sterility,
they experienced faulty pregnancies, miscarrigies,
stillbirths and damage to their offspring.
Since some radionucleides can be retained in bone or fatty
tissues, they are able to cross the placenta barrier and
disrupt the developing embryo or foetus. Radionucleides
21-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
in the mother's body can also be transferred in her breast
milk.
The official nuclear industry definition of `detriment'
includes only serious genetic disease not judged to be
serious, and teratogenic diseases [those which are not
passed on to offspring] are not counted. Recently the
1990 BEIR committee made one small concession in
recognizing mental retardation in children exposed to
radiation during the fifth to 15th weeks of their mother's
pregnancy. Radiation kills brain cells, causing both an
underdeveloped brain [microcephaly] and mental
retardation. For the individual child, BEIR estimates that
a dose in utero of 100 to 500 mSv can cause a range of
problems from poor school performance to severe mental
retardation.
Genetic Damage
The U.N. Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic
Radiation [UNSCEAR] and BEIR both agree that a
population of one million live births exposed to 100
Person Sieverts will result in one to three genetic damage
effects to offspring, and so to the human gene pool. The
doubling dose for genetic effects [the dose that will cause
twice as many genetic effects] is more contentious, with
some geneticists claiming that it is 2.5 Sv, and others
claiming much greater sensitivity with a 0.12 Sv doubling
dose. If the latter is true, then the increase in genetic
effects will be 8.3 per cent for every 10mSv and therefore
83 such effects per million live births when the total
averaged dose is 100 Person Sieverts rather than the 4
such effects in the first instance. On the conservative side,
we have taken 10 genetic effects to be the number for
exposed offspring.
Estimate of `Teratogenic Effects'
The damage to an embryo from ionizing radiation when
in the womb is not considered to be genetic. Such
irradiation can lead to some 30 different congenital
anomolies including permanent damage to the brain,
mental deficiency, skull deformities, cleft palate, spina
bifida, club-feet, genital deformities, growth retardation
and childhood cancer. A total of all those effects,
including mortality, amount to 46, of which 25 are live
born.
When we summarise those risk estimates, we get 16
cancers, 10 genetic effects and 25 congenital effects for
one million exposed to 100 Person Sieverts. The task now
is to apply those numbers for the global population from
industrial nuclear activities, including weapons testing in
the fifties, sixties and early seventies and electricity
production from nuclear power over the past half century.
When we do this we find that weapons’ testing has lead to
Continued on page 22
Continued from page 21- Victims of the Nuclear Age
nearly 376 million cancers, 235 million genetic effects
and 587 million teratogenic effects to give a total of
approximately 1,200 million. Meanwhile, electricity
production from nuclear plants between 1943 and 2000
may have lead to another million victims, of which as
many one-fifth will have been premature cancer deaths.
Although not officially accounted for, about 500 million
foetuses would have also been lost as stillbirths during
that period from radiation exposure while in the womb.
Another century of nuclear power, and this carnage
would continue with more than 10 million victims a year.
An industry which has the potential to kill, injure and
maim that number of innocent people -- and all in the
name of `benefitting' society -- is surely wholly
unacceptable.
In 1999, Rosalie Bertell, PhD, GNSH, was President of
the International Institute of Concern for Public Health
and Editor in Chief of International Perspectives in
Public Health and Editor in Chief of International
Perspectives in Public Health [IICPH].Dr. Bertell died
June 2012,RIP
http://ratical.org/radiation/NAvictims.html
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Hormesis is a Flawed Theory
– John Peterson Myers outs
Edward Calabrese
…”These facts are taught to students in an introductory
endocrinology course,” comments vom Saal.” “For
hormone-mimicking chemicals, non-monotonic dose-
response relationships are thus expected for at least some
responses.”…
By John Peterson Myers
May 10, 2006
A researcher from the University of Massachusetts,
Edward Calabrese (above), has been promoting the
theory of hormesis: that chemicals with harmful effects
at high doses can have beneficial effects at low doses.
He then argues that this means health standards can be
relaxed because if low doses are beneficial, then there is
no need to achieve stringent cleanup standards.
Calabrese has it half-right. Low doses can have impacts
that can’t be predicted from high dose experiments. But
this has exactly the opposite policy implications than
those reached by Calabrese. Traditional high dose
testing will miss many low dose adverse effects.
22-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Hence Calabrese’s recommendations that clean-up
standards be relaxed are dangerous. Acknowledging that
high dose experiments can’t predict low dose results
should lead to a strengthening of standards, not a
relaxation.
How can exposure to something that isn’t overtly toxic
be a problem? Altered gene expression in development
changes the path taken by the developing organism. A
good example is work by Ho et al. on how exposure to
bisphenol A during development causes prostate cancer
in adult rats.
At birth there is nothing obviously wrong with the rat,
but by adulthood it is at high risk to prostate cancer.
According to Ho et al., the low dose of bisphenol A
prevents a gene from shutting down, something
Calabrese would regard as stimulatory because this gene
is involved in promoting cell division.
Think of it this way. If you were a pilot steering a boat
from New York to London, it would be toxic if someone
blew up your engine. But if they altered the compass so
that it led you 3 degrees off course from the very start of
the trip, by the time you reached Europe you’d be on the
shores of France. Small shifts in the course of
development can have profoundly adverse impacts
even though they may not be overtly toxic at the time
of exposure.
Welshon’s et al. have presented a detailed analyses at
the molecular level on how low dose impacts can’t be
predicted from high dose experiments.
Reponse of estrogen responsive gene to estradiol, from
Welshons et al. 2003.
Their key observation is that estrogenic compounds
like estradiol and bisphenol A can increase gene
expression at extremely low levels of exposure, while
having overtly toxic impacts at much higher levels.
Continued on page 23
Continued from page 22- Hormesis is a Flawed Theory
The low dose increases in gene expression can take place
at exposure levels millions of times lower than those
required to cause over toxicity. In the graph above,
adapted from Welshons et al. 2003, estradiol at high
levels shuts down an estrogenic response in a yeast-
assay. At those high levels, it is overtly toxic. At doses
more than a million-fold beneath that, estradiol causes
expression of this estrogen-responsive gene. That lower
level is the normal physiological level of action of
estradiol. As the dose increases above that level, estrogen
receptors become fully occupied, so the system reaches
an asymptote at about 1 ppt. No additional response is
seen until 1 ppm, a level at which estradiol is overtly
toxic.
According to vom Saal, at high, toxicological doses
estrogenic compounds like estradiol and bisphenol A that
act through estrogen receptors can actually turn off genes
that they had turned on at low doses. They also start to
interact with other hormone receptors, starting other
physiological processes that can involve negative
feedback loops, shutting down the low dose response.
“These facts are taught to students in an introductory
endocrinology course,” comments vom Saal.” “For
hormone-mimicking chemicals, non-monotonic dose-
response relationships are thus expected for at least some
responses.”
Calabrese would look at a pattern like this and see
low dose stimulation and high dose toxicity: hormesis.
The problem with his interpretation is the hundred-plus
studies demonstrating adverse effects of BPA at low
levels of exposure. Turning on estrogen-responsive genes
at times during development when they are not supposed
to turn on affects many tissues adversely, and in animal
experiments causes prostate cancer (in adulthood after
exposure in the womb), increases the risk of breast
cancer, defeminizes female brain structures, masculinizes
female behavior, induces insulin resistance, etc.
Calabrese bases his arguments on widespread occurrence
of ‘hormetic’ responses in the literature. A ‘hormetic’
response is a special case of a larger set of dose-response
curves called ‘non-monotonic dose response curves‘
(NMDRCs), named thus because the slope of the curve
changes sign somewhere along the curve (a term out of
mathematics). Hence a J-shaped or U-shaped or inverted-
U shaped curve are all non-monotonic. These contrast
with monotonic curves, in which the slope never changes
sign (in other words, if the curve or line is upward it
always remains upward (although it can flatten out).
In general, Calabrese ignores the mechanism by which
NMDRCs might occur. This makes it easier for him to
23-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
argue that low dose stimulation is beneficial. If he were
to acknowledge that the mechanism involves low dose
stimulation of gene expression, he would have to admit
that turning genes on at inappropriate times will lead to
adverse effects.
One conspicuous example of this comes from research by
Retha Newbold on the estrogenic drug diethylstilbestrol.
Newbold has shown that high doses of DES cause weight
loss in adults following exposure in the womb. Lower
doses within the range that lead to a wide array of adult
disorders of the reproductive tract have no effect on adult
weight. But doses far beneath those (1 ppb) cause
grotesque obesity.
Calabrese’s argument that low dose stimulation is
beneficial ignores the larger biological point that
stimulation that is not part of the normal program in
development is likely to lead to problems. Stimulate cell
proliferation and you risk cancer. Stimulate the immune
system and you risk a hyperallergenic response. This is
especially relevant in a world in which hyper-reactive
immune systems are tied to asthma, auto-immune
diseases, eczema, etc.
Bottom line: the notion that widespread observations of
hormetic responses justifies weakening health standards
is naive and wrong. Calabrese is right that current
regulations should recognize the ubiquity of non-
monotonic dose response system. But the appropriate
response to this observation is not to weaken
standards but to strengthen them, because the adverse
impacts of low dose stimulation of gene expression can’t
be predicted by today’s regulatory testing.
Source document ;
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/lowdose/2003/200
3-0220welshonsetal.htm
http://nuclear-news.net/2013/08/14/hormesis-is-a-flawed-
theory-john-peterson-myers-outs-edward-calabrese/#more-
55817
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Obama Approves EPA's
Higher Radiation Exposure
Levels for U.S. Population
By Brandon Turbeville
April 18, 2013
Activist Post
According to a statement by PEER (Public Employees
For Environmental Responsibility) published on the
Continued on page 24
Continued from page 23 - Obama Approves EPA's Higher
Radiation Exposure Levels for U.S. Population
organization’s website on April 8, 2013, Barack Obama
has given final approval for the EPA’s attempt to raise
radiation levels in soil and water following “radiological
incidents.”
According to PEER, the new guidelines, if enacted,
would “allow cleanup many times more lax than anything
EPA has ever before accepted.”
Furthermore, PEER, which is in opposition to the
changes, has stated that the proposition is a “win for the
nuclear industry which seeks what its proponents call a
'new normal' for radiation exposure among the U.S
population.”
In regards to the changes to acceptable levels of radiation
in water it should be noted that the EPA does not actually
propose anything specific. However, this is one of the
criticisms put forward by PEER, with the organization
claiming that the EPA is "punting" on establishing "an
exact new standard."
Indeed, the EPA does refuse to create a new standard for
acceptable radiation levels in water. Yet it suggests the
possibility that temporary guidelines may be created that
could themselves allow for a vast rise in acceptable
radiation levels justified by the declaration of an
emergency.
The EPA document, “Draft For Use And Public
Comment,” states:
EPA is not proposing specific drinking water PAG
[Protective Action Guide]at this time. EPA has
established enforceable drinking water standards for
radionuclides under the Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA). EPA recommends that, to the extent
practicable, emergency measures for drinking water be
based on the National Primary Drinking Water
Regulations (NPDWR) for Radionuclides. The
Radionuclides Rule provides states with flexibility when
responding to radiological events. If a public water
system exceeds the radionuclides standard it must work
to get back into compliance as soon as feasible. States
have the authority to determine if other corrective actions
are needed (e.g. providing alternative water). Guidance
on monitoring, notification and protective actions is
provided in Chapter 3, along with several online
resources for drinking water system operators.
However, in light of the Fukushima nuclear power plant
accident, in which some Japanese drinking water supplies
were impacted, the Agency recognizes a short-term
emergency drinking water guide may be useful for public
health protection. The Agency requests input on the
24-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
appropriateness of, and possible values for, a drinking
water PAG.
Still, what is much more alarming than the non-standards
expressed by the EPA in regards to radiation in water are
the standards regarding acceptable levels of radiation in
soil which are written into the document.
In Section 3.7, “Reentry During the Early and
Intermediate Phases,” it is determined that levels ranging
from 1,000 mrems to 5,000 mrems as cause for
evacuation for the general public. However, further in
this section, the level of radiation found in soil is
determined acceptable at 2,000 mrems for reentry of
some displaced individuals. Thus, there seems to be some
contradiction in the numbers presented by the EPA.
Far more concerning than mere numerical contradictions,
however, is the manner in which PEER paints the real
effects of such a policy if it is ever put into practice. The
organization states that, “This would, in effect, increase a
longstanding 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to a rate of 1
in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period.” Clearly,
any policy enacted that has the potential to increase the
rates of cancer amongst the general public by such drastic
numbers should be thoroughly debated and investigated
before it is enacted. Unfortunately, just the opposite is
taking place.
As PEER’s published statement reads,
"This is a public health policy only Dr. Strangelove could
embrace. If this typifies the environmental leadership we
can expect from Ms. McCarthy [EPA Administrator Gina
McCarthy], then EPA is in for a long, dirty slog,” stated
PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the EPA
package lacks a cogent rationale, is largely impenetrable
and hinges on a series of euphemistic “weasel words.”
“No compelling justification is offered for increasing the
cancer deaths of Americans innocently exposed to
corporate miscalculations several hundred-fold."
Because PAGs and agency policy decisions such as the
ones mentioned above are not the result of Congressional
action, these standards will go into effect shortly after the
ending of the required period for public comment.
It is also important to note that PEER claims these policy
changes were approved as far back as last fall, but were
delayed until after the Presidential election. The
suggestion, obviously, is that the Obama administration
knew the potential bad PR to be garnered from the release
and approval of such guidelines during only the second
period of sustained criticism of his presidency and thus
decided to take the safe route by waiting until the election
process was over.
Continued on page 25
Continued from page 24 - Obama Approves EPA's Higher
Radiation Exposure Levels for U.S. Population
The recent suggested changes proposed by the EPA and
approved by the Obama White House are in keeping
with numerous past attempts by the EPA to raise
acceptable radiation levels in a variety of other contexts
such as food, the environment, and even the general
public themselves.
Indeed, in March, 2011, I wrote an article entitled,
“EPA To Help Mainstream Media Obscure The Truth
About Radiation Exposure to Americans,” in which I
reported on the EPA’s attempt to make important
changes to its PAGs (Protective Action Guides) that
would have allowed for, according to PEER, “nearly
1000-fold increase for exposure to strontium-90, a 3000
to 100,000-fold hike for exposure to iodine-131; and an
almost 25,000 rise for exposure to radioactive nickel-
63” in drinking water.”
Likewise, in April, 2011, I also wrote an article dealing
with an attempt by the European Union to amend its
own requirements in regard to food imported from
Japan which would be similar to those proposed by the
EPA in the United States.
It appears, however, that the proposed guidelines of
2011 have fortunately not yet been enacted as policy
since the EPA appears to still be utilizing the 1991-
1992 PAGs. It remains to be seen how long it will take
for this latest approval of higher levels of radiation
exposure to go into effect.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/04/obama-approves-epas-
higher-radiation.html
☻☻☻☻☻☻
What are the Health Effects
of Ionising Radiation?
By Nuclear News
Very high doses of radiation: death within hours or
days, due to damage to brain and nerves
High doses: death within weeks, due to damage to the
gastrointestinal tract, to the bone marrow, where blood
cells are formed.
Lower doses: less severe:radiation sickness (nausea,
fatigue and vomiting). Sterility. Some years later –
cancer, (especially of thyroid), diseases of digestive
organs, bone, & muscle.
Genetic effects: cell damage passed on to later
generations
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fact Sheet on
Biological Effects of Radiation – Cancers associated with
high dose exposure (greater than 50,000 mrem) include
leukemia, breast, bladder, colon, liver, lung, esophagus,
ovarian, multiple myeloma, and stomach cancers.
Department of Health and Human Services literature also
suggests a possible association between ionizing radiation
exposure and prostate, nasal cavity/sinuses, pharyngeal
and laryngeal, and pancreatic cancer.
The period of time between radiation exposure and the
detection of cancer is known as the latent period and can
be many years……..the radiation protection community
conservatively assumes that any amount of radiation may
pose some risk for causing cancer and hereditary effect,
and that the risk is higher for higher radiation exposures.
A linear, no-threshold (LNT) dose response relationship
is used to describe the relationship between radiation
dose and the occurrence of cancer.
This dose-response model suggests that any increase in
dose, no matter how small, results in an incremental
increase in risk. …High radiation doses tend to kill cells,
while low doses tend to damage or alter the genetic code
(DNA) of irradiated cells……………Genetic effects and
the development of cancer are the primary health
concerns attributed to radiation exposure. The likelihood
of cancer occurring after radiation exposure is about five
times greater than a genetic effect (e.g., increased still
births, congenital abnormalities, infant mortality,
childhood mortality, and decreased birth weight)
Genetic effects are the result of a mutation produced in
the reproductive cells of an exposed individual that are
Continued on page 26

25-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 25- What are the Health Effects of
Ionising Radiation?
passed on to their offspring. These effects may appear in
the exposed person’s direct offspring, or may appear
several generations later.
We all know something about the harm done to humans
and animals by nuclear bombs, depleted uranium weapons,
nuclear explosions and other accidents – such as large
radiation leaks and spillages. We know that high levels of
radiation cause quick death or fatal illness within weeks.
What is not so obvious is the harm being done to human
(and animal) health by “low level” ionising radiation from
every stage of the uranium – nuclear cycle.
Low level radioactivity includes the on-going amount of
radiation released from the everyday operation of the
uranium industry and of the world’s 433 nuclear power
plants, plus leaks and accidents.
Low level radiation causes mutations in genes leading to
various cancers. It weakens the immune system, making
the body more vulnerable to heart disease and to
infections.Genetic effects: cell damage passed on to later
generations.
“The everyday releases of low-level radioactivity by
nuclear power plants have been found to cause several
kinds of health damage including premature births,
congenital defects, infant mortality, mental retardation,
heart ailments, arthritis, diabetes, allergies, asthma, cancer,
genetic damage and chronic fatigue syndrome. It has been
linked to previously unknown infectious diseases, and the
resurgence of old ones by damaging the developing white
blood cells originating in the bone marrow and thus
weakening the immune system” -Sara Shannon,author of
Technology’s Curse.
DISEASES ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE UNITED
STATES GOVERNMENT TO BE CAUSED BY
PARTICIPATION IN ATMOSPHERIC TESTING OF
NUCLEAR WEAPONS, Paul Langley’s Nuclear
History Blog, 2 Jan 2012
• Leukaemia (other than chronic Iymphocytic leukaemia)
• Cancer of the Thyroid
• Cancer of the Breast
• Cancer of the Pharynx
• Cancer of the Oesophagus
• Cancer of the Stomach
• Cancer of the small intestine
• Cancer of the Pancreas
26-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
• Multiple Myeloma
• Lymphomas (except Hodgkinís disease)
• Cancer of the Bile Ducts
• Cancer of the Gall Bladder
• Cancer of the liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis
indicated)
• Cancer of the urinary tract, which also translates to
the bladder and kidneys
• Cancer of the salivary glands
Incorporated into public law 100-321, 20.5.88.
“This law gives US atomic exservicemen due
recognition for the unusual service they rendered, and
is an expression of gratitude of the American people
toward their atomic veterans The law enables Veteran
Affairs benefits to flow to US atomic veterans who are
afflicted. The US government m relation to nuclear
veterans considers the nature of service plus the
development of any of the above diseases sufficient
cause to quality for Veteran Benefits regardless of
recorded dose rates received. All US nuclear test
service personnel are officially Veterans.”
http://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/diseases-
acknowledged-by-the-united-states-government-to-be-
caused-by-participation-in-atmospheric-testing-of-nuclear-
weapons/
URANIUM MINING AND HEALTH
Mining is a dangerous industry. The presence of
radioactive substances makes it even more so. Despite
assurances and safeguards, the nuclear industry cannot
stop workers from exposure, illness and even death due
to the nature of the element they are working with.
There are also many instances of corporatenegligence
and human error leading to workers accidents, and the
nature of their work means that many insurance
companies may refuse to give them personal or
health insurance
The three main dangers to workers are risk of inhaling
radon gas, inhaling Uranium dust and external
radiation exposure.
Mining uranium and mineral sands creates radioactive
dust and radon gas. When breathed into the lungs, the
dust and gas release their radiation at close range where
it does the most damage to the lining of the lung and
increases the risk of developing cancer. Radiation
exposure can affect men and women’s
reproductive health and is also associated with lower
testosterone levels, chromosomal abnormality, skin,
Continued on page 27
Continued from page 26 - What are the Health Effects of
Ionising Radiation?
lung, kidney and bone cancer and bronchitis and
emphysema.
Workers are still expected to tolerate a higher level of
exposure than others, between 20 and 5 mSv, compared to
0.1 for everyone else.
Risks to the wider community
Risk is not confined to workers alone. Uranium mining
continually increases the level of background radiation the
community is exposed to. People’s skin, clothes and
vehicles can be contaminated through being physically
near the source of radioactive material.
Risks are also posed by other stages of the nuclear
industry including nuclear power, transport , storage of
waste and of course, weapons. Many accidents, leaks,
misplaced ‘orphaned sources’ and intentional releases of
radiation emitting sources occur every year…
The insurance industry does not insure against any
incidents of any nuclear activity. According to five
Australian insurance companies surveyed by NFQ,
insuring against loss, damage, injury or death that occurs
as a result of radioactivity or nuclear activity would set
the risk too high. …
http://www.nuclearfreequeensland.org/pdf/NFQuraniumhealth.p
df
Radiation risks to uranium miners - Dr Peter
Karamoskos
There is a well established link between uranium mining
27-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
and lung cancer. In 2009, the International Commission
on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reported that radon
gas (a radioactive gas present in underground uranium
mines) delivers twice the dose of radiation to humans
than they had previous ly thought.
While the ICRP is in the process of reassessing the
permissible levels, previous dose estimates to miners
can be approximately doubled to reflect the real lung
cancer hazard. The Biological Effects of Ionising
Radiation VI report (1999) reviewed eleven studies
covering a total of 60,000 underground uranium miners.
The report found an increasing frequency of lung
cancer, directly proportional to the cumulative amount
of radon the miners had been exposed to.
In addition to exposure to radon gas, uranium miners are
also exposed to gamma radiation directly from
the radioactive ore. At the Olympic Dam underground
uranium and copper mine, the total annual dose per
miner is approximately 6 millisieverts (mSv), of which
2−4 mSv are due to radon gas (allowing for the new
ICRP risk estimate for radon) and the balance due to
gamma radiation. Workers at the smelter at the Olympic
Dam mine receive annual doses that may exceed
12mSv.
The Olympic Dam doses are typical of modern mine
practices. The average miner at Olympic Dam is young
and stays on average five years at the site. A calculation
of the additional risk of cancer to uranium miners
indicates that the average miner at Olympic Dam has a 1
in 670 chance of contracting cancer, most likely lung
cancer, as a result of radiation exposure at work.
Are these risks properly communicated to miners so that
they can make informed decisions about working
in such environments?
Most modern uranium mines have air extraction systems
to make sure radon levels remain low and miners are
given personal protective equipment including masks to
filter out the radioactive particulates. However, many
underground miners find the masks extremely uncom-
fortable, especially where it is hot. It is estimated that
around 50% of underground uranium miners in
Australia do not use their masks, putting them at greater
risk of lung cancer.
Cancer in nuclear industry workers - Real-time
monitoring of radiation exposure of nuclear industry
workers has been occurring since the 1940s. More than
one million workers have been employed in this
industry since its beginning. However, studies have
often investigated small groups of workers making it
difficult to estimate precisely the risks associated with
low levels of exposure. Continued on page 28
Continued from page 27 - What are the Health Effects of Following the war, many scientists involved in the
Ionising Radiation? atomic bomb project, turned to the “atoms for peace”
Risk estimates from these studies are variable, ranging program – nuclear power. They did this partly out of
from no risk, to risks similar to or greater than those seen guilt, partly to continue to be employed. (Where would a
in atomic bomb survivors. In 2005 the results of a 15- nuclear physicist get a job, otherwise? Well, some were
country study of nuclear industry workers (excluding happy to continue with nuclear weapons development)
mining) was published − the largest study of nuclear Nuclear weapons are an inevitable by-product of the
industry workers ever conducted. The study found a nuclear power industry.
statistically significant increased risk of cancer and
leukaemia in nuclear industry workers, even at low
dose. http://www.mapw.org.au/files/downloads/Nuclear-
power-uranium-mining-&-public-health_MAPW-Factsheet.pdf
http://nuclear-news.net/information/health-environment/
☻☻☻☻☻☻

NUCLEAR POWER,
WEAPONS and WAR - Theme
for August 2013
“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” - J.
Robert Oppenheimer, scientist and “father of the bomb”
On the morning of 6 August 1945, the first atomic bomb,
code-named “Little Boy” was dropped by the United
States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later
the United States dropped a plutonium bomb code-named
“Fat Man” on the city of Nagasaki. 140,000 people
(almost all civilians) died in Hiroshima either
immediately or within a few days. Deaths in Nagasaki
were about 74,000. The survivors lived on, some with
horrifying burns scars, some to die of radiation-induced
illnesses.

Information below – from Nuclear Energy Information

Service, Illinois’ Nuclear Power Watchdog for 25
Years http://www.neis.org
“There is no technical demarcation between the military
and civilian reactor and there never was one. What has
persisted over the decades is just the misconception that
such a linkage does not exist.” From the Los Alamos
National Laboratory dated August, 1981:
In order to get plutonium for weapons, one needs a
reactor, whether it is a “research” reactor……. or a
commercial reactor
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS: It is the same nuclear
fuel cycle with its mining of uranium, milling,
enrichment and fuel fabrication stages which readies the
uranium ore for use in reactors, whether these reactors
Continued on page 29
28-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued from page 28- NUCLEAR POWER, WEAPONS
and WAR
are used to create plutonium for bombs or generate
electricity. In the end, both reactors produce the
plutonium. The only difference between them is the
concentration of the various isotopes used in the fuel.
Each year a typical 1000 mega-watt (MW) commercial
power reactor will produce 300 to 500 pounds of
plutonium — enough to build between 25 – 40 Nagasaki-
sized atomic bombs.
….…..It takes about 15 pounds of plutonium-239 or
uranium-235 to fashion a crude nuclear device. The
technology to enrich the isotopes is available for about
one million dollars….
….even the most technically advanced nations cannot
keep track of their materials and technology. In an
inventory taken between October, 1980, and March,
1981, the U.S. government could not account for about
55 pounds of plutonium and 159 pounds of uranium from
its weapons facilities. The explanation given for this
Missing material was “accounting error” and that the
materials were “stuck in the piping.”
http://nuclear-news.net
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 18 – Indigenous Issues
radiation doses and numbers of people affected. It also is
the step that generates the largest volumes of waste
material. Uranium for nuclear weapons has been mined
all over the world, from Australia to Zaire. Indigenous
peoples have been disproportionately affected by the
health and environmental impacts of uranium mining. –
from Indigenous People and the Nuclear Age
http://nuclear-news.net/information/indigenous-issues/
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Iraq War 10 Years Later: Was
It Worth It?
A war that lasted far longer and was more costly
than Americans were told to expect by their military
and political leaders has led to much public
questioning as well as private soul-searching.
By Brad Knickerbocker
March 17, 2013
CS Monitor
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the US-led
invasion of Iraq – a war that lasted far longer and was
more costly than Americans were told to expect by their
29-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
military and political leaders, a war that has led to much
public questioning as well as private soul-searching.
It’s clear that a decade of war has led to changed
attitudes.
At the conclusion of the Conservative Political Action
Conference this weekend, there was a presidential straw
poll. But conservative activists also were asked about the
US role in the world, and the response was clear: Only
34 percent said the United States should adopt a more
muscular role; 50 percent said the US should pull back,
leaving it more to allies to take care of trouble spots.
Those results are similar to other recent polls taken of the
general populace regarding whether the Iraq war was
worth the effort and cost. By about 2 to 1, Americans
today answer “no.”
It will take years before the total costs are tallied. For one
thing, thousands of combat veterans will require long-
term treatment and disability benefits related to the
conflict’s signature injuries: post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
But a new report by Brown University scholars gives
some indication of the financial and human toll.
Among the findings:
• More than 70 percent of those who died of direct war
violence in Iraq have been civilians – an estimated
134,000. This number does not account for indirect
deaths due to increased vulnerability to disease or injury
as a result of war-degraded conditions. That number is
estimated to be several times higher.
• The Iraq war will ultimately cost US taxpayers at least
$2.2 trillion. Because the Iraq war appropriations were
funded by borrowing, cumulative interest through 2053
could amount to more than $3.9 trillion.
• The $2.2 trillion figure includes care for veterans who
were injured in the war in Iraq, which will cost the US
almost $500 billion through 2053.
• The total of US service members killed in Iraq is 4,488.
At least 3,400 US contractors have died as well, a
number often underreported.
• Terrorism in Iraq increased dramatically as a result of
the invasion and tactics and fighters were exported to
Syria and other neighboring countries.
• Iraq’s health-care infrastructure remains devastated
from sanctions and war. More than half of Iraq’s medical
doctors left the country during the 2000s, and tens of
thousands of Iraqi patients have been forced to seek
health care outside the country.
Continued on page 30
Continued from page 29- Iraq War 10 Years Later: Was It
Worth It?
• The $60 billion spent on reconstruction for Iraq has not
gone to rebuilding infrastructure such as roads, health
care, and water treatment systems, but primarily to the
military and police. The Special Inspector General for
Iraq Reconstruction has found massive fraud, waste, and
abuse of reconstruction funds.
“Nearly every government that goes to war
underestimates its duration, neglects to tally all the costs,
and overestimates the political objectives that will be
accomplished by war’s violence,” said Neta C. Crawford,
professor of political science at Boston University and
codirector of the "Costs of War" project at Brown
University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
Meanwhile, although antiwar protesters no longer
demonstrate in this country, the inevitable debate over the
war continues.
In a new Showtime documentary “The World According
To Dick Cheney,” the former vice president says, “If I
had to do it over again, I’d do it in a minute.”
No doubts for Mr. Cheney now – as others have – based
on what’s known about Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent
stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or the
Iraqi dictator’s questionable ties to Al Qaeda, the terrorist
organization led by Osama bin Laden and responsible for
the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon killing nearly 3,000 people.
Other senior officials in the administration of George W.
Bush are not so adamant.
Regarding the elusive WMD, Bush administration
national security adviser Stephen Hadley told NPR over
the weekend: "Republicans thought [Hussein] had them,
Democrats thought he had them, the Clinton
administration thought he had them, the Bush
administration thought he had them.”
"We were all wrong,” he says.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2013/0317/Iraq-war-
10-years-later-Was-it-worth-it
☻☻☻☻☻
Japanese Government
criticized for Downplaying
Nuclear Disaster
April 18, 2012
Reports from Japanese journalists confirm what anti-
nuclear activists fear: the situation in Fukushima is
30-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
much worse than the government is letting on - and the
Japanese people are being misled.
The Japanese government doesn't seem to be doing a
good job providing information about the situation in
Fukushima - at least that's how Junko Naggai sees it.
That's why she created an information site on the web.
Though the 78-year-old is a long-time German resident,
she has decided to create her website in Japanese
language.
"I didn't know it would be so bad, that there would be so
little information. That was a bit of a shock to me,"
Naggai says in Berlin.
Reports from Japanese journalists confirm what anti-
nuclear activists fear: the situation in Fukushima is
much worse than the government is letting on - and the
Japanese people are being misled.
The Japanese government doesn't seem to be doing a
good job providing information about the situation in
Fukushima - at least that's how Junko Naggai sees it.
That's why she created an information site on the web.
Though the 78-year-old is a long-time German resident,
she has decided to create her website in Japanese
language.
"I didn't know it would be so bad, that there would be so
little information. That was a bit of a shock to me,"
Naggai says in Berlin.
The former TV moderator was invited to a discussion
by the Lutheran Church and various NGOs in Berlin to
talk about the Japanese government's handling of the
nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Among other things, he
explains how radiation measurements in Fukushima are
manipulated.
"The top surface is removed and the area is cleaned with
water before the Geiger counters are used," he says.
Disinformation
Considering the current levels of radiation, the decision
of the Japanese government to reopen parts of evacuated
areas is something completely irresponsible, says
physicist and head of the Society for Radiation
Protection Sebastian Pflugbeil.
"It is reckless. Those people should travel to Chernobyl
and see how it looks after 26 years."
After the nuclear meltdown in the Ukraine in 1986, the
government also made efforts to decontaminate the
areas and also to get rid of the affected layers of topsoil.
But the endeavor proved to be impossible.
In Japan, the debris left behind in the tsunami adds
another dimension to the problem. Continued on page 39
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
Epidemic of Birth Defects and Cancer
in Iraq: America's Toxic Legacy
By Stephen Lendman
June 12, 2013

America's Gulf War, intermittent bombings in the "The Politics of Cancer."

1990s, the 2003 war, and aftermath left a toxic legacy.
Twenty years later, he updated it. It's called "The
Children born with two heads reflect it. Some had Politics of Cancer Revisited."
only one eye. Missing sockets look like the inside of
He's an internationally recognized cancer expert. He
an oyster. They're milky and shapeless.
calls it a growth industry. Over recent decades, the
Some children had tails like a skinned lamb. One or incidence of numerous types skyrocketed.
more had a monkey's face. Girls had their legs grown
He referred to doing so in modern societies. Iraq and
together. They were half fish, half human.
other US war theaters are different. Iraq perhaps is in a
Miscarriages are frequent. Hundreds of newborns have class of its own. Vast parts of the country are irradiated.
cleft pallets, elongated heads, overgrown or short
On May 21, Science Daily headlined "Cancer and Birth
limbs, and other malformed body parts. Some are too
Defects in Iraq: The Nuclear Legacy," saying:
gruesome to view.
Ten years after the 2003 war, Mosul-based scientists
Deformed Iraqi newborns are commonplace. So are
"detected high levels of uranium contamination in soil
virtually every known illness and disease. They're
samples at three sites in the province of Nineveh which,
inordinately frequent. They range from severe
coupled with dramatically increasing rates of childhood
headaches, muscle pain and debilitating fatigue, to
cancers and birth defects at local hospitals."
serious infections, cardiovascular disease, brain
tumors and numerous type cancers. Iraq's a toxic wasteland. Scores of pollutants include
dangerous chemicals and metals, oil, gasoline,
They include leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and
pesticides, bacteria, other poisons, and irradiation.
multiple myeloma. Others affect the bile ducts, bones,
Widespread depleted uranium use caused it.
brain, breasts, colon, prostate, esophagus, gall bladder,
liver, lungs, pancreas, pharynx, ovaries, salivary US bombs, missiles, shells and bullets use solid DU
glands, small intestine, stomach, thyroid, urinary tract, projectiles or warheads. They're de facto nuclear
and pelvis. bombs. Their widespread use is more harmful than
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Cancer's been around a long time. In October 2010,
Nature.com headlined "Cancer: an old disease, a new Inhaled or ingested DU particles or dust is highly toxic.
disease or something in between?" They're designated illegal weapons for good reason.
America prioritizes their use. Iraqis suffer
It said a "striking rarity of malignancies in ancient
horrendously.
physical remains might indicate that cancer was rare
in antiquity." Radioactive contamination is virtually everywhere.
DU's half-life is 4.5 billion years. Contamination is
University of Illinois School of Public Health/Cancer
permanent. According to Helen Caldicott:
Prevention Coalition Chairman/Professor Emeritus
Samuel S. Epstein titled his 1978 award-winning book Continued on page 32

31-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 31 – Epidemic of Birth Defects and
Cancer in Iraq: America's Toxic Legacy
America's two Iraq wars "have been nuclear wars because
they have scattered nuclear material across the land, and
people, particularly children, are condemned to die of
malignancy and congenital disease essentially for
eternity."
From 1991 - 2008, the incidence of birth defects and
childhood cancer spiked sevenfold. Over one-third of US
Gulf War vets are dead, seriously ill, or permanently
disabled.
Science Daily said widespread "carcinogenic material
across Iraq suggests the public health legacy of the two
Gulf Wars is only going to get worse." It does so
annually.
In October 2012, London's Guardian headlined "The
victims of Fallujah's health crisis are stifled by western
silence."
Four new studies link "one of the most severe public
health crises in history" to America's two November 2004
assaults on the city. Cancer rates and birth defects spiked
dramatically.
Cancer expert Dr. Chris Busby studied conditions. He
called Fallujah's crisis "the highest rate of genetic damage
in any population ever studied."
In some respects, Basra replicates it. Its neural tube
defects (aka "open back") incidence is unprecedented.
Numbers keep rising.
Hydrocenphalus (water on the brain) cases among
newborns are sixfold higher than America. US munitions
bear full responsibility.
In September 2012, the Bulletin of Environmental
Contamination and Toxicology (BECT) headlined "Metal
Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth
Defects in Iraqi Cities."
Evidence it reported was damning. From October 1994 -
October 1995, congenital defects per 1,000 live births in
Basra's Maternity Hospital was 1.37.
In 2003, it was 23. It represented an "astonishing 17-fold
(increase) in the same hospital." From 2003 - 2011,
annual evaluations were conducted. Congenital birth
defect occurrences and types were reported.
Metal levels in hair, toenails and teeth were provided.
Children with birth defects had nearly three times more
lead in the enamel portion of deciduous teeth than others
living in unimpacted areas.
Parents were abnormally affected. Pregnant mothers and
32-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
growing fetuses are especially vulnerable. Exposure to
toxic air, water, and soil pollutants assures trouble.
Following US bombings, contamination increased
dramatically. Cancer, other diseases and birth defects
followed. They're at epidemic levels. They keep rising.
Populations in war zones suffer horrifically. Radiation-
affected theaters compound it. BECT said nationwide
Iraq ill health reports suggest greater crisis ahead.
"News of increases in childhood cancers, of perinatal
and infant morbidity and mortality, and of unusual
increases in congenital birth defects, have continued to
emerge from across Iraq."
Data from central Iraq's Al-Ramadi corroborated
Fallujah findings. Basra's seriously affected.
"Present knowledge on the effects of prenatal exposure
to metals, combined with our results, suggests that the
bombardment of Al Basrah and Fallujah may have
exacerbated public exposure to metals, possibly
culminating in the current epidemic of birth defects."
Internal pre-Gulf War data showed cancer incidence at
40 per 100,000. By 1995, it was 800. By 2005, it
doubled to 1,600. Annually, numbers increase.
They understate the problem's severity. Cancer and
birth defect rates are likely much higher. Reporting
falls short of what's needed.
Iraq's a cauldron of disease, malformed newborns, pain,
suffering, misery, deaths and despair.
Daily violence, extreme poverty and unemployment,
malnutrition, repression, dysfunctional infrastructure,
permanent occupation, and other imperial priorities
compound other problems.
Media scoundrels don't explain. US ones hail an Iraq
success story. In August 2008, The New York Times
called "Iraq a remarkably safer place than it was when"
Petraeus arrived.
Violence "plummeted" significantly. Streets "are
flourishing with life. The worst, for now, has been
averted." America's toxic legacy was ignored.
Violence then was more than acknowledged. Today it's
out-of-control. Resource theft, ecocide, human misery,
and health crisis conditions go unreported.
News most fit to print is suppressed. Official
fabrications substitute. It's standard scoundrel media
practice.
Most Americans don't know what's been done in their
name. It's true in all US war theaters. They don't ask.
Continued on page 33
Continued from page 32 – Epidemic of Birth Defects and
Cancer in Iraq: America's Toxic Legacy
They're not told. It happens every time.
http://www.dailycensored.com/epidemic-of-birth-defects-and-
cancer-in-iraq-americas-toxic-legacy/
☻☻☻☻☻
What's delaying the WHO
Report on Iraqi Birth Defects?
A 2012 World Health Organization study on congenital
birth defects in Iraq has still not been released to the
public.
By Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
6 June 2013
Aljazeera.com-Opinion
Iraq is poisoned. Thirty-five million Iraqis wake up every
morning to a living nightmare of childhood cancers, adult
cancers and birth defects. Familial cancers, cluster
cancers and multiple cancers in the same individual have
become frequent in Iraq.
Sterility, repeated miscarriages, stillbirths and severe
birth defects - some never described in any medical
books - are all around, in increasing numbers. Trapped in
this hellish nightmare, millions of Iraqis struggle to
survive, and they call for help.
At long last, public pressure and media attention to this
public health catastrophe prompted a joint study by the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Iraqi
Ministry of Health to determine the prevalence of birth
defects in Iraq. This study began in May-June 2012 and
was completed in early October 2012.
The WHO website says that this large-scale study was
conducted in Baghdad (Karkh and Rasafa), Diyala,
Anbar, Sulaymaniyah, Babel, Basrah, Mosul and Thi-
Qar, with 10,800 households from 18 districts and a
sample size of 600 households per district.
The Independent (UK) reported that this study was due to
be released in November 2012. But the report has not yet
come out.
Report kept secret
In March 2013, a high-ranking official at the Iraqi
Ministry of Health in Baghdad discussed the issue with
the BBC and said that "all studies done by the Ministry of
Health prove with damning evidence that there has been a
rise in birth defects and cancers" in Iraq.
During the same BBC documentary, called "Born under a
bad sign", two other Ministry of Health researchers dis-
33-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
cussed the unpublished study. They confirmed that that
cancers and birth defects constitute a major crisis for the
next generation of Iraqi children. They specifically
confirmed simultaneous increases in cancers and
congenital anomalies in three governorates - Nineveh,
Anbar and Najaf - linking those increases to munitions
used during the war.
Why should such an important report be kept secret?
In a serious health emergency, as we see in Iraq, such an
extensive survey of public health must be widely
publicised to attract international support and expertise.
Medical experts, epidemiologists, environmental
toxicologists, remediation staff and environmental
cleanup specialists must be summoned to address this
crisis and save lives.
A delay of six months in the release of such a critical
report has left many of us anxious and fearful that it may
be suppressed.
In response to this costly delay in releasing the WHO
report, 58 scientists, health professionals and human
rights advocates recently wrote to the WHO and the Iraqi
Health Ministry, asking for the immediate release of their
report. We requested that this globally significant report
be released at once. We received no response to this
letter.
The letter was signed by Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese,
Japanese, European, Australian and North American
academics and public figures. They included Noam
Chomsky, Ken Loach, John Tirman, Human Rights Now
(Japan), Health Alliance International and a board
member of BlackCommentator.com.
We are still waiting for an answer from the WHO. Why is
this important report being held up?
One possible answer was suggested on May 26 by the
Guardian. It reported the recent comments of Hans von
Sponeck, the former assistant secretary general of the
United Nations: "The US government sought to prevent
WHO from surveying areas in southern Iraq where
depleted uranium had been used and caused serious
health and environmental dangers."
It would be deeply distressing if this WHO report is
delayed for any such reason. After so many years of
sanctions and war, the public health of 35 million Iraqis
must not be held hostage. Instead, we must strive to save
lives today and prevent any further contamination of the
earth with war pollutants.
Deadly UN sanctions on Iraq
Recall the deadly UN sanctions on Iraq. By 1995, those
Continued on page 34
Continued from page 33 – What's delaying the WHO Report
on Iraqi Birth Defects?
sanctions had devastated the Iraqi public health
infrastructure and may have killed as many as 576,000
children, according to UN Food and Agriculture
Organization scientists.
In that vulnerable state, Iraq was invaded. MSNBC
reported: "Between 2002 and 2005, US forces shot off 6
billion bullets in Iraq (something like 300,000 for every
person killed). They also dropped 2,000 to 4,000 tonnes
of bombs on Iraqi cities, leaving behind a witch’s brew of
contaminants and toxic metals, including the neurotoxins
lead and mercury."
Since 2003, mother-and-child health has further
deteriorated in Iraq, and the country's health indicators
are now among the poorest in the world. The current state
of mother-and-child health in Iraq will be further
damaged if the WHO report on congenital birth defects
continues to be inaccessible to the public.
The WHO report will clarify the magnitude and trend of
congenital birth defects in several Iraqi governorates,
identify possible risk factors for these birth defects, and
assess the public burden of these conditions on the Iraqi
nation. The information contained in this report is
essential to inform and prioritise public health policy in
Iraq and in the region at large.
Immediate release of this report will be the first step
towards mobilising global efforts to protect public health
from further degradation in Iraq and in the entire
region. Once released, the report will enable researchers
to collaborate, ask the most relevant questions and
spearhead research to remedy this health emergency.
Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani is an environmental
toxicologist based in Michigan. She is the author of
over two dozen peer-reviewed articles and a book,
Pollution and Reproductive Damage (DVM 2009).
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/06/201365101
540408281.html
☻☻☻☻☻
Iraqis still suffering from US
Depleted Uranium
23 July 2013
Press TV
Iraqi people say the US-led war on their country is not
over yet as they are still suffering from the effects of the
US military’s use of depleted uranium.
In an exclusive report on Monday, RT detailed the severe
34-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
effects of the US forces’ use of depleted uranium on Iraqi
citizens over a decade after the US invaded the country.
A sharp increase in leukemia and birth defects in the Iraqi
city of Najaf has been a direct result of the use of
depleted uranium by US-led forces.
In an interview with RT, a local doctor, Sundus Nsaif,
said cancer is now more common than the flu in Najaf.
“After the start of the Iraq war, rates of cancer, leukemia
and birth defects rose dramatically in Najaf. The areas
affected by American attacks saw the biggest increases.
We believe it’s because of the' illegal' weapons like
depleted uranium that were used by the Americans. When
you visit the hospital here you see that cancer is more
common than the flu,” Dr. Nsaif said.
Depleted uranium is a chemically toxic metal which is
produced as waste by the nuclear power industry.
In 1995, the US, Britain, Israel, and France voted against
a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly
which urged “a precautionary approach” to using
depleted uranium weapons.
The US and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003 under
the pretext that former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein,
possessed weapons of mass destruction. In October 2004,
a CIA report revealed that Saddam Hussein did not
possess any weapons of mass destruction at the time of
the invasion.
US troops left Iraq at the end of 2011 after almost nine
years of occupying the country, though a few hundred US
forces are still stationed there. “The war isn’t over. Yes,
the Americans are gone, but we are still suffering from
the Consequences,” said an Iraqi woman, Leila Jabar.
Jabar blames radioactive ammunition by US forces for
the death of three of her children who were born with
congenital deformities.
The US spread in excess of 400 metric tons of depleted
uranium across Iraq. A report issued by Dutch peace
group IKV Pax Christi earlier this year said, with over
300 sites in Iraq already contaminated by the toxic
material, depleted uranium clean-up is estimated to cost
the Middle Eastern nation a minimum of $30 million.
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/315108.html
☻☻☻☻☻

U.S. Depleted Uranium as
Malicious as Syrian
Chemical Weapons
By Craig Considine
August 25, 2013
By this time you have likely heard of the atrocity that
recently took place in which over 1,000 Syrian civilians
reportedly died at the hands of a chemical weapon attack.
Seeing the video and images of dead or helpless Syrian
civilians struggling for life reminds me of another terrible
weapon of war – depleted uranium.
It is no secret that the U.S., with the assistance of other
governments, used depleted uranium in the Gulf and Iraq
War. A simple Google search of this topic can produce
dozens and dozens of credible reports or stories to
confirm these war crimes. For example, an important
report on Harvard University’s website discusses the
fallout of depleted uranium contamination in Iraq. Dr.
Souad N. Al-Azzawi, who authored the report after the
Gulf War, wrote that:
“Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry has been used
against Iraq for the first time in the history of recent
wars. The magnitude of the complications and damage
related to the use of such radioactive and toxic weapons
on the environment and the human population mostly
results from the intended concealment, denial and
misleading information released by the Pentagon about
the quantities, characteristics and the area’s in Iraq, in
which these weapons have been used.”
Similarly, as Democracy Now! reported in an interview
with Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail, ”the U.S. invasion
of Iraq has left behind a legacy of cancer and birth
defects suspected of being caused by the U.S. military’s
extensive use of depleted uranium and white
phosphorus.” Democracy Now! wrote:
“Noting the birth defects in the Iraqi city of Fallujah,
Jamail says: ‘They’re extremely hard to bear witness to.
But it’s something that we all need to pay attention to …
What this has generated is, from 2004 up to this day, we
are seeing a rate of congenital malformations in the city
of Fallujah that has surpassed even that in the wake of
the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that
nuclear bombs were dropped on at the end of World War
II.’”
Moreover, Robert Koehler at the Huffington Post has
written extensively about the U.S. government’s use of
depleted uranium in Iraq. The following passage from
35-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Koehler’s article “The Suffering of Fallujah” gives us an
idea of the immense impact that depleted uranium has
had on Iraqi civilians:
“Thus last November, a group of British and Iraqi
doctors petitioned the U.N. to investigate the alarming
rise in birth defects at Fallujah’s hospitals. ‘Young
women in Fallujah,’ they wrote, ‘. . . are terrified of
having children because of the increasing number of
babies born grotesquely deformed, with no heads, two
heads, a single eye in their foreheads, scaly bodies or
missing limbs. In addition, young children in Fallujah are
now experiencing hideous cancers and leukemias.’”
Koehler continues:
“The International Journal of Environmental Research
and Public Health has just published an epidemiological
study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in
Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009,” which has found, among
much else, that Fallujah is experiencing higher rates of
cancer, leukemia and infant mortality than Hiroshima
and Nagasaki did in 1945.”
Although Iraqi civilians have born the brunt of this awful
weapon, American soldiers that served in the Gulf and
Iraq War are also suffering from the fallout of depleted
uranium. This issue is discussed in-depth by the
Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, which campaigns
to “ban on the use of uranium in all conventional
weapons and weapon systems and for monitoring, health
care, compensation and environmental remediation for
communities affected by their use.”
Countries around the world have called for the ban of
depleted uranium, but unfortunately this demand has
fallen on deaf ears. When asked in 2003 about Iraq’s
complaints about depleted uranium shells, Colonel James
Naughton of U.S. Army Material Command stated in a
Pentagon briefing that “They want it to go away because
we kicked the crap out of the them.”
Last week, U.K. foreign secretary William Hague, said
that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is “not
something that a humane or civilized world can ignore.”
Ironically, Western countries such as the U.K. and their
allies have appeared to ignore the use of weapons that are
equally vicious.
When “non-Westerners” make use of weapons of mass
destruction, there is outrage and calls for military
intervention from “the West,” but when “Westerners”
themselves use them, it is totally permissible and the
world can hardly react.
https://craigconsidinetcd.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/u-s-
depleted-uranium-as-malicious-as-syrian-chemical-weapons/
☻☻☻☻☻
 WOMEN and NUCLEAR though the nuclear lobby tries hard to pretend that they
have equal rights credentials by getting a few token
POWER, NUCLEAR women to show off. And, a favourite male trick, – put a
WEAPONS woman in an untenable position – as for example, Anne
Lauvergeon was put at the top of France’s rather wobbly
By Nuclear News pinnacle of nuclear expansionism – AREVA.
Decisions on nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and Breast cancer and ionising radiation Ionizing radiation
nuclear wastes are almost exclusively made by men.Yet has long been regarded as the most established
the brunt of nuclear-caused cancer is suffered by women environmental risk factor for breast cancer…
and children, as is the brunt of nuclear war, and of ..Ionising radiation from the nuclear industry affects
depleted uranium spread. women especially, because the breast tissue is
particularly susceptible to it…..
…Developing fetuses are known to be especially
sensitive to radiation
If you live or work close to nuclear power plants, or lived
in the era of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons
(1945-1980) you will also have accumulated higher doses
of this radiation.
Deceptive information given to women about breast
cancer. Women are repeatedly told about “genetic
causes”, about “risks of obesity:. about “diet factors”,
about “not having babies”, or “having a baby at a later
age” even about “stress” – as causes of breast cancer. The
not so subtle message is that it is THEIR FAULT – a
problem caused by the individual woman, so – the only
preventive actions must be those made by individual
women.
The facts are otherwise. The single most proven cause of
breast cancer is ionising radiation. After that, other
environmental causes exist, amongst the wash of
chemicals, and synthetic hormones, that pervade our
environment. After that – probably some hereditary
susceptability, amongst some women.
Why is this so? One could conclude that breast cancer is
a growth industry. There’s money at every point in this
sorry cycle – from the radiation from nuclear fuel through
to the medical radiation used to detect and treat breast
Opinion polls over many years, and in many countries, cancer. There is no money clearly involved in shutting
consistently show that women are opposed to nuclear down a toxic industry, and preventing millions of breast
power and nuclear weapons. cancers.
More women than men are concerned about health and How does ionising radiation cause breast cancer?
environmental effects of the nuclear industry. Ionising radiation comes in several forms. for example,
Gamma rays, x-rays, and some sub-atomic particles such
Yet they are consistently reassured by narrowly educated
as alpha particles and protons In ionising radiation, a tiny
nuclear physicists, and other technocrats, that nuclear
electron is released from an atom, and enters a body cell,
power is safe, and that they have nothing to worry about
hitting the DNA in the cell’s nucleus, and damaging it.
in regard to ionising radiation.
The damaged DNA sends out ‘wrong’ messages telling
Decisions on nuclear power and ionising radiation.
the cell to divide in an uncontrolled manner – cancer
The nuclear power heirarchy is almost uniformly male,
develops. Continued on page 37
36-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued from page 36 – WOMEN and NUCLEAR
POWER, NUCLEAR WEAPONS
“...the time between radiation exposure and breast cancer
development is longest in young women and shortest for
older women; young children do not show a detectable
elevation in breast cancer occurrence for some 35 to 40
years after exposure. Radiation-induced breast cancers
appear to occur later in life during the same ages when
breast cancer rates, in general, begin to increase. It
appears that a single exposure of sufficient dose during
early life can increase breast cancer risk even 50 years
later...
the relationship between radiation dose and breast
cancer risk can be described by a straight line which
implies that no matter how low the dose, there is some
small risk associated with the exposure.…
The risk of subsequent breast cancer from very high
doses is lower than thatwhich might be expected from the
effects of lower doses. This is because radiation at high
doses is an effective killer of cells and dead cells are not
able to develop into cancer…..
Young girls are at highest risk …when a young girl is
exposed to radiation, she will have menstrual cycles for
several decades that might enhance the development of
any underlying damage caused by the radiation. There is
evidence to suggest that exposure to the immature breast
during early development, and around the age of
beginning menstruation, carries a higher risk than at
other times of a woman’s life.
It is unclear how radiation exposure of the breast during
pregnancy affects a woman’s breast cancer risk.
However, a recent study of women treated for Hodgkin’s
disease concluded that pregnancy might be a time of
increased sensitivity of breast tissue to the cancercausing
effects of radiation……”
37-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
.” John D Boyce, Jr, DSc, Scientific Director, Program on
Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New
York State.. Ionizing Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk
Although women have rarely been part of decision-
making about nuclear power, they have been at the
forefront in opposing it.
Women in organisations - Strongly present in anti-
nuclear activities in peace, environmental, religious and
civil liberties, women have also formed their own anti-
nuclear organisations. e.g. Women’s International League
For Peace and Freedom, Women For Peace. Women
Against Nuclear Power, Women Against Nuclear Energy,
“When it comes to opposing nuclear power in Finland,
the toughest and most active and conspicuous resistance
has been among women. A rather small group of women
working as teachers, freelance editors, authors and in
rather alternative professions. Women who perfectly well
are aware of the fact that they are far too radical to be
promoted for high posts within traditional parties or
getting well-paying jobs in some big companies. Women
who are not trying to reach equality on male values.
These women have kept the resistance alive, have invited
foreign speakers getting through in the mass media, have
arranged post-card campaigns aiming at
parliamentarians, have written inserts in daily
newspapers, have collected signatures from
organizations worldwide against nuclear power, etc.
If women had been asked if nuclear power should be used
for energy production or if nuclear weapons should be
produced there would hardly be any nuclear power
stations in the world and no nuclear weapons. Women
represent half of humanity. Our voice must be heard! “-
Ulla Klötzer WISE – Nuclear issues information service
service
http://nuclear-news.net/information/women/
☻☻☻☻☻
Radiation Exposure affects
Sperm Quality: Study
August 01, 2013
Manipal, (IANS): Long-term exposure to radiation at the
workplace may play havoc with your sperm quality, says
new research by Indian medical scientists.
A team of fertility experts, led by Manipal University
professor of clinical embryology Satish Adiga, analysed
sperm quality of 83 men working for three to 18 years in
diagnostic or radiation units at various hospitals.
Continued on page 38
Continued from page 37 – Radiation Exposure affects Sperm
Quality: Study
The results were compared with 51 men, also working in
hospitals with a similar lifestyle but not exposed to
radiation, US journal Public Library of Science ONE
reports.
The men's semen quality was tested for sperm number,
vitality, shape and its DNA quality. The amount of
radiation absorbed by health workers was also correlated
with sperm quality.
Manipal researchers found more abnormal characteristics
in the sperm of men exposed to the radiation, such as
decrease in sperm motility, altered shape and vitality.
Sperm motility is the ability of sperm to swim properly
towards an egg, a factor in successful fertilisation and
pregnancy.
More importantly, researchers found that sperm DNA
quality was severely compromised in workers exposed to
high radiation dose. Several abnormalities correlated with
the number of years of radiation exposure.
"If the sperm DNA is not maintained in a right manner, it
could impact the next generation's health," Adiga told
IANS.
"Human testicles produce millions of sperm cells daily,
out of which only one sperm fuses with egg and makes
the embryo. The genetic material (DNA) is tightly packed
in the sperm cell, susceptible to damage," said Adiga.
"A little damage is normal, as is seen in the sperm of
fertile men. But if the damage reaches high levels it can
lead to problems. The mature sperm has no capacity to
repair the damage and if such sperm cell fertilizes the
egg, the damage can be transmitted to the resulting
embryo and baby," said Adiga.
"Animal studies have shown serious consequences in the
offspring when DNA-damaged sperm fertilizes the egg,"
added Adiga.
"Though we did not find increased incidence of infertility
and miscarriages in these workers, the genetic and
epigenetic abnormalities observed in the sperm are
serious concerns," said Adiga.
Epigenetic abnormalities are abnormalities induced by
the effect of environment on the expression (functioning)
of genes, which in this study refers to the prolonged
exposure to radiation.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, government of
India funded the Manipal study. The research team
includes Guruprasad Kalthur, Pratap Kumar, Dayanidhi
38-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Kumar, Shubhashree Uppangala, Sujithraj Salian,
Srinidhi Chandraguthi and others.
Adiga pointed out that the sperm DNA could be
damaged by factors such as smoking, environmental
toxic materials, chemicals, lifestyle and lately by
radiation, as their research revealed.
Manipal University pro-Vice Chancellor and professor of
preventive medicine and public health H. Vinod Bhat
said: "This is an important observation and there is a
need to review our exposure protocols and make sure
that the health of professionals and their children are not
compromised."
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=182016
☻☻☻☻☻
Fukushima Workers
contaminated with Radio-
active Dust
August 19, 2013
Two workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in
Japan were found to have been exposed to radioactive
particles – just days after 10 workers were sprayed with
radioactive water at the beginning of last week.
Two dust monitor alarms rang out in the main operations
center in the plant, where radiation levels are normally
low enough not to need to wear full face masks, the
plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said in
an e-mailed statement.
The latest incident comes two and a half years after three
of the plant’s reactors suffered a meltdown in Japan’s
worst-ever nuclear power disaster.
Two workers who were at the end of their shift and were
waiting for a bus out of the site had their bodies wiped
down, and full body checks showed the staff members
had received no internal contamination.
Although TEPCO said it could not be sure that the
sounding of the alarms was definitely connected with the
discovery that the workers were contaminated, the
incident is being investigated further.
Last week 10 workers were also found to have been
contaminated with particles, which TEPCO suspected
came from a mist sprayer used to keep staff cool during
the hot summer months.
The cooling devises were switched off and workers were
also banned from using tap water, which comes from the
same source. Continued on page 39
 Continued from page 38– Fukushima Workers Contamin-
ated with Radioactive Dust
Also last Monday a separate alarm, which indicates high
radiation levels, went off at the continuous dust monitor
installed in front of the main building. As a result
workers were instructed to put on full face masks in
areas of the site where they had previously not been
required to do so.
On August 11, Tepco said that a newly built observation
well contained highly toxic water. The well, which was
drilled just four meters from the sea on August 7,
contained 34,000 becquerels of radioactive tritium per
liter.
There is also considerable concern that protective
barriers installed to prevent the flow of toxic water into
the Pacific Ocean are proving ineffective. Japan’s Health
Ministry recently estimated that 300 tons a day of
contaminated ground water had been seeping into the
Pacific since the disaster in March 2011.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has called the
situation at Fukushima a “state of emergency” and the
government announced earlier this month that it would
be becoming more involved in the clean-up work after
TEPCO denied for months that radiation was leaking
into the Pacific.
Fuel rod fears
The most serious problem at Fukushima is the removal
of the spent nuclear fuel rods, inside the stricken reactor
buildings.
The operation, which is planned to begin in November,
will be extremely dangerous and complicated because
the structure of the fuel pools where the rods are located
has been severely compromised. It is also not known to
what extent the rods were damaged when they caught
fire immediately after the tsunami.
The rods were also corroded when engineers used salt
water to cool them, but it is unclear what state they are
in. As computer-guided removal is impossible, the job
will have to be done manually, Christina Consolo, a
nuclear fallout researcher, told RT.
“Leaving them in situ is not an option,” Consolo said.
“As long as the fuel rods are in their current locations,
then they pose an extreme risk as any rod at any time
may go critical, which means it will combust and release
large amounts of radiation.”
If an event such as a fire or another earthquake occurred,
she explained, the rods would be in extreme danger and
some experts say that the situation would be so serious
that most of northern Japan would be uninhabitable.
39-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Their removal is a job fraught with danger for the workers
involved.
“My concern would be the physical and mental fitness of
the workers who will be in such close proximity to exposed
fuel during the extraction process,” said Consolo. “It will
be hot and uncomfortable, your senses shielded, and you
will be filled with anxiety. Even with the strongest
protection possible workers will have to be removed and
replaced often.”
TEPCO admitted last month that as many as 10 percent of
the workers who have been involved in the cleanup may be
at risk of developing thyroid cancer. It also put the number
of staff irradiated at 11 times more than estimates it had
previously given to the World Health Organization. The
total number of workers who have been exposed to
dangerous levels of radiation is now being given as 1,978.
http://rt.com/news/fukushima-workers-contaminated-radiation-
677/
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 30 – Japanese Government
criticized for Downplaying Nuclear Disaster
"There is a lot of debris. They are trying to spread it out
and burn it in some prefectures. That is creating further
problems because the radioactivity gets out and spreads."
Pflugbeil thinks the Japanese government's strategies to get
over the catastrophe by appealing to peoples’ patriotism are
absurd. On his last trip to the East Asian country, he took a
picture at a beauty contest - with support from the minister
for agriculture, a contest was held to find the prettiest
student who ate only food from the Fukushima region.
The power of the nuclear lobby
Tamahashi Uesugi criticizes the strong linkages between
politics, the nuclear industry and the media. He says
politicians who lose their offices are often offered a job
with the energy company Tepco, which operates three
nuclear power plants in Japan - one of which is the stricken
Daiichi plant in Fukushima. Uesugi believes with all the
interdependencies, the system is impenetrable.
Furthermore, such are the government's efforts to play
down the nuclear disaster, Uesugi points out, that whoever
criticizes it is shunned out of the system.
It is not only the Japanese government, but also
international organizations - the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) - which are also playing down the
effects of radiation exposure. According to "official"
figures, only 50 people died as a result of the nuclear
disaster in Chernobyl.
Continued on page 40
Continued from page 39 – Japanese Government criticized
for Downplaying Nuclear Disaster
"But our experience tells a different story," says the
spokesperson for the organization International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW),
Angelika Wilmen.
"Effects of nuclear radiation include miscarriages, birth
defects, genetic defects among newborns, and a cancer.“
The extent of the side-effects are showing up now, 25
years later; so the number of casualties should be closer
to a million, who either still are or have suffered the long-
term effects of radiation.
Demonstrations against Ooii
Of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants, 15 of them are
currently shut down due to damage. All of the others,
aside from one, are being inspected. But to the dismay of
the anti-nuclear protesters, it does not appear as though
they will all be kept off the grid. The Japanese
government wants to get the nuclear power plant in Ooii
up and running again. But the governor of Fukui
prefecture has to agree first, Takashi Uesugi, a journalist,
points out.
He says according to Twitter, around 60,000 people
gathered outside the government building in Tokyo out of
protest. "But the Japanese media don't talk about such
protests," he complains.
Nonetheless, opposition to nuclear power is growing.
"We have even been noticing such tendencies in our area
of Japan, which tends to be more conservative," Wilmen
says.
Bound to get worse?
Around 80 percent of the radiation in Fukushima has
leaked out around the sea instead of into residential areas.
But that could change soon. Pflugbeil is not only worried
about the large amounts of radioactive material that
continues to flow into the ocean. He says developments
in reactor number 4 are a cause for worry. Nonetheless,
opposition to nuclear power is growing. "We have even
been noticing such tendencies in our area of Japan, which
tends to be more conservative," Wilmen says.
"There is a large bathtub there in which 1,500 old fuel
rods are kept for cooling."
If they can't be kept cool, the fuel rods will self-destruct,
he explains. "That would release a huge amount of
radiation. According to Japanese experts, if that were to
happen, they would have to evacuate an area of up to 250
kilometers. That means Tokyo would also have to be
evacuated."
40-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Junko Nagai and five others are about to go online again.
They want to publish the latest information as soon as
possible on their Japanese website.
Author: Ulrike Mast-Kirschning / sb
Editor: Shamil Shams
http://www.dw.de/japanese-government-criticized-for-
downplaying-nuclear-disaster/a-15890837-1
☻☻☻☻☻
Fukushima Leak is 'Much
worse than we were led to
Believe'
By Matt McGrath
22 August 2013
A nuclear expert has told the BBC that he believes the
current water leaks at Fukushima are much worse than
the authorities have stated.
Mycle Schneider is an independent consultant who has
previously advised the French and German governments.
He says water is leaking out all over the site and there are
no accurate figures for radiation levels.
Meanwhile the chairman of Japan's nuclear authority said
that he feared there would be further leaks.
The ongoing problems at the Fukushima plant increased
in recent days when the Tokyo Electric Power Company
(Tepco) admitted that around 300 tonnes of highly
radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank on the
site.
Moment of crisis
The Japanese nuclear energy watchdog raised the
incident level from one to three on the international scale
that measures the severity of atomic accidents.
It is leaking out from the basements; it is leaking out
from the cracks all over the place” Mycle Schneider
Nuclear consultant
This was an acknowledgement that the power station was
in its greatest crisis since the reactors melted down after
the tsunami in 2011.
But some nuclear experts are concerned that the problem
is a good deal worse than either Tepco or the Japanese
government are willing to admit.
They are worried about the enormous quantities of water,
used to cool the reactor cores, which are now being
stored on site.
Continued on page 41
Continued from page 40 – Fukushima Leak is 'Much Worse
than We were Led to Believe'
Some 1,000 tanks have been built to hold the water. But
these are believed to be at around 85% of their capacity
and every day an extra 400 tonnes of water are being
added.
"The quantities of water they are dealing with are
absolutely gigantic," said Mycle Schneider, who has
consulted widely for a variety of organisations and
countries on nuclear issues.
"What is the worse is the water leakage everywhere else
- not just from the tanks. It is leaking out from the
basements, it is leaking out from the cracks all over the
place. Nobody can measure that.
"It is much worse than we have been led to believe,
much worse," said Mr Schneider, who is lead author for
the World Nuclear Industry status reports.
At news conference, the head of Japan's nuclear
chemical barrier to prevent sea contamination have not
regulation authority Shunichi Tanaka appeared to give
worked.
credence to Mr Schneider's concerns, saying that he
feared there would be further leaks. New health concerns
The storage problems are compounded by the ingress of
``We should assume that what has happened once could
ground water, running down from the surrounding hills. It
happen again, and prepare for more. We are in a
mixes with radioactive water leaking out of the
situation where there is no time to waste," he told
basements of the reactors and then some of it leaches into
reporters.
the sea, despite the best efforts of Tepco to stem the flow.
The lack of clarity about the water situation and the
Some of the radioactive elements like caesium that are
continued attempts by Tepco to deny that water was
contained in the water can be filtered by the earth. Others
leaking into the sea has irritated many researchers.
are managing to get through and this worries watching
Dr Ken Buesseler is a senior scientist at Woods Hole experts.
Oceanographic Institution who has examined the waters
"Our biggest concern right now is if some of the other
around Fukushima.
isotopes such as strontium 90 which tend to be more
"It is not over yet by a long shot, Chernobyl was in mobile, get through these sediments in the ground water,"
many ways a one week fire-explosive event, nothing said Dr Buesseler.
with the potential of this right on the ocean."
"They are entering the oceans at levels that then will
"We've been saying since 2011 that the reactor site is accumulate in seafood and will cause new health
still leaking whether that's the buildings and the ground concerns."
water or these new tank releases. There's no way to
There are also worries about the spent nuclear fuel rods
really contain all of this radioactive water on site."
that are being cooled and stored in water pools on site.
"Once it gets into the ground water, like a river flowing Mycle Schneider says these contain far more radioactive
to the sea, you can't really stop a ground water flow. caesium than was emitted during the explosion at
You can pump out water, but how many tanks can you Chernobyl.
keep putting on site?"
"There is absolutely no guarantee that there isn't a crack
Several scientists also raised concerns about the in the walls of the spent fuel pools. If salt water gets in,
vulnerability of the huge amount of stored water on site the steel bars would be corroded. It would basically
to another earthquake. explode the walls, and you cannot see that; you can't get
close enough to the pools," he said.
Water from the storage tanks has seeped into the
groundwater and then into the sea. Efforts to use a Continued on page 42

41-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 41 – Fukushima Leak is 'Much Worse
than We were Led to Believe'
The "worsening situation" at Fukushima has prompted a
former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland to call for
the withdrawal of Tokyo's Olympic bid.
In a letter to the UN secretary general, Mitsuhei Murata
says the official radiation figures published by Tepco
cannot be trusted. He says he is extremely worried about
the lack of a sense of crisis in Japan and abroad.
This view is shared by Mycle Schneider, who is calling
for an international taskforce for Fukushima. "The
Japanese have a problem asking for help. It is a big
mistake; they badly need it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779561
☻☻☻☻☻
Radioactive Leaks in Japan
Prompt Call for Overseas
Help
By Yuji Okada, Jacob Adelman & Peter Langan
August 22, 2013
The crippled nuclear plant at Fukushima is losing its
two-year battle to contain radioactive water leaks and its
owner emphasized for the first time it needs overseas
expertise to help contain the disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) is grappling with the
worst spill of contaminated water since the March 2011
earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at the
Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The call for help from Zengo
Aizawa, a vice president at the utility, follows a leak of
300 metric tons of irradiated water. Japan’s nuclear
regulator labeled the incident “serious” and questioned
Tepco’s ability to deal with the crisis. Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe made similar comments earlier this month.
“We will revamp contaminated-water management to
tackle the issue at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant and seek
expertise from within and outside of the country,”
Aizawa said at a press conference last night in Tokyo.
“There is much experience in decommissioning reactors
outside of Japan. We need that knowledge and support.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said they are
prepared to help.
Toxic Sludge
Tepco was storing 330,000 tons of radioactive water as
of Aug. 13 in tanks covering an area equal to 37 football
fields, according to the company. The utility is clearing
42-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
forest to make room for more tanks as it adds to the stored
water at a rate of 400 tons a day after pumping it out from
under the plant’s reactors, which melted down as a result
of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The water is treated to remove some of the cesium
particles before it is stored, which has left 480 filters
clogged with the radioactive material at the site. Each
weigh 15 tons and are warehoused in what the utility calls
temporary storage, though it will take hundreds of years
for the radiation to decay. Other radioactive contaminants
remain in the water even after treatment. That includes
strontium, which has been linked to bone cancers.
Besides radiated water, the site north of Tokyo has more
than 73,000 cubic meters of contaminated concrete,
58,000 cubic meters of irradiated trees and undergrowth,
and 157,710 gallons of toxic sludge, according to the
utility.
’Biggest Concern’
Japan’s nuclear watchdog has ratcheted up alarm over the
potential for more leaks of highly radioactive water from
the hundreds of storage tanks at the Fukushima atomic
plant.
The possibility of leaks from other tanks “is the biggest
concern,” said Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman
Shunichi Tanaka at a press conference yesterday. “This
will need to be handled carefully on the assumption that
one incident could bring another.”
Late last night, Tepco said water leaking from the storage
tank probably ran into the ocean, citing high radiation
readings in a drainage ditch.
As much as 20 trillion becquerels of cesium and 10 trillion
becquerels of strontium leaked into the ocean since May
2011, Tepco spokeswoman Mayumi Yoshida said today.
The total amount of cesium and strontium is equivalent to
about 100 times the annual limit on radiation from the
plant to the ocean under normal conditions, according
to calculations based on Tepco data.
Tepco’s Effort
The release is about a million times less than the
contaminants spilled into the world’s oceans after nuclear
bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s, said Peter Burns, a
radiation physicist based in Melbourne, who was formerly
Australia’s representative on the United Nations’
committee on the effects of atomic radiation.
Radiation levels are rapidly diluted by the ocean and
should pose few hazards outside of the harbor that is
directly receiving the contaminants, said Kathryn Higley,
a radiation health physicist at Oregon State University in
Corvallis. Continued on page 43
Continued from page 42 – Radioactive Leaks in Japan
Prompt Call for Overseas Help
At least one commissioner at Japan’s nuclear regulator
questioned the accuracy of data being released by Tepco
and whether the incident had been fully reported. The
leak, along with a separate spill of 300 tons of
radioactive water a day into the Pacific Ocean, is raising
doubts about the utility’s ability to handle the 40-year
task to decommission the nuclear site.
Tepco is providing the regulator with information,
company spokesman Yoshikazu Nagai said by phone,
declining to comment further. The company’s shares fell
as much as 15 percent in Tokyo yesterday, their biggest
intraday slide since June 5, and were down 4.9 percent to
530 yen at 10:57 a.m. in Tokyo.
Leaking Tanks
Japan’s government has ordered an investigation into the
safety of hundreds of other tanks storing contaminated
water in Fukushima, the site of the world’s worst civilian
nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl reactor exploded in
1986.
There are 226 tanks of similar bolted design to the
leaking unit with the same 1,000-ton capacity at the site,
said Tatsuya Shinkawa, director of the nuclear accident
response office in the government’s Agency for Natural
Resources and Energy, which called for the probe.
Nuclear incidents and accidents are ranked by order of
severity on the International Nuclear and Radiological
Event Scale or INES, which has seven categories and
was set up by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On Aug. 19, Tepco said about 300 tons of highly
radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank and was
ranked as category one on INES, the lowest.
Japan’s NRA raised that to category three yesterday, or a
“serious incident.” The 2011 meltdown of the three
reactors at Fukushima is in the highest severity category
of seven on the INES scale, the same as Chernobyl.
Overseas Concern
“This INES evaluation is based on the 300-ton leak, but I
really wonder if we can trust data provided by Tepco,”
Toyoshi Fuketa, a commissioner at the NRA, said at a
meeting in Tokyo. “I really wonder if we should judge
based on Tepco’s data.”
In two separate incidents this month, workers were
exposed to radioactive releases at the plant.
Prime Minister Abe has said that Tepco alone isn’t able
to handle the clean-up, promising more government
funds without detailing how they’d be used.
43-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Nuclear Accidents
Tepco needs “to stop going from crisis to crisis and have a
systematic approach to water management,” Dale Klein,
the chairman of an advisory panel to Tepco and a former
head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said
yesterday in an interview.
INES is a means to measure nuclear accidents in terms of
their effects on health and the environment, according to
the International Atomic Energy Agency. Each of its
seven steps represents a ten-fold increase in severity. The
IAEA last night said it takes the leaks in Japan “seriously”
and that it “remains ready to provide assistance on
request,” according to a statement on its website. The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is also ready to provide
assistance if requested, agency spokesman Scott Burnell
said.
A seven rating means there has been a “major release of
radioactive material with widespread health and
environmental effects requiring implementation of
planned and extended countermeasures,” according to the
INES fact sheet.
Japan’s regulator raised the INES rating on the water leak
based on radiation levels reported by the utility this week
and on an evaluation of measures at the plant to prevent
such incidents. The IAEA will be the final arbiter of where
the leak will sit on the severity scale.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/tepco-shares-
plunge-on-report-of-serious-radiated-water-leak.html
☻☻☻☻☻
Glowing Green with Outrage
By Adam Smith
August 27, 2013
OpEdNews
"For 50 years, nuclear power stations have produced
three products which only a lunatic could want: bomb-
explosive plutonium, lethal radioactive waste and
electricity so dear it has to be heavily subsidized. They
leave to future generations the task, and most of the costs,
of making safe sites that have been polluted half-way to
eternity." -James Buchan
I suspect I might take some flak for this one but I support
the above quote. Now don't get me wrong. I like
electricity. I like that this computer I'm typing on is not
simply an inert piece of plastic and metals and whatever
else makes up a computer. I like that my lights work and
that my stove turns on and my fridge keeps the food from
spoiling. I realize that there will necessarily be
consequences and side-effects and pollution created in the
Continued on page 44
Continued from page 43 - Glowing Green with Outrage
pursuit of these conveniences. We gotta make power
somehow and most people will agree with that
sentiment.
But I'm still gonna say that we need to shut down these
nuclear plants. And it's not because of the radioactive
waste they produce as part of normal operations. It's not
because their fuel can be made into bombs by crazy
people. And it's not even because they are pretty
inefficient and generally require government-provided
subsidies and insurance. It's for another reason. In the
spirit of full disclosure, I'll mention that I'm from
Manitoba, Canada, and we have hydroelectric dams
producing more nature-friendly (relative term) power
than we know what to do with. This puts me in an
armchair-warrior position since closing the nuclear
plants isn't going to cost me a thing.
But I'm afraid I must insist they be phased out as rapidly
as possible for the simple reason that they can go
haywire and cause an unstoppable chain-reaction that
could potentially make our planet uninhabitable in a way
no other type of power plant can. Since the Japanese
Fukushima explosion of 2011, some major countries
seem to agree. Germany is determined to decommission
all of their plants, France has begun attempting to reduce
dependence on them, and Switzerland has cancelled
plans for new ones and will not replace old ones once
their lifespan is up. Despite Japan having few other
options for power besides expensive, imported fossil
fuel, their country's tectonic troubles and their personal
relation to the Fukushima disaster have them planning
to phase out all nuclear plants in 30 years at most.
But Adam, you may say, Japan is a unique case and
those other countries are just Luddite worry-warts who
have other options for power that a lot of countries don't.
And in any case, Chernobyl happened and we still seem
to be doing okay. Which is true. It did happen. A lot of
Soviets sacrificed themselves entombing the sucker and
life continued, much the same as before. It was supposed
to be a one-time lesson that would result in much stricter
and safer practices with fail-safes so it could not happen
again. Which, so far, is true. No nuclear plants have
exploded due to human error.
But as Fukushima has proven, sometimes things can go
wrong even without humans being responsible. A
magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami
smashed the Fukushima Daiichi power plant resulting in
the second ever event to deserve a 7 on the International
Nuclear Event Scale. Although news coverage was
intense at first, it waned pretty quickly as no huge die-
off occurred due to the released radiation. It seemed that
44-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
by deliberatelydisobeying orders from corporate head-
quarters to stop pumping seawater into the damaged
reactor, the plant's supervisor Masao Yoshido allowed
humanity to avoid another Chernobyl. Yoshido died of
cancer this July and it's safe to say we all owe him a huge
debt of gratitude. Even ignoring studies showing increased
radiation-linked cancer rates in Japan as well as in the US,
I think it is safe to say we have been led to believe we had
dodged this particular bullet.
Unfortunately the reality has been that the media have
simply not been doing their job. The Tokyo Electric Power
Company (Tepco) has been allowed to dictate the narrative
of what is occurring with basically no oversight. It turns
out that the site was never actually contained and
radioactive water has been leaking with "no accurate
figures for radiation levels." You may say that since this
issue is being reported by all major news organizations
now, the media is doing their job albeit in a very tardy
fashion.
However, that would be missing the reality that this
leaking radiation water is the least of our worries vis-a-vis
the plant. Much less reported by the media is what will be
required by the clean-up crew to end this whole saga.
Reliable old Reuters often provides the on-the-ground
breaking scoops that our local media then report to us.
Despite their well-deserved reputation, it seems that most
media organizations have chosen to ignore their recent
scoop about the dangers involved in the clean-up process.
Essentially, Tepco needs to remove 1300 spent fuel rods,
containing 14,000 times the amount of radiation dropped
onto Japan in WWII, from a dilapidated, flooding, and
collapsing power plant that still sits in an earthquake-prone
location. The whole process will take about 40 years and
cost about eleven billion dollars. Each rod weighs 660
pounds, is 15 feet long, and cannot get too close to each
other or will trigger a chain-reaction. If exposed to air,
they may also trigger a chain-reaction. Usually, when these
rods are moved as part of normal operations, a
sophisticated robot is used to guide the work and ensure
accuracy down to millimeters. Due to the damage caused
by the earthquake/tsunami, this is not possible and the
cranes will be operated in a poisonously radioactive area
by scared human hands with all of their limitations. These
rods will be removed individually, one at a time, and a
mistake on any of them could trigger an unstoppable
chain-reaction.
As a religious and apparently gloomy guy, Ronald Reagan
said during his presidency that "We may be the generation
that sees Armageddon." One media source that ran with
the Reuters story, Russia Today, has decided he was just a
bit premature and
Continued on page 61
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER
FEATURED ARTICLES
Health and Environmental Destruction in
Africa, by Foreign Uranium Companies
By Dr. Lyimo
5 July 2013
All Uranium mined end up as either nuclear weapons or
highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.
Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive toxic
element, found in the ground worldwide, including
Tanzania, soon to be mined! Countries with active
uranium mining are Australia, Canada, Central Africa
Republic, France, Namibia, Niger, South Africa and the
US. The normal decay of uranium in the soil results in
the production of decay radioactive products.
In the process of mining uranium we liberate from the
ground these natural radioactive substances like radium
and radon, which are among the most harmful materials
known in science.
Uranium emits ionising nuclear radiation like x-rays.
Ionising radiation is energetic enough to break
chemical bonds, thereby possessing the ability to
damage or destroy living cells. Hence the need to keep
away from nuclear radiation, x-rays, uranium and its
radioactive waste. Ultrasound, radio, sound and light
are non-ionising nuclear radiations and are harmless.
As long as the mineral remains outside the body,
45-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
September 2013
uranium poses little health hazards. However, if
uranium is inhaled or ingested, its radioactivity and
toxicity pose increased risks of lung cancer as well as
cancer of bones, stomach, soft tissue and blood. It
may also cause damage to internal organs notably
kidneys alongside affecting the reproductive system,
leading to birth defects in future generations.
Imaging swallowing or inhaling small radiation
exposing x-ray machines with jammed exposure
switches could result in serious health effects in the
form of cancer. Similar incidence of diseases is
observed in Atomic bomb survivors, refer bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan 1942 at end of
World War II.
All the decay radioactive products of uranium remain
in the crushed rock when uranium is separated from
the ore. The rock left over’s waste contains 85 per
cent radioactivity of the ore as well as heavy metals
and toxic dissolving chemicals, which have
dangerous health hazards.
Uranium mining is responsible for introducing into
the human environment a tremendous large range of
radioactive materials which are all very harmful to
biological organisms – human beings included.
These are not invisible x-rays, they are materials.
They get into our water, our food and the air we
breathe. Of course they are exactly like other
materials, except that they are radioactive. They can
pollute the environment and get into the air we
breathe and the water we drink. Hence uranium gets
into our respiratory and digestive systems, with
serious health hazards to the population living near
and afar from the mines.
Let’s briefly have a look at the devastating aspect of
Continued on page 46
Continued from page 45 - Health and Environmental
Destruction in Africa, by Foreign Uranium Companies
radioactive radon gas. The radioactive waste stored near
the mines is continuously generating radon gas.
Radon gas is about eight times heavier than air, so it stays
close to the ground. It will travel 1,000 kilometres in just a
few days in a light breeze. And as it drifts along it deposits
radioactivity on the vegetation below. So that you get
radioactivity polluting plants, vegetables, grass, fish and
animals at a radius of thousands of kilometres from the
mining sites.
For a population leaving in an area with uranium deposits,
radon gas can seep into their homes through cracks in the
foundation of their houses, and become trapped. Prolonged
exposure to the radon gas in their homes will cause lung
cancer.
Indeed, radon gas is a mechanism of pumping
radioactivity into the environment for the coming
millennia. And this is one of the hidden real dangers of
radioactive waste, a direct product of uranium mining.
The big question here is how long will this radioactivity of
the uranium waste be there? This radioactivity is known to
have long half – life, hence it will remain active for
thousands of years.
‘Indeed is a real problem of modern science to solve.
History has it that uranium mining companies had never
solved problems associated with extraction of uranium and
also never employed good practice of settling uranium
radioactive waste seriously after the mining activity is
complete.
Of course, these foreign companies have their eyes fixed
on maximising profits against corresponding safe
infrastructure investment. Some of the companies run
away from implementing this social cooperative
responsibility to the poor ignorant communities.
This happens in countries where local atomic energy
commissions are non-existent, or if present are under-
equipped with the necessary human and material resources
for effective supervision, monitoring and control of the
foreign mining companies for radiation protection to the
miners and the environment.
The whole population in the area surrounding the mines is
endangered with the diseases mentioned above, lung
cancer being the most serious for miners due to inhalation
of radon gas in the pits and in the dusty atmosphere of the
processing mills.
Uranium radioactive waste stored close to the mines can
leach into ground water and contaminate drinking water.
46-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Other possibilities of radioactivity reaching humans
and environment are a result of deficient radioactive
waste management practices by the mining companies,
coupled with other unavoidable natural carriers of the
radionuclides like wind, rain, floods, fire, dam failure,
earthquakes etc.
Radioactive waste contaminated water and substances
are incorporated in the human body through both the
respiratory and the digestive systems. The polluted
water kills residents, animals, insects, natural
vegetation of the affected environment.
Open pit mines can be hundreds of meters wide and
deep and can entail destruction of the local ecosystem.
The environment is polluted with radioactive materials
either in solid, liquid and gaseous state. Water
shortages can be caused by uranium mining and
refining which need the input of large quantities of
water, leading to water shortages, making it worse in
other sectors of the society in many places in Africa
where water supply is already problematic.
The large consumption of water as well as the direct
health hazards of the contaminated water, damages the
mining region both ecologically and economically –
and therefore in-turn human health.
The extraction of water leads to a reduction of ground
water table and desertification. Plants and animals die,
the traditional means of subsistence for the local
people and animals is thus destroyed. Here consider
uranium mines located in the neighbourhood of exotic
game reserves.
The immense amount of water that is used by the
uranium mining represents another problem. For
instance, the NGO network of Niger and France,
examined the effects of uranium mines in Niger. They
concluded that among other things, the mines
consumed 270 billion litres of water, over 40 years of
operation.
After use in the uranium mines, the contaminated
water was dumped back into rivers and lakes. The
consequence is the materials getting into the digestive
system of the innocent and unaware local people.
Many of the residents will die of cancer and related
diseases.
Even when the uranium is no longer extracted, the
health risks remain. Usually unused mines are flooded
with water contaminated with radioactivity and heavy
metals which keep seeping into ground water and into
drinking water. The author of this study reports that the
waste rock from mines is used for improving roads and
Continued on page 47
Continued from page 46 - Health and Environmental
Destruction in Africa, by Foreign Uranium Companies
building houses in Niger. Radioactive metals and articles
from the mines are used for making cooking utensils.
Mind you there was a time when radium, also uranium in
disguise, was used as a decorative paint for business sign
boards and facial paints, etc.
In 1979 a damp holding water in a radioactive settling
pond at the United Nuclear Fuels Corporation Mill near
Church Rock, New Mexico gave way and released about
100 million gallons of contaminated water into Puerto
River which cuts through Navajo grazing lands, hence
introducing radioactivity and toxic contaminants into the
food chain. The meat, milk from such animals will be
radioactive, and the people consuming them will be
polluted with radioactivity and die of cancer.
Workers of open cast uranium mines in Namibia suffer
from health problems, including malignant diseases at a
higher prevalence, compared to general population.
Mining and milling operations in the US have
disproportionately affected the indigenous population
around the globe. For example nearly one third of all mill
radioactive waste from abandoned mill operations are in
the lands of Navajo nation alone.
Many Native Americans have died of lung cancer linked
to their work in the uranium mines. Others continue to
suffer from the effects of land and water contamination
due to seepage and spill from radioactive waste piles and
ponds, located near the mines. Finally, uranium mining
can cause social conflicts. Inherit Niger Lona Areva base,
was attacked by disenchanted Tuareg rebels. Social unrest
can also be caused by unequal social distribution of
mining profits and revenues.
Most uranium mines in the USA have shut down and
imports account for about 75 per cent of roughly 16 tonnes
of refined uranium used each year. Canada being the
biggest single supplier has200 million tonnes of
radioactive waste from her uranium mining and refining
activities.
Mining industry itself is a complete disaster. Large mining
companies are allowed to take public lands and spoil them,
while making large profits, leaving behind huge mining
pits, water and soil contaminated with heavy metal and
radioactivity, contained in the radioactive waste e.g. radon
gas. Mining activity benefits more investors than the local
people.
The big lesson here for Tanzania with its Uranium deposit
soon to be exploited is that; until now there is no proper
way of destroying completely remains of uranium mining,
47-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
and therefore it is difficult to control the effects of the
mineral that will end thousands of years. Above all the
cost of cleaning up the environment and avoidance of
effects caused by remains of big uranium mines and
management of radioactive waste will put a big strain
on the already ailing country’s economy.
A section of the Tanzanian media on June 8, 2013
quoted Energy and Minerals minister Professor
Sospeter Muhongo as telling a visiting delegation of
experts from the European Union that uranium mining
will start soon in Tanzania and that the government has
satisfied itself that this process will have no hazardous
health effects to the population.
It is hoped that this official statement was issued after
consultations with the Tanzania Atomic Energy
Commission which is legally responsible for all
radioactive materials in the country, uranium being no
exception.
In summary, such statements should dwell first with
the technical matters and let experts and responsible
institutions take the major part on advising and
educating the public on at least five aspects.
One: Key steps taken to ensure safety and safeguarding
of the communities around and the environment for the
present generation and future ones.
Two: How the uranium mining radioactive wastes
(tailings) will be handled during and after the mining.
Three: The degree to which the population around the
mines is aware of what is going on and how to react
upon any unexpected event;
Four: The results of the baseline studies that need to be
carried out before the commencement of the mining.
Five: The safety measures and programmes aimed at
protecting workers and the environment against
radiation and radioactive materials.
These are among the key questions that need to be
answered by the experts and indeed the responsible
institutions before such statements are issued by high-
calibre politicians.
Dr Lyimo is a radiologist, the first Tanzanian to
graduate in Radio Diagnostic Imaging at the UK’s
University of Bristol. He was the first Executive
Secretary and Registrar of the former Tanzania
National Radiation Commission, now Tanzania Atomic
Energy Commission..
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=56725
☻☻☻☻☻

Tanzania could strike New
Uranium Deposits
A Uranium mine in Tanzania. The country could become the
world’s second-biggest producer of the radioactive mineral.
Photo/File
By ADAM IHUCHA
August 3, 2013
In Summary
• The Tanzania Mineral Audit Agency (TMAA) said
preliminary findings from ongoing exploration
activities show that there are signs of uranium
deposits at Lake Jipe, in Mwanga district in
Kilimanjaro Region.
• Energy and Mineral deputy minister Stephen Maselle
said the government would receive the exploration
reports soon, but would not give specifics.
• Other uranium deposits have been discovered in Bahi
in Dodoma and Manyoni in Singida in central
Tanzania.
• Uranium is a relatively common element in the crust
of the earth, nearly as common as tin or zinc. It is
used as fuel in nuclear reactors and for military
applications
Tanzania appears likely to strike uranium at Lake Jipe,
near the border with Kenya, bolstering its profile as the
world’s third largest producer of the radioactive mineral.
The Tanzania Mineral Audit Agency (TMAA) said
preliminary findings from ongoing exploration activities
show that there are signs of uranium deposits at Lake
Jipe, in Mwanga district in Kilimanjaro Region.
“At the moment, geologists are making efforts to
establish the quantity and economic viability of the
uranium,” said TMAA planning and research
development manager Julius Moshi.
48-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Energy and Mineral deputy minister Stephen Maselle
said the government would receive the exploration
reports soon, but would not give specifics.
Uranium is a relatively common element in the crust of
the earth, nearly as common as tin or zinc. It is used as
fuel in nuclear reactors and for military applications,
such as in shielding material and gyroscopic compasses.
About 64 per cent of the world’s production of uranium
from mines is from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia.
Other uranium deposits have been discovered in Bahi in
Dodoma and Manyoni in Singida in central Tanzania.
In April, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals issued a
special licence to Mantra Tanzania Ltd, which is owned
by Mantra Resources, an Australian subsidiary of
AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ), a Russian mining firm.
ARMZ is building and operating the Mkuju River
uranium mine in southern Tanzania through Uranium
One, its Canadian arm.
Mantra Tanzania Ltd has been operating in Tanzania
since 2010.
Tanzania, which is Africa’s fourth largest gold producer,
also has huge deposits of coal, nickel, iron ore, diamond
and gemstones. Tanzania says it has at least 54 million
pounds of uranium oxide deposits.
A senior geologist at Mkunju River Project in southern
Tanzania, James Magweiga, said that Mkunju is home to
uranium deposits of 54,000 tonnes.
Tanzania projects that it can produce 14,000 tonnes of
uranium each year, earning $249 million in royalties.
Senior geologist Dalaly Peter Kafumu said should
ARMZ indeed produce 14,000 tonnes of uranium, it
would make Tanzania the world’s second-biggest
uranium producer.
Currently, Kazakhstan is the leading uranium producer in
the world, having produced 19,451 tonnes in 2011
accounting for 36 per cent of the world’s total uranium
production, according to the World Nuclear Association.
It is trailed by Canada, which produced 9,145 tonnes or
17 per cent of the total production.
According to the International Atomic Energy
Association, global uranium mine production increased
by over 25 per cent between 2008 and 2010 because of
significantly increased production in Kazakhstan.
The increased resource base has been achieved thanks to
a 22 per cent increase in uranium exploration and mine
development expenditures between 2008 and 2010,
which in 2010 totalled over $2 billion.
Continued on page 49
Continued from page 48 – Tanzania could strike New
Uranium Deposits
Mali, Malawi and Zambia are among African countries
where uranium exploration companies are currently
active.
Rising demand
The IAEA projects that demand for uranium will
continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
Although the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident
in Japan has affected nuclear power projects and
policies in some countries, nuclear power remains a key
part of the global energy mix.
Several governments have plans for new nuclear power
plant construction, with the strongest expansion
expected in China, India, South Korea and the Russian
Federation.
By the year 2035, world nuclear electricity generating
capacity is projected to grow by at least 44 per cent.
Accordingly, world annual reactor-related uranium
requirements are projected to rise from 63,875 tonnes of
uranium metal (tU) at the end of 2010 to between
98,000 tU and 136,000 tU by 2035.
But the IAEA estimates that the current global uranium
resource base is more than adequate to meet high-case
requirements through 2035.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Tanzania+could+strike
+new+uranium+deposits+/-/2558/1935758/-/item/1/-
/13fm8lcz/-/index.html
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Tanzania Poised to become
Leading Uranium Producer
By Deodatus Balile in Dar es Salaam
April 26, 2013
Tanzania's decision this month to grant a licence to a
major uranium mining company could catapult the
nation into the top five countries producing the strategic
resource, officials say.
The Ministry of Energy and Minerals issued a special
licence to Mantra Tanzania Limited, which is owned by
Mantra Resources, an Australian subsidiary of
AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ), a Russian mining firm.
ARMZ will build and operate the Mkuju River uranium
mine in southern Tanzania through Uranium One, its
Canadian arm. Mantra Tanzania Limited has been
operating in Tanzania since 2010.
The government granted Mantra a provisional licence in
49-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
December, when construction on the underground mine
started. Construction will take two years, and the site is
said to contain at least 36,000 tonnes in known uranium
deposits. Various reports suggest that the mine would
extract 14,000 tonnes of the radioactive element annually.
With the new mine, Tanzania may overtake Canada as the
world's second biggest producer of uranium, officials say.
Above, an aerial shot from July 2007 shows open-pit uranium
mines in McClean Lake, Canada. [David Boily/AFP]
Such a rate of production would put Tanzania in a position
to overtake Canada as the world's second biggest uranium
producer, according to Dalaly Peter Kafumu, the ministry's
former commissioner for minerals.
Currently, Kazakhstan is the number one uranium
producer in the world, having produced 19,451 tonnes in
2011 and commanding 36% of the world's total uranium
production, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Kazakhstan is followed by Canada, which produced 9,145
tonnes or 17% of the total production. "Tanzania is going
to produce more than that," Kafumu told Sabahi.
Tanzania, nonetheless, would be limited to selling its
uranium ore on the international market because it lacks
the technology and funding to harness the element for
domestic energy use, Kafumu said.
The mining project has met all legal requirements to being
implementation, according to Tanzanian Vice President
Mohamed Gharib Bilal, who recently visited the site of the
Mkuju River project.
The project will bring in 728 billion shillings ($448
million) in foreign direct investments and create 1,600
jobs during the mine's construction, he said, adding that
the mine will eventually bring in 405 billion shillings
($249 million) in annual revenue.
The deal already has caused controversy because of the
mine's location on a small patch of the Selous Game
Reserve, which the United Nations Educational, Scientific
Continued on page 50
Continued from page 49 – Tanzania Poised to become
Leading Uranium Producer
and Cultural Organisation has designated for protection
as a World Heritage Site. Activists have aired concerns
about how mining for uranium in the area could
threaten the environment and public health.
Worries over payment of capital gains taxes
According to Public Accounting Committee Chairman
Zitto Kabwe, Tanzania stands to also lose a lot of
money through its deal with Mantra Resources because
the government failed to collect almost 303 billion
shillings ($187 million) in capital gains taxes from the
company before issuing the licence to mine.
Tanzanian law stipulates that any foreign-owned
company doing business in Tanzania pays capital gains
tax, when it is sold to a third party. The law was enacted
in 2011 to close loopholes in a tax holiday incentive
programme, which allows foreign companies to operate
tax-free for their first five years of operation in
Tanzania. Some companies were changing ownership
after the five-year term to continue to qualify for tax-
free status.
"I have written the speaker of the National Assembly,
asking her to tell the government to explain to the
parliamentarians what has gone wrong," Kabwe told
Sabahi.
The government could have withheld the licence or
conditioned its release on the payment of this tax as
leverage in negotiations, Kabwe said.
Minister for Energy and Minerals Sospeter Muhongo
told Sabahi that the government will not lose money in
the deal. He said the government still is negotiating
with the company on how much Mantra Resources will
pay in taxes under its mineral development agreement
with Dar es Salaam.
The government issued the mining licence to Mantra
after two years of due diligence, the minister said,
adding that Tanzanians should have a positive attitude
toward foreign investors because projects like the
uranium mining deal are vital to building the country's
economy.
http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/hoa/articles/features/2
013/04/26/feature-02
☻☻☻☻☻
Nuclear Radioisotopes
Strontium-90’s half-life is around 29 years. It mimics
calcium and goes to our bones. It can accumulate in
milk, dairy products and grass-fed meats.
50-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Whose Government is it
Anyway? Uranium Extraction
in Tanzania
By James Mitchell
7 July 2013
In this blog, James Mitchell argues that the CCM
government in Tanzania is helping foreign mining
companies to systematically exploit their citizens. James is
a PhD candidate in Global Political Economy at the
University of Bristol.
When communities in Africa find themselves with
profitable natural resources under their feet and with
foreign mining companies circling, a democratic
government is the only regulatory actor that can both
protect and empower local communities and also be held
to account for any decisions it takes.
In the context of foreign-led mining in Africa, the
government’s role is to ensure that displaced communities
are catered for in terms of compensation, rehousing and
new jobs. Additionally, they must create a legislative
framework that protects the environment and the
livelihoods of citizens nearby. Finally, they must enact a
tax and regulatory regime that ensures the natural
custodians of African resources- local citizens – benefit in
socio-economic terms. However, when it comes to
Tanzania’s latest highly controversial extractable element,
uranium, such government actions are currently non-
existent and it ultimately this has drastic and damaging
consequences for local citizens.
The presence of uranium in Tanzania was identified in
colonial times but the exploitation of the mineral has only
just started this year with a subsidiary of the Russian state
company Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), Mantra Tanzania,
bring given a highly contested mining license to carry out
operations in the Selous Game Reserve. In addition,
exploration licenses have been granted to somewhere
between 50 and 70 foreign mining companies who will be
prospecting in pockets of central (Bahi and Manyoni
District) and southern (Namtumbo District) Tanzania.
Bahi Makulo village provides a stark example of the
effects of the government’s uranium mining policy, or lack
thereof. Actions and, indeed, inactions of the incumbent
government Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), have left the
traditional farming village, which lies some 70km west of
Tanzania’s legislative capital Dodoma, at the mercy of a
foreign company. It is unclear which mining company is
exploring in Bahi Makulo. The most likely bet is Mantra
Continued on page 51
Continued from page 50 – Whose Government is it
Anyway? Uranium Extraction in Tanzania
Tanzania, who may have included the area as part of
their Bahi North Project. What is clear, is that in
September last year, a mining company that had been
issued with an exploration license in Dar es Salaam,
bypassed the Village Committee (a customary process
enshrined in Tanzanian law) and began to drill
boreholes and dig holes in paddy fields near the village.
The company also hired villagers in various capacities,
from labourers to security guards, on a strictly informal
basis; the villagers were never even informed of the
name of the mining company they were working for.
The country’s vastly inequitable regulatory frameworks
guarantee the confidentiality of mining contracts, and
thus the confidentiality of the mining companies who
win them.
Whilst in Bahi Makulo, the mining company proceeded
to violate the labour and environmental laws of
Tanzania and denigrate some of its citizens: Villagers
were given nothing more than building site hard hats
and latex gloves, even though they were made to use
three nameless industrial chemicals. Perhaps
unsurprisingly, given the lackadaisical approach of the
mining company and the floods of the rainy season,
scores of villagers and labourers have complained of
debilitating injuries to their skin and eyes.
There are a number of ways in which the villagers’
capacity to hold the company to account and protect
their health, environment, livelihoods and way of life
have been systematically compromised. Two key
obstacles they face are the country’s land laws and their
government’s apparent indifference.
Despite being a relic of Tanzania’s socialist past, the
nation’s land laws are unfairly skewed towards
government elites and, by extension, to private mining
companies. This is because all land in Tanzania belongs
to the state. Farmers can only lease land from the
government on rolling contracts of 33 or 99 years,
although most villagers in Bahi Makulo never knew
this, having inherited the land from friends and
relatives. If natural resources are discovered underneath
a person’s estate, then the government can evict them to
make way for extraction.
Whilst it is possible to mount a legal defense against
such eviction, this would depend upon a sophisticated
knowledge of the country’s labyrinthine land laws and
enough resources to take on both international
corporations and the state officials who support them. It
is not difficult to see whose interests the law is likely to
protect in this scenario.
51-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Meanwhile, the government appears intent on burying its
head in the sand and denying that there are problems afoot
in Bahi Makulo. It has categorically refused to believe that
the villagers’ health problems have been caused by the
contamination of the paddy fields. And their display of
studied disbelief was ably assisted by the police who
blocked around 30 villagers from gaining access to a local
state hospital where doctors might have verified there
claims and treated their afflictions. More broadly, the
government’s lack of a specific uranium policy is
negligent in the extreme. This is despite evidence of the
monumental economic, environmental and health
problems caused by uranium mining in African states like
Niger. Policy gaps are dangerous in this field, particularly
because ruthless uranium-mining companies are
specifically looking to escape the more stringent
environmental and social regulations of established
uranium producing host states like Australia and Canada.
The Executive Director of Paladin Energy, Australia, put
the matter succinctly, stating, ‘The Australians and the
Canadians have become over-sophisticated in their
environmental and social concerns over uranium mining.
The future is in Africa’.
Meanwhile it is far from clear that uranium mining will
bring any substantive financial benefits. Indeed, a 2010
report estimated that over a 13-year period the economic
activities surrounding another uranium exploration site in
Bahi Swamp – including farming, fishing, cattle-herding
and salt production – far exceeded the potential economic
benefits – such as taxation, employment and investment in
infrastructure -that a uranium mine could bring.
All in all, the government seems determined to create as
favourable an investment climate as possible for extractive
companies, despite the negative cumulative effects such
extraction has upon the very people they are obliged to
represent. Even the governmental agency the Geological
Survey of Tanzania acts as a private exploration company
seeking out deposits for foreign extraction. Revealingly, it
is partly funded by foreign mining major BHP Billiton.
But whilst such data flows freely to foreign corporations,
Tanzania’s citizens are systematically denied the
information they need to secure their own protection in the
face of predatory extractive companies and their allies in
government who see them as a resources or nuisances, not
as citizens.
http://democracyinafrica.org/uranium-exploration-in-tanzania-
ccm-protects-the-interests-of-foreign-investors-not-citizens/
☻☻☻☻☻
 Tanzania: No Danger from Uranium Miners Grab
Uranium Exploration, People Aboriginal Land in Australia:
Assured Government helps by Trashing
20 June 2013
Tarzania Daily News
Aboriginals’Reputation
Government had made it clear that it wished to re-engage
Dodoma — THE government has allayed fears of
itself more directly in the control of community land
possible dangers to the environment and the people in
through leasing options as well as to open up Aboriginal
Manyoni district, Singida region, during exploration
land for development and mining purposes.
and mining of uranium in the area.
The plan was to empty the homelands, and this has not
The Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr
changed. However, it was recognised that achieving this
Stephen Masele, said in Parliament in Dodoma that
would be politically fraught – it would need to be
members of the public should not worry about
accomplished in a manner that would not off-side
exploration activities being carried out by Uranex,
mainstream Australia. Removing Aboriginal people from
because the company was following national and
their land and taking control over their communities would
international laws and regulations governing the
need to be presented in a way that Australians would
exploration and mining of uranium.
believe it to be to Aboriginal advantage, whatever the
He was responding to a question from MrJohn Chiligati tactics. So began the campaign to discredit the people and
(Manyoni East-CCM) who sought to know what to publicly stigmatise Aboriginal men of the Northern
measures the government had taken to allay public fears Territory. And even in 2009 when the CEO of the
owing to the ongoing uranium exploration activities in Australian Crime Commission, John Lawler, reported that
the district. his investigation had shown there were no organised
paedophile rings operating in the NT, no formal apology
The deputy minister said the exploration activities were
was ever made to the Aboriginal men and their families
guided by the Mineral Policy of 2009 and the Mining
who were brutally shamed by the false claims.
Act of 2010, which manage the exploration of uranium
in Tanzania. He said the government had prepared Sixth Anniversary of the Northern Territory
Mining (Radioactive Minerals) Regulations under the Intervention – Striking the Wrong Note Lateral Love
Mining Act to manage the exploration and mining of Australia‘concerned Australians’ Michele Harris, 21
uranium. June 13 Aboriginal advocate Olga Havnen, in her Lowitja
O’Donoghue oration has asked a critical question. She asks
According to him, the new mining law and regulations
what has been the psychological impact of the Intervention
conform to the International Atomic Energy Agency
on Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory. It is
(IAEA) regulations on standard safety measures in
surprising that so little attention has been given to this
exploration and mining of uranium.
critical, yet in some ways tenuous, link before now.
On fears of being relocated to pave way for the
Even before the Intervention began in June 2007,
exploration and mining activities, the deputy minister
government had long planned a new approach to the
said the investor would compensate the local
‘management’ of Aboriginal people in the Northern
communities for their land He said URANEX had
Territory. It was no longer part of government thinking that
discovered 29 million pounds of MR Chiligati uranium
self-determination and Aboriginal control over land could
deposits in Manyoni.
be allowed to continue. These were the Whitlam notions of
http://allafrica.com/stories/201306200076.html 1975 and they were no longer acceptable.
☻☻☻☻☻
Early inklings of change occurred in 2004 with the
“Melanin has significance in protecting against management of grants being transferred from communities
other types of radiation, which make me wonder if to Government’s newly established Indigenous Co-
it’s possible that "dark-skinned" people would be ordination Centres. More ominous were the Amendments of
the last survivors if the earth was destroyed by 2006 to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and the memoranda
nuclear 'radiation'. Now wouldn't that be of agreements that followed. Government had made it clear
interesting.” that it wished to re-engage itself more directly in the control
Continued on page 53

52-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 52 – Uranium Miners Grab
Aboriginal Land in Australia
of community land through leasing options as well as to
open up Aboriginal land for development and mining
purposes.
The plan was to empty the homelands, and this has not
changed. However, it was recognised that achieving this
would be politically fraught – it would need to be
accomplished in a manner that would not off-side
mainstream Australia. Removing Aboriginal people
from their land and taking control over their
communities would need to be presented in a way that
Australians would believe it to be to Aboriginal
advantage, whatever the tactics.
So began the campaign to discredit the people and to
publicly stigmatise Aboriginal men of the Northern
Territory. It would be the Minister himself who would
take centre stage. It seemed that all Aboriginal men
were engaged in paedophilia. The Minister readily gave
television and radio interviews and declared that he
knew there were paedophile rings in every Aboriginal
community. Viewers were asked during their evening
news broadcasts how they felt about Aboriginal
children going to bed at night knowing that they were
not safe. This was a government Minister engaging in a
sensationalist campaign aimed at demoralising
Aboriginal men and was probably the lowest point in
any Government behaviour ever seen in Australia’s
political history. When challenged by the NT Chief
Minister to name the people involved the situation
deteriorated further. With the collusion of the ABC, a
senior executive service bureaucrat from the Minister’s
own office posed as a youth worker from Mutitjulu, a
place he had never visited, and collaborated with the
Minister’s story. There could have been nothing more
sordid.
And even in 2009 when the CEO of the Australian
Crime Commission, John Lawler, reported that his
investigation had shown there were no organised
paedophile rings operating in the NT, no formal
apology was ever made to the Aboriginal men and their
families who were brutally shamed by the false claims.
Beyond this the Australian system appeared to have no
way by which it could confront the former Minister for
the incredible harm done by his persistent inflammatory
public statements which had given rise to negative
stereotyping of an ethnic group. The Minister had done
his job. The Australian people had been suitably
shocked and the Intervention was seen as a necessary
consequence. Furthermore, Labor, that had seemingly
feigned horror at the 2006 amendments to the Abor-
53-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
iginal Land Rights Act, would now eagerly provide
bipartisan support.
What was the psychological impact of publicly shaming
Aboriginal men for repulsive and unacceptable behaviours
that they hadn’t engaged in? It undermined their feelings
of self-worth and marginalised them. It was a direct attack
on their identity. The fact that they had no way of
defending themselves simply led to a state of despair.
One’s sense of safety is bound uncompromisingly with a
belief in justice. When that belief collapses fear of the
unknown takes over.
In many ways the Intervention in all its forms has been an
attack on Aboriginal identity, and continues to be. Just as
the focus on paedophile rings collectively impaled all
Aboriginal men to gross and disgusting acts with innocent
children who needed to be protected, so did the
Intervention target all communities with tales of alcohol
dependence, gambling, pornography use, inefficient
management, money waste, poorly maintained homes,
overcrowding and poor health.
Once again, negative stigmatising of the people was as
one, promoting aspects of dysfunction without providing
background or explanation of situations and ensuring the
most sensationalised elements of disadvantage were
promoted. Measures imposed were not targeted at areas of
need but were simply imposed on all as blanket
measures………
The sudden and brutal upheaval of the Intervention and the
manner in which it was perpetrated left people in a state of
helplessness. It was the unpredictability of their
environment which left them bereft of any natural coping
skills. They had lost all ability to predict what might
happen next. Anxiety levels were high and distress
dominated. The demands were so relentless that any
chance of adapting behaviours to deal with new
circumstances was overtaken by new waves of oppressive
change.
Those elements central to Aboriginal culture were all
under attack – language, law and land. ……….
A fear of dispossession was reinforced by the 2006
amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act whereby
control over community township lands were transferred
from Aboriginal Land Councils to a Government statutory
body. Without discussion, it opened up the possibility for
sub-leases on community owned land. Further reinforced
was the declared intention of emptying the homeland areas
through a Memorandum of Agreement between Federal
and Territory governments that no new housing would
appear on homelands or outstations (September 2007).
Continued on page 54
Continued from page 53 – Uranium Miners Grab
Aboriginal Land in Australia
The changes added to the sense of overwhelming fear
and uncertainty. As Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Elder from
Utopia, said, “take away from me my language, take
away from me my responsibilities for the land, take
away from me my land, and I am nothing ”. This then
was the impact of the Intervention……
For Australia, the Intervention has simply been one
more step backwards into the mire of dispossession and
dishonesty. So captivated have our leaders become by
the lure of development and gain that delusion has
convinced them that the benefits to Aboriginal people
of such plunder will far outweigh the loss of control
over their lives. …..
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about
things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr.
http://lateralloveaustralia.com/2013/06/21/sixth-anniversary-
of-the-northern-territory-intervention-striking-the-wrong-
note/
http://uranium-news.com/2013/08/04/uranium-miners-grab-
aboriginal-land-in-australia-government-helps-by-trashing-
aboriginals-reputation/
☻☻☻☻☻
Congo-Kinshasa: Growing
Evidence of Radioactive
Contamination in DRC
By Simone Schlindwein
11 June 2013
Deutsche Welle
Human rights activists say uranium is being mined
illegally in DRC. Doctors record an increase in the
number of pre-birth deformities in areas close to mines.
Kimilolo is a small settlement on the banks of the
Kafubu River in the south of the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC), just a short distance away from the
provincial capital Lubumbashi. At first sight, all seems
calm. Water, from the river flows into artificial
fishponds. For more than 10 years, human rights activist
Jean-Claude Baka has been coming to the river to take
water samples. The reason: more and more fish in the
ponds have been dying and people in the surrounding
area have been falling ill, some have died. Baka wants
to find out why. He suspects the reason is radioactive
contamination. But to find proof is an extremely risky
business, he says.
54-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Jean Claude Baka takes water samples
"Someone like me who specialises in tracking down illegal
supplies of uranium has to be very careful since important
politicians and business people are earning money from
smuggling," he says. To back this up, he tells the
following story. Two years ago, a truck carrying uranium
was stopped and confiscated as it drove out of the
Shinkolobwe mine. Officially, the mine is closed. A
journalist on the scene took pictures of the truck and
measured the radiation being emitted, Baka told DW. A
few days later the journalist was dead. "Whether he died
from natural causes or was murdered to cover up evidence
- only God knows," said Baka.
Dangerous emissions - risky research
Shinkolobwe is one of several uranium mines in the area
around Lubumbashi and is one of the oldest in the world.
The uranium used in the atom bombs dropped by the US
in 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
came from Shinkolobwe.
The mine has been officially closed since 2004 and
legislation prohibits any extraction or trade with the
radioactive raw material. However, the head of the human
rights association "Association Africaine des Droits de
l'Homme" (ASADHO), Golden Misabiko, published
documents showing that mining was taking place illegally.
Shortly afterwards Misabiko was arrested. His place has
been taken by his colleague Jean-Claude Baka who
repeatedly records high levels of radioactivity in the water
and the soil.
Deformed babies
Working conditions at Shinkolobwe mine shortly before it
was officially closed. Clinic Number 17 has the reputation
of being the best clinic in Lubumbashi for pregnant
women. Gynacologist Professor Gabriel Kapya specialises
in the pre-birth identification of deformities. For 20 years
he was the company doctor at DRC's largest mining
company Gecamines. There he treated the wives of
mineworkers. In the last few years Kapya diagnosed an
increasing number of pre-birth physical abnormalities.
"We gynacologists have registered an increase in the
number of serious deformities," Kapya told DW. He
noticed this particularly in 2006 and 2007 when the
trading price for uranium was high and it seems that many
workers streamed to the mines to earn money illegally.
Kapya showed photographs of deformed embryos. One
foetus has an open stomach, another has an external tumor.
In the case of one child, its sex cannot be determined.
"These are all children of men living and working in the
mine," Kapya said. He produced another photo and
Continued on page 55
Continued from page 54 – Congo-Kinshasa: Growing
Evidence of Radioactive Contamination in DRC
recounted how a woman came to him. A medical scan
revealed that the embryo was alive but it had no head.
"We induced a miscarriage," Kapya said. "We couldn't
show the mother her baby - it would have been too
traumatic for her."
For Kapya, there is no doubt that the parents of the
headless baby were subjected to radioactive
contamination.
'Military and police involvement'
Several reports by the United Nations, as well as
documents from the US embassy in DRC's capital
Kinshasa, which were published by the online portal
Wikileaks in 2011, provide additional evidence that
uranium is being secretly extracted in numerous mines
in the Lubumbashi region.
Gynacologist Gabriel Kapya holds up photos of
deformed foetuses
A multinational mining company owned by Belgian
entrepreneur George Arthur Forrest is also suspected of
mining not only copper and cobalt, but also uranium
illegally. In an interview with DW, Forrest admitted he
has problems with the mineworkers. "They come and
do what they want. There's anarchy and chaos and that's
dangerous," he said. But he rejects any responsility for
criminal acts. He puts the blame on the police and
military. They were the ones who sent the men into the
mines, he said. "That's illegal, we have no control over
this. The human rights activists who point the finger at
us - why don't they target the real smugglers whose
identity is known?" he asks. "Why do they accuse us?
We have also fought against corruption. That's
blackmail."
While Jean-Claude Baka risks his life in Lubumbashi to
uncover the illegal trade in uranium, politicians in
Kinshasa are thinking about using nuclear power to
improve the supply of electricity in the country. Africa's
oldest atomic reactor (built in 1958) is located in
Kinshasa. It was switched off in 2004. Now the
possibility of starting it up again is being examined. By
then at the latest, the DRC ought to have tightened its
legislation on uranium mining.
http://www.allafrica.com/stories/201306121211.html
☻☻☻☻☻
55-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Radiation Issue resurfaces
after Inspectorate is allocated
Land
By Reuben Pitse
4 August 2013
After a long battle, the Radiation Protection Inspectorate
(RPI) has finally been awarded a piece of land by the
Ngwato Land Board where a radiation facility will be
constructed in Pilikwe Village in Tswapong North.
The issue has re-ignited divisions between villagers and
government with the pressure group, which is against the
project, threatening to sue the government over the issue.
The Director of the Radiation Protection Inspectorate,
Thapelo Otukile, has confirmed to Sunday Standard that
his department had been awarded a piece of land by the
Ngwato Land Board that they have long applied for.
“The department has finally been allocated a piece of land
in Pilikwe where the facility will be constructed,” he said.
He explained that the project was planned for
implementation during the National Development Plan 10
when funds are available.
Otukile revealed that the facility is expected to be
constructed before the year 2016, adding that “it should be
emphasized that the facility is not a disposal site but an
area where disused radiation source can be reconditioned
to be brought back to the use or repackaged and sent back
to the manufacturer”.
He said that it should be clearly understood that Botswana
does not generate nuclear waste since there is no nuclear
power plant that generates both liquid and solid nuclear
waste.
He further stated that the country has no capacity and
capability as well as land to dispose of such waste if it
happened that the country has the capability of producing
nuclear waste.
Otukele said his department was never at loggerheads with
Pilikwe residents but instead, they engaged all the
concerned parties and will continue to consult with their
stakeholders because it is an ongoing process.
He pointed out that RPI mandate is to provide safe use of
nuclear technology to protect the public, environment and
users against adverse effects of ionizing technology.
“I am aware of the issue but as you know, I was elected
early this year as the new councilor therefore I am not
Continued on page 56
Continued from page 55 – Radiation Issue resurfaces after
Inspectorate is allocated Land
in a good position to comment on the issue as yet until
after being briefed,” said Ace Moinami, the area
councilor.
Village headman Bokopano Koodibetse declined to
comment saying that he could not issue contradictory
statements as there is a task force looking at the matter.
Dr Sebusang Sebusang, a member of the task force
selected by the villagers, said he is very disappointed by
the Ngwato Land Board for allocating RPI with a piece
of land before they can conclude the negotiations.
“What the Land Board has done is really
embarrassing,” he said.
He threatened that even though the department may
have won and was allocated the site, the battle is not yet
over as the task force may consider taking the legal
route as a last resort.
“We want both parties to engage each other rather than
taking the legal route, which should not be the case,” he
said.
Sebusang said of most concern is the fact that the
minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology,
Johnie Swartz, under whom the RPI falls, never
addressed the residents over the issue since the
discussions started a few years ago.
“We still want the minister to address the residents of
Pilikwe,” he said.
Sebusang added that they have realized that there is no
political will to address the issue.
He appealed to the government for an amicable
resolution of the matter.
Meanwhile some residents say that they “will do what it
takes to defend our village as the project will bring
disaster to our village”.
They claimed that there are few individuals within the
village and in Gaborone who they labeled as “sell outs”
who they allege go against the will of the people as they
have connections with the high ranking officials.
“We know these sell outs as well as their agenda and
will do our best to defeat their intentions.”
http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=17490
&GroupID=1
☻☻☻☻☻
56-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Zimbabwe – Mugabe
threatens UK and US Firms
over Sanctions
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
August 25, 2013
Reuters
HARARE | (Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe threatened “tit-for-tat” retaliation against
companies from Britain and the United States on Sunday if
the Western nations persisted in pressuring his government
with sanctions and what he called “harassment”.
Mugabe’s latest verbal broadside against his main Western
critics followed their questioning of his re-election in a
July 31 vote that his rival Morgan Tsvangirai denounced
as a “coup by ballot” which he said involved widespread
vote-rigging.
Mugabe, who at 89 is Africa’s oldest leader, has rejected
the fraud allegations and was sworn in on Thursday for a
new five-year term in the southern African nation that he
has ruled since its independence from Britain in 1980.
“They should not continue to harass us, the British and
Americans,” he told supporters at the funeral of an air
force officer.
“We have not done anything to their companies here, the
British have several companies in this country, and we
have not imposed any controls, any sanctions against
them, but time will come when we will say well, tit-for-tat,
you hit me I hit you.”
British companies in Zimbabwe include banking groups
Standard Chartered Plc and Barclays Plc. These are
already the target of a so-called “indigenisation” policy
that requires they cede a majority stake to black
Zimbabweans.
The policy has also been applied to foreign mining houses
in the mineral-rich country including those owned by
South African companies such as Impala Platinum.
The United States has a far more limited corporate
presence in Zimbabwe than Britain.
TARGETED SANCTIONS
Mugabe and prominent members of his ZANU-PF party,
which won a two-thirds majority in the July 31 election,
are the targets of financial and travel sanctions imposed by
the United States and the European Union. These were
applied by Washington and Brussels to punish alleged
election-rigging and abuses of power.
Continued on page 54
Continued from page 53 – Zimbabwe – Mugabe threatens
UK and US Firms over Sanctions
The European Union in March eased most sanctions
against Zimbabwe after the country’s voters approved a
new constitution which paved the way for July’s poll,
but kept Mugabe and nine of his closest associates on
the list.
It will review relations with Zimbabwe because of its
“serious concerns” about the election, EU foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday. Its
verdict on the vote will be crucial to a decision on
whether it continues to ease sanctions.
Britain said last week Mugabe’s re-election could not
be deemed credible without an independent
investigation into allegations of voting irregularities.
U.S. officials also said the July 31 election was flawed
and Washington had no plans to loosen sanctions until
there were signs of change in the country.
In contrast, observers from the regional 15-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
and the African Union broadly endorsed the vote as free
and peaceful, and called on all parties to accept its
results.
Mugabe still enjoys support in Africa for his role in the
liberation guerrilla war that helped end white-minority
rule in what was formerly Rhodesia, and led to its
independence.
He frequently accuses his critics of racism and of
wanting to recolonise Zimbabwe. “They think, we the
blacks are inferior, they are superior. But in Zimbabwe
we will never accept that a white man, merely because
he is white is superior, no. We will chase them away,”
Mugabe said about Western powers on Sunday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/25/uk-zimbabwe-
idUKBRE97O07620130825
☻☻☻☻☻
NIGER: Desert Residents
pay High Price for Lucrative
Uranium Mining
By Simon Allison
13 August 2013
DAKAR, 30 March 2009 (IRIN) - After a visit in late
March from French President Nicholas Sarkozy to
Niger, residents in the uranium-exporting desert country
continue questioning whether AREVA, a company
primarily owned by the French government, will honour
57-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
its promise to protect communities from mining hazards.
Studies and residents’ testimonies have pointed to health
and environmental dangers from mining operations owned
and operated by both AREVA’s subsidiaries and the Niger
government.
Salifou Adifou, 67, worked for 40 years as a driller at
Niger’s SOMAÏR (Aïr Mountains Mining Company), a
public-private venture with AREVA owning 63 percent.
The retiree told IRIN he has undiagnosed health problems.
“I have stomach and chest pains, but since retirement [in
1999], I cannot afford health care.” Adifou said his friend
who had worked as a miner is now bedridden. Neither
knows the cause of his health problems, Adifou told IRIN.
Air
The AREVA majority-owned mine called COMINAK
(Mining Company of Akouta) commissioned an
environmental study of its operations in Arlit in 2006,
which reported that the number of deaths linked to
respiratory infections was twice as high in the mining
town (16 percent) as in the rest of the country.
Arlit’s population is 110,000.
“The wind carries dust contaminated with the long-lasting
radium [time required for it to lose toxicity is more than
1,600 years] and lead…Samples taken from 5km within
site…Sandstorms [and] atmospheric waste from mines
could be aggravating factors for pulmonary [illnesses] in
the region,” the researchers wrote in COMINAK’s
environmental study.
But AREVA dismisses the link between mining and
elevated health problems in its January 2009 report on
mining activities in Niger. “These problems are typical in
desert zones…they are not linked to mining activities.”
Nevertheless AREVA directors have agreed to set up
health diagnostic centres in all countries where it extracts
uranium, starting with Gabon, according to the Paris-based
human rights legal association Sherpa. "It has been two
long, difficult years to get to this point with the company
to give workers a voice," Sherpa director Yann Queinnec
told IRIN.
Plans are still being finalised, said Queinnec, but the
agreement is that each centre would have an advisory
board with representation from workers, local officials,
non-profit organisations and AREVA.
Queinnec said it took years “to craft an agreement that will
be different from other accords signed in the name of
protecting workers," of which key components, the lawyer
said, remain unfulfilled.
Continued on page 58
Continued from page 57 – NIGER: Desert Residents pay
High Price for Lucrative Uranium Mining
Soil
The Paris-based Commission of Research and
Independent Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD)
has written of “serious safety lapses” in and near
AREVA mining sites in Niger.
In 2007 CRIIRAD researchers said they found locals
selling contaminated scrap metal from mining sites and
the materials were eventually used in housing
construction, kitchen utensils and tools. In 2003
CRIIRAD had recommended that AREVA identify and
dispose of contaminated metals.
Radioactive waste – possibly used in road construction
– may be responsible for the abnormally high levels of
radiation, according to CRIIRAD. In 2007 CRIIRAD
researchers wrote that radiation levels were up to 100
times above average in front of the AREVA-funded
hospital near the COMINAK mine.
Water
In response to criticism that mining has contaminated
increasingly scarce drinking water in northern Niger,
AREVA published a statement in January 2009 that
“monthly bacterial, bi-annual radiological, and annual
chemical analyses show the absence of [water]
contamination.”
But environmental studies carried out by CRIIRAD and
Sherpa in 2005 in mining communities showed water
radiation levels up to 110 times higher than World
Health Organization (WHO) safe drinking water
standards in industrial areas and 10 times higher in
urban areas.
Uranium extraction requires water to clean the mining
site, treat the mineral and cover workers’ and their
families’ water needs, according to AREVA.
Pastoralists have also accused AREVA of depleting the
region’s water.
By AREVA’s calculation the company has pumped 270
million cubic metres of groundwater during the past 40
years from its two mines in Arlit, of which 35 percent
has been for mining activities and the rest for the town’s
use.
AREVA spokesperson Yves Dufour said recently in the
French media that AREVA’s future water needs in
Imouraren, 80km south of Arlit, will be only a fraction
of the eight billion cubic metres of desert groundwater
available in the area. AREVA is investing US$1.5
billion in Imouraren in what is expected to be the
country’s largest uranium mine.
58-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Hydrologists estimate that rain-fed groundwater sources –
similar to the aquifer AREVA is tapping 150m beneath the
desert – can take some 200 years to replenish.
Corporate responsibility
Though the Niger government owns one-third of the
uranium mines, Almoustapha Alhacen – head of the Arlit-
based environmental NGO Aghir In’Man – told IRIN he
holds AREVA wholly responsible for the north’s
environmental and health problems. “AREVA is in
Canada, but does it exploit uranium as savagely as it does
here? Have Canada’s cattle also died?”
Pastoralists have blamed a number of cattle deaths on
contamination of wells from which animals drink.
AREVA extracted an estimated 3,200 metric tons of
uranium in northern Canada in 2007, slightly more than in
Niger for the same period. In a May 2007 survey of 1,000
residents living near AREVA’s uranium mining
operations in Canada, 80 percent respon ded they
supported uranium exploration.
AREVA Resources Canada’s spokesperson Alun Richards
told IRIN his company rents daily charter planes to
transport 350 employees from their remote northern homes
to the mining site in Saskatchewan province explaining
how workers, mostly nomads, “need to be near their
extended family networks”. In addition, the Canadian
mine gives local communities $80,000 per year to carry
out their own environmental impact studies. “People do
not read studies. They trust results more if they test their
own food and rivers they fish from,” said Richards.
Mines in Canada are “heavily regulated” by some 30
government agencies, from fisheries to nuclear safety, he
added. Half the work force is hired from the local
community, Richards told IRIN. “It is just as important
that we maintain our social obligations and community
standing as it is [that we] meet environmental and health
regulations,” Richards said.
Even though AREVA France invests $1 million a year for
community development in northern Niger, according to
its records, NGO leader Alhacen said most mining
community residents have “generally negative” views
about the industry.
When asked why a private company that shares ownership
with the Niger government should bear most of the burden
of community development, Alhacen said multinationals
working in Africa should recognise their corporate
responsibility.
Niger’s living conditions – as measured by health,
education and income - are among the worst worldwide,
according to the UN. Continued on page 59
Continued from page 58 – NIGER: Desert Residents pay
High Price for Lucrative Uranium Mining
AREVA France has said its approach is not to dispense
“charity” but rather to engage locals in running projects
and to increase coordination with donors. Alhacen said
damages from mining far outweigh the benefits in
Niger. “AREVA [France] publicises that it pays for
200,000 medical visits a year. We do not see that here.
Even so, that is admitting that tens of thousands are
getting sick every year,” said Alhacen.
Government responsibility
Since June 2007 the Niger government has placed more
than half the country under a state of alert as a result of
a decades-long rebellion that re-erupted in February
2007. Hundreds have died and thousands have been
displaced in the last two years as a result of fighting.
Rebels who have attacked military posts and water and
electricity plants that feed AREVA operations are
demanding more mining profits for community
development and more protection from mining’s
hazards. They have accused the government of
overlooking what they call AREVA’s environmental
non-compliance in exchange for mining royalties.
The government dismisses the rebellion as a front for
smuggling.
Minister of Information Mohamed Ben Omar told
IRIN: “The government has made every effort to
protect local populations from harmful mining
practices. Just because of profits, we are not looking the
other way,” he said. “We have ratified every
international relevant convention [on mining] and taken
all necessary control measures.”
But leader of the rebel front that launched the February
2007 attack, Aghaly Ag Alambo, told IRIN that mining
communities are still not safe. "AREVA is not the main
problem. It is not AREVA's job to provide for
Nigeriens. It is the government that has failed its
people."
http://www.irinnews.org/report/83706/niger-desert-residents-
pay-high-price-for-lucrative-uranium-mining
☻☻☻☻☻
Alleged Iranian Uranium
Deal with Zimbabwe May
Revive Sanctions Debate
By Diane Barnes
August 22, 2013
Global Security Newswire
59-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
WASHINGTON -- An alleged clandestine deal in which
Zimbabwe might sell sensitive nuclear material to Iran
could revive debate over the Persian Gulf nation’s ability
to import uranium ore, despite international sanctions.
Zimbabwe’s government took pains last week to deny
allegations that it was secretly preparing to supply Iran
with unrefined uranium, going so far as to hunt down a
journalist who had reported the story and to demand a
confession that he had fabricated substantiating comments
from a government official.
Some analysts, though, say the southern African nation has
parsed its denials, leaving open the possibility of
backtracking later on, should it ever decide to sell uranium
ore to the suspected nuclear arms aspirant.
The Times of London on Aug. 10 quoted a senior official
in Zimbabwe’s mining ministry describing a memorandum
of understanding “to export uranium to the Iranians.”
The article’s headline describes the understanding as a
“secret deal.” Paraphrasing the official, the newspaper said
the arrangement was known by “only a handful of people
at the top of Zimbabwe’s government.”
If true, the planned transfer of the sensitive material could
potentially violate international sanctions against Iran.
Washington and its allies contend the Persian Gulf nation
has flouted its U.N. atomic safeguards agreement and
previously hidden military efforts aimed at ultimately
developing nuclear warheads.
The report’s publication prompted a scramble by President
Robert Mugabe’s government to provide an explanation.
Deputy Mines and Mining Development Minister Gift
Chimanikire, the reported source of the revelation, accused
the British newspaper of misrepresenting his comments in
an Aug. 8 interview.
Journalist Jerome Starkey “thought of selling his paper by
being untruthful,” Chimanikire told Zimbabwe’s Sunday
Mail newspaper. Separately, Mugabe’s minister for mines
and mining development suggested that the Times
reporter’s conversation with his deputy had taken place “in
a dream.”
Zimbabwean authorities then reportedly went a step
further, arresting the article’s co-author -- veteran
correspondent Jan Raath -- and compelling him on
Thursday to state in an affidavit that he had falsified his
contribution to the story.
Starkey, who tweeted last Monday that he was in Kenya, a
day earlier decried Zimbabwe’s search for the journalists
as a “manhunt.” With its forceful response, the Mugabe
government appeared to be underscoring its denial that one
Continued on page 60
Continued from page 59 – Alleged Iranian Uranium Deal
with Zimbabwe May Revive Sanctions Debate
of its officials had told them about a backroom uranium
agreement with Tehran, Starkey indicated on Friday in
response to a question.
Iran could refine raw uranium into fuel for nuclear
power plants and nonmilitary research reactors, but the
United States and other Western countries fear the
Persian Gulf state wants to enrich the material to high
purities for possible use in nuclear weapons.
The U.N. Security Council threatens harsh economic
sanctions against any country found to sell uranium to
Iran, except in pre-made nuclear power plant fuel rods.
However, neither Iran nor Zimbabwe is legally
obligated to keep international monitors apprised of any
trade in unrefined uranium ore, according to Olli
Heinonen, a former top monitoring official for the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The U.N.
watchdog organization is responsible for ensuring that
nuclear assets under its watch are not diverted for
military use.
“If Iran recovers uranium from the ore, it is obliged to
report it only when it has reached the purity suitable for
fuel fabrication or enrichment,” Heinonen, now a senior
fellow with Harvard University’s Belfer Center for
Science and International Affairs, said in an e-mailed
response to questions.
Iran is now known in the 1990s to have discreetly
imported uranium in forms it was supposed to declare,
and its history of carrying out clandestine nuclear
energy activities has created longstanding international
worries that some amount of Iranian atomic work might
still be going unreported to the U.N. organization.
In 2003, Tehran disputed the agency’s contention that it
was obligated to report a different form of uranium it
had acquired from abroad 12 years earlier.
Iran has long denied harboring nuclear-bomb ambitions
and insists it needs raw uranium to feed its legitimate
atomic activities. Tehran described plans to build new
research reactors when it announced the launch of two
new domestic uranium mines in April. Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace nuclear expert Mark
Hibbs, speaking to GSN by telephone from Berlin,
noted that Iranian officials foresee a shortfall from the
country’s domestic stocks as it expands its atomic
energy program.
Speaking to Bloomberg within hours of the Times
article’s publication, Chimanikire said Zimbabwe had
reached a broad “mineral trading” agreement with Iran
60-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
that does not specify the export of uranium. He added,
though, that his country is still working out how much
uranium it possesses, and has yet to begin providing the
substance “to anyone at all.”
An expert in African economics and security said the
Mugabe government carefully qualified its rebuttal of the
Times article. Zimbabwe last week said its uranium
resources were still untapped, and the country has “never
issued any [mining] license to any Iranian company."
Still, the African nation “has been courting potential
investors for its mineral deposits -- including uranium --
for some time,” Raymond Gilpin, dean of the National
Defense University’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies,”
told Global Security Newswire in an e-mail.
In early 2011, the country formally welcomed Tehran to
access its uranium ore. “Zimbabwe holds rich resources,
but the problem we face is lack of budget, finance and
required technical equipment to take the very rich
resources out and use them," Zimbabwean Foreign
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said at the time.
One Chinese company recently ruled out mining
Zimbabwe’s uranium after deeming its deposits too small
to be commercially worthwhile, Gilpin said. However, “a
less risk-averse customer might consider investing in the
deposits,” he said.
Tehran might “see Zimbabwe as a possible partner in a
secret venture simply from the point of view that Mugabe
faces diplomatic pressure from some of the same Western
countries that are now sanctioning Iran,” Hibbs said.
A Clinton-era U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said that
poor economic policies and election practices have kept
Mugabe’s government “in the international doghouse” for
years. Any Zimbabwean uranium shipments to Iran would
most likely be detected at some point, landing Harare in an
even “deeper international hole,” said Johnnie Carson,
who stepped down in March from a four-year stint heading
the U.S. State Department’s African Affairs Bureau.
The recent Times article reportedly prompted the State
Department to caution Mugabe’s government against
selling uranium to Iran, warning that such sales could
violate a 7-year-old U.N. Security Council sanctions
resolution. That measure could allow a Security Council
committee to impose trade restrictions and financial
penalties on “persons or entities” found to be selling
uranium ore to Iran.
However, international differences over sanctions
enforcement could bode poorly for that body’s future
ability to act on potential violations, Patrick Clawson,
Continued on page 61
Continued from page 60– Alleged Iranian Uranium Deal
with Zimbabwe May Revive Sanctions Debate
research director for the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, indicated by e-mail.
In addition, global condemnation has not always been
enough in the past to deter Zimbabwe from engaging in
illicit mineral dealings, according to Peter Hain, a
former Africa minister for the British Foreign Office.
“Zimbabwe’s precious metals trade needs to be
regulated properly,” the Labor Party lawmaker said in a
phone interview from the United Kingdom. He said
Zimbabwe continues to traffic in domestically mined
“blood diamonds,” even though the United Nations
denounced such trade years ago. I’m very concerned
that they could easily export the uranium to Iran, lifting
two fingers at the international community,” he said,
referring to the British equivalent of a middle-digit
insult in the United States.
http://news.yahoo.com/alleged-iranian-uranium-deal-
zimbabwe-may-revive-sanctions-160203149.html
☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 44 - Glowing Green with
Outrage
actually prefer the term 'Apocalypse.' Although there are
some questions regarding their credibility on certain
issues, Russia Today is the second-most watched
foreign-media organization in the US after the BBC and
the Russians have more expertise on nuclear calamities
than anybody else. I won't try and steal their thunder
since they do an admirable job painting the likely
impossibility of this undertaking. Let's just say that
when scientists start using terms like "open-air super
reactor spectacular," it's probably time to take notice.
I think most of us respect the efficiency and capabilities
of the Japanese people. Coming out of WWII, they
became a major power again very rapidly. And simply
put, they cannot handle nuclear power. This calls into
question whether anyone else can either. The Japanese
may be more prone to troubles due to their country's
tendency to quake but nuclear plants anywhere can be
damaged by other means such as floods, solar flairs, and
terrorist attacks. Heck, even a rogue meteor could
happen. And unlike other power plants, if things go
really bad, people all over the world will pay the price
for as long as radioactive elements take to break down.
Uranium-235 has a half-life of 700 million years. I don't
think that's a price we should be considering paying.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Glowing-Green-with-
Outrage-by-Adam-Smith-Cancer_Energy_Energy_Energy-
130827-96.html
☻☻☻☻☻
61-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Fukushima: Think Low Level
Radiation Is Harmless?
Think Again…
August 25, 2013
Cutting through the Misinformation
In response to the news that mass quantities of highly-
radioactive water are flowing from Fukushima into the
Pacific Ocean – and that the radioactivity is spreading to
North America – the usual suspects are saying that that
low-level radiation won’t hurt anyone. Indeed, some
advocate intentionally dumping all of Fukushima’s
radiation into the sea as a “safe” solution. (And some folks
are pretending that a little radiation is good for you.) The
truth is quite different.
Even Miniscule Amounts of Radiation Can Be
Dangerous
A major 2012 scientific study proves that low-level
radiation can cause huge health problems. Science
Daily reports:
Even the very lowest levels of radiation are harmful to
life, scientists have concluded in the Cambridge
Philosophical Society’s journal Biological Reviews.
Reporting the results of a wide-ranging analysis of 46
peer-reviewed studies published over the past 40 years,
researchers from the University of South Carolina and the
University of Paris-Sud found that variation in low-level,
natural background radiation was found to have small, but
highly statistically significant, negative effects on DNA as
well as several measures of health.
The review is a meta-analysis of studies of locations
around the globe …. “Pooling across multiple studies, in
multiple areas, and in a rigorous statistical manner
provides a tool to really get at these questions about low-
level radiation.”
Mousseau and co-author Anders Møller of the University
of Paris-Sud combed the scientific literature,
examining more than 5,000 papers involving natural
background radiation that were narrowed to 46 for
quantitative comparison. The selected studies all examined
both a control group and a more highly irradiated
population and quantified the size of the radiation levels
for each. Each paper also reported test statistics that
allowed direct comparison between the studies.
The organisms studied included plants and animals, but
had a large preponderance of human subjects. Each study
examined one or more possible effects of radiation, such
as DNA damage measured in the lab,
Continued on page 70
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
Radioprotective Potential of Plants and Herbs against
the Effects of Ionizing Radiation
By Ganesh C. Jagetia
Department of Radiobiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal-576 104, India

Abstract of discovery of X-rays, the real magnitude was not

Ionizing radiations produce deleterious effects in the
living organisms and the rapid technological
advancement has increased human exposure to
ionizing radiations enormously. There is a need to
protect humans against such effects of ionizing
radiation. Attempts to protect against the deleterious
effects of ionizing radiations by pharmacological
intervention were made as early as 1949 and efforts
are continued to search radioprotectors, which may be
of great help for human application. This review
mainly dwells on the radioprotective potential of plant
and herbal extracts. The results obtained from in vitro
and in vivo studies indicate that several botanicals
such as Gingko biloba, Centella asiatica, Hippophae
rhamnoides, Ocimum sanctum, Panax ginseng,
Podophyllum hexandrum, Amaranthus paniculatus,
Emblica officinalis, Phyllanthus amarus, Piper
longum, Tinospora cordifoila, Mentha arvensis,
Mentha piperita, Syzygium cumini, Zingiber
officinale, Ageratum conyzoides, Aegle marmelos and
Aphanamixis polystachya protect against radiation-
induced lethality, lipid peroxidation and DNA
damage. The fractionation-guided evaluation may
help to develop new radioprotectors of desired
activities.
Keywords: radioprotection, antioxidant, survival,
micronuclei
Introduction
Need for chemical radioprotection
The discovery of X-rays by Roentgen in the year
1895 and radioactivity by Becquerel in the year 1896
can be considered as the turning point in human
health care as the X-rays allowed to peep inside the
human body [1, 2]. Although harmful effects of
ionizing radiations were reported within a few months
known. Study of occupational workers like
physicians and scientists handling radioactivity gave
a clear picture of the harmful effects of ionizing
radiations, which was further strengthened after the
study of Japanese atomic bomb survivors of 1945. It
is now fairly well established that radiation produces
deleterious effects on the organisms and widespread
use of radiation in diagnosis therapy, industry,
energy sector and inadvertent exposure during air
and space travel, nuclear accidents and nuclear
terror attacks requires safeguard against human
exposures. Lead shielding and other physical
measures are cumbersome to use in such situations,
therefore pharmacological intervention could be the
most prudent strategy to protect humans against the
harmful effect of ionizing radiations.
Chemical radioprotection
The use of chemicals to protect against the harmful
effects of radiation was attempted after World War
II with the realization of the need to safeguard
humans against the military use of atomic weapons.
Patt and his co-workers (1949) were the first to
investigate the effect of amino-acid cysteine in rats
exposed to lethal doses of X-rays [3]. They found
that pretreatment of rats protected them against the
radiation-induced lethality. Thereafter, several
chemical compounds and their analogues have been
screened for their radioprotective ability however,
their high toxicity at optimum protective doses
precluded their clinical use [4, 5]. The other major
drawback of these compounds was that they were
unable to provide post-irradiation protection. With
the recognition that normal tissue protection during
radiotherapy is as important as the destruction of
cancer cells, the focus of protection research became
Continued on page 63

62-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 62 – Radioprotective Potential of
Plants and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation
more therapy oriented. Recent terror attacks throughout
the world has strengthened the idea that it its necessary
to devise appropriate measures against the nuclear
terror attacks by using pharmacological agents that can
protect against the ill effects of radiation.
The high toxicity of thiol compounds necessitated
search for alternative agents, which could be less toxic
and highly effective at non-toxic dose levels. It was also
thought that products/compounds isolated from natural
sources could be of substantial use as non-toxic
radioprotectors. Therefore, investigators diverted their
attention towards the plant and natural products during
the last two decades. Plants have been reported to play
an important role in the discovery of new drugs for the
treatment of human diseases, which indicated that
natural products play a highly significant role and their
analogues have been screened for their radioprotective
ability however, their high toxicity at optimum
protective doses precluded their clinical use [4, 5]. The
other major drawback of these compounds was that
they were unable to provide post-irradiation protection.
With the recognition that normal tissue protection
during radiotherapy is as important as the destruction of
cancer cells, the focus of protection research became
more therapy oriented. Recent terror attacks throughout
the world has strengthened the idea that it its necessary
to devise appropriate measures against the nuclear
terror attacks by using pharmacological agents that can
protect against the ill effects of radiation.
The high toxicity of thiol compounds necessitated
search for alternative agents, which could be less toxic
and highly effective at non-toxic dose levels. It was also
thought that products/compounds isolated from natural
sources could be of substantial use as non-toxic
radioprotectors. Therefore, investigators diverted their
attention towards the plant and natural products during
the last two decades. Plants have been reported to play
an important role in the discovery of new drugs for the
treatment of human diseases, which indicated that
natural products play a highly significant role in the
drug discovery and development process [6]. This was
particularly evident in the areas of cancer and infectious
diseases, where over 60% and 75% of these drugs,
respectively, were shown to be of natural origin. A
good chemical protector should be able to protect
against the deleterious effect of ionizing radiation
during therapeutic procedures as well as during nuclear
accidents, space flight and background irradiation etc.
An ideal radioprotector should be cheap, does not have
63-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
toxic implications in a wide dose range, orally
administered, rapidly absorbed, possesses a reasonably
good dose reduction factor and can act through multiple
mechanisms. The plant and natural products have all these
qualities. They are usually non-toxic, relatively cheap, can
be orally administered and could act through multiple
mechanisms due to the presence of many chemicals.
Therefore, screening of plants and natural products is a
useful paradigm for radioprotection. The advantage of
plants and natural products is that they are used in several
traditional systems of medicines. They are usually
considered non-toxic and widely accepted by humans.
Their use as radioprotectors needs scientific evaluation
and validation. Once this is done their use, as
radioprotectors could be more successful than synthetic
chemicals.
Assessment of radioprotective potential of plants and
herbs
The most pragmatic approach to select the possible
candidate to evaluate radioprotective effect is to look into
the available properties of the substance. Whether a
substance has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant,
antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, free radical scavenging
or anti-stress properties, if so, it may act as a potential
radioprotector and could be the right candidate for
evaluation of its radioprotective activity.
Short-term in vitro tests can provide a basis for detailed
evaluation of radioprotective activity. The simplest tests
could be the evaluation of lipid peroxidation in vitro.
Assay of free radicals and antioxidant status of a
pharmacological agent can also provide some leads
regarding the radioprotective potential of such agents. If a
plant or a natural product is found to inhibit lipid
peroxidation and scavenge free radicals, it may act as a
possible radioprotector. The next step is to evaluate its
radioprotective potential in vitro using cell survival and
micronuclei assays. If it is found to elevate cell survival
and reduce radiation-induced micronuclei formation, it
certainly has a potential as a radioprotector.
There are other short-term tests like DNA strand breaks,
apoptosis and estimation of glutathione (GSH) and
enzymes like catalase, glutathione peroxidase etc. that can
also provide an inkling of the radioprotective activity of
any pharmacological agent. However, the gold standard
for radioprotective activity is the evaluation of 30-day
survival in rodents, since the animal studies with death as
the end point are the most confirmatory, because the 30-
day survival after lethal whole body irradiation clearly
indicates the capacity of the pharmacological agent in test
to modulate the recovery and regeneration of the gastro-
Continued from page 64
Continued from page 63 – Radioprotective Potential of
Plants and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation
intestinal epithelium and the hemopoietic progenitor
cells in the bone marrow, the two most radiosensitive
organs that are essential for sustenance of the life [7].
The most reliable procedures involve determination of
a dose reduction factor (DRF). In animal studies, DRFs
are typically determined by irradiating mice with or
without administering radioprotective agent at a range
of radiation doses and then comparing the endpoint of
interest. For example, the DRF for 30-day survival
(LD50/30 drug-treated divided by LD50/30 vehicle-
treated) quantifies protection of the hemopoietic
system [8, 9]. With sufficient loss of hemopoietic stem
cells, death follows due to infection, hemorrhage, and
anemia. The GI syndrome in mice can be assessed by
determining survival up to ten days (measure of GI
death) after exposure to comparatively high doses of
whole-body radiation, whereas hemopoeitic syndrome
can be assessed by monitoring the survival of irradiated
animals up to 30 days post-irradiation [7–11]. The
intestinal crypt cell assay or functional changes also
serve as indicators of GI damage [12]. The most
informative and useful preclinical studies relate
protective effects to the drug’s toxicity in the same
animal model.
The efficacy of radioprotectors in clinical practice
requires different end points. Among other endpoints
amenable to the determination of beneficial effects of
radioprotectors, the most readily evaluable is
protection against mucositis and xerostomia resulting
from head and neck radiotherapy and various side
effects when the GI tract is in the radiation field [13].
Plants and herbs as radioprotectors
Several botanicals have been screened for their
radioprotective activity (Table 1). An intravenous
infusion of an ethanol extract of Gingko biloba leaves,
at a dose of 100 mg/person was found to be effective in
patients with vasogenic edema observed after
irradiation of the brain [14]. It has been reported to
protect against the clastogenic factors from plasma of
human subjects exposed to irradiation [15]. Treatment
of recovery workers from the Chernobyl accident site
was found to be effective when an oral dose of 40
mg/day of G. biloba was given 3 times daily for 2
months [16].
Aqueous extract of Centella asiatica reduced the
adverse effect of low dose irradiation in Sprague
Dawley rats by inhibiting radiation-induced body
weight loss and conditioned taste aversion [17].
Similarly, it has been found to protect against the
64-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
radiation-induced weight loss in mice exposed to 8 Gy γ-
radiation [18].
Oral administration of a Hippophae rhamnoides fruit
juice concentrate to rats before or after irradiation
increased life span, restored the 11-oxycorticosteroid
level in the blood and weight of isolated adrenals, and
also normalized their basal activity and response to
(ACTH) (corticotropin) under in vitro conditions [19].
Hydroalcoholic extract of berries of H. rhamnoides also
protected mice against γ-radiation-induced mortality,
decline in endogenous colony forming unit (CFU),
micronuclei formation and various other hematological
parameters [20–22].
The radioprotective property of Osimum sanctum was
first reported by Jagetia et al. [23] against the radiation-
induced mortality, thereafter studies by Uma Devi and
her coworkers established its radioprotective efficacy by
evaluating mouse survival, spleen colony assay, and
chromosome aberrations in mouse bone marrow cells.
Apart from these osmium has been reported to protect
against radiation-induced lipid peroxidation and reduction
in glutathione concentration [24, 25].
The radioprotective efficacy of ginseng (Panax ginseng)
has been reported by several workers [26–30]. Ginseng
treatment caused recovery of thrombocyte and
erythrocyte counts in blood after irradiation [31]. The
whole extract of ginseng and the relative protective
effects of various fractions (carbohydrate, protein and
saponins) have been evaluated. The results showed that
the water-soluble whole extract of ginseng provided best
protection against radiation induced damage in C3H
mice, whereas isolated protein and carbohydrate fractions
were less effective, the saponin fraction was ineffective
[32]. Similar results were obtained by Kim and
coworkers, who found that whole ginseng extract and its
fractions increased endogenous spleen colony formation
in irradiated mice and also reduced apoptosis in jejunal
crypt cells [27]. The radioprotective effect of ginseng root
extract on testicular enzymes (acid and alkaline
phosphatases and lipid peroxidation) has also been
reported [28].
Podophyllum. hexandrum has been reported to protect
against radiation-induced mortality, gastrointestinal
damage and embryonic nervous system of developing
mice [20, 33–35]. It has also been reported to protect
against radiation-induced decline in glutathione-S-
transferase, superoxide dismutase in the liver and
intestine of irradiated mice [36].
Oral administration of an aqueous extract of guduchi,
Tinospora cordifolia has been reported to increase the
Continued on page 66
Continued from page 64 - Radioprotective Potential of Plants and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation

Table 1
Radioprotective effect of various herbs and plants
S. Test Ref.
Name Observation
No. system No.
1 Gingko biloba Human Brain edema, clastogenic factors 14–16
2 Centella asiatica Rat, mice Weight loss, taste aversion 17, 18
Hippophae
3 Rat, Survival, ACTH 19
rhamnoides
Mice Survival, CFU, micronuclei 20
4 Osimum sanctum Mice Survival, CFU, chromosome damage, lipid peroxidation, glutathione 23–25
5 Panax ginseng Mice Survival, CFU, apoptosis, testicular enzymes 26–32
Podophyllum 20,
6 Mice Survival, GI damage, nervous system of developing mice, GST, SOD
hexandrum 33–36
Tinospora
7 Mice Survival, CFU, Blood cells 37, 38
cordifolia
8 Emblica officinalis Survival, weight loss 39
Phyllanthus
9 Mice WBC, SOD, catalase, GST, GSHpx, glutathione reductase 40
amarus
Amaranthus
10 Mice Survival, CFU, spleen weight, Lipid peroxidation, GSH 41
paniculatus
WBC, α-Esterase, glutathione pyruvate transaminase, alkaline
11 Piper longum Mice 42
phosphatase, lipid peroxidation
12 Syzigium cumini HPBLS, Micronuclei 7
Mice Radiation-sickness, GI & BM deaths 44–45
13 Mentha arvensis Mice Radiation-sickness, GI & BM deaths 47
Hematological constituents, serum phosphatase, CFU, spleen weight,
14 Mentha piperita Mice 48–50
goblet cells/villus section and chromosomal damage
Zingiber Radiation-sickness, GI & BM deaths, free radicals, GSH lipid
15 Mice 52–53
officinale, peroxidation
Ageratum
16 Mice Radiation-sickness, GI & BM deaths, DPPH radical 54
conyzoides
17 Aegle marmelos HPBLs Micronuclei, free radicals 56
Radiation-sickness, GI & BM deaths, Lipid peroxidation, GSH, CFU,
Mice 57–59
villus height, crypt cells, goblet cells
Aphanamixis aberrant cells, chromatid breaks, chromosome breaks, dicentrics, acentric
18 Mice 60
polystachya fragments and total aberrations
GSH: glutathione, GST: glutathione-s-transferase; GSHpx: glutathione peroxidase; SOD: superoxide
dismutase; GI: gasterointestinal; BM: bone marrow; CFU: colony forming units; HPBLs: Human peripheral
blood lymphocytes; DPPH: diphenylpicryl hydrazyl radical

Contnued on page 66

65-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 65- Radioprotective Potential of Plants
and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation
survival of mice exposed to radiation [37]. Treatment of
mice with hydroalcoholic extract of Tinospora cordifolia
has been found to protect against the radiation-induced
micronuclei formation and oxidative stress and decline
in the mouse survival, spleen CFU and hematological
parameters [38].
The fruit pulp of Amala, Emblica officinalis (EO) has
been reported to increase the survival and inhibit
radiation-induced weight loss in mice [39]. Phyllanthus
amarus has been reported to protect against the
radiation-induced decline in white blood cells (WBC),
superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-S-
transferase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione
reductase [40].
Daily oral administration of 800 mg/kg body weight (b.
wt.) of Rajgira (Amaranthus paniculatus) leaf extract for
15 consecutive days before whole body exposure to γ-
radiation protected mice against the radiation-induced
lethality with a dose reduction factor of 1.36. It
increased endogenous spleen colony forming units and
spleen weight without any side effects or toxicity.
Rajgara extract also arrested radiation-induced lipid
peroxidation and the decline in reduced glutathione in
the liver and blood of mice [41].
The ethanolic extract of Piper longum (pippali) fruits
was found to protect mice against the radiation-induced
decline in WBC, bone marrow cells α-esterase positive
cells and GSH. Pippali extract also reduced the elevated
levels of glutathione pyruvate transaminase (GPT),
alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lipid peroxidation (LPO) in
liver and serum of irradiated animals [42].
Several plant and herbal products form the supplements
of daily human diet. The potential of dietary ingredients
for radioprotection has remained unexplored area until
now. The dietary supplements, if found radioprotective
may be of crucial importance, as they are in daily human
use, nontoxic and have wide acceptability. Jamun,
Syzigium cumini Linn. Skeels also known as Eugenia
cumini (family Myrtaceae), and has been reported to
posses several medicinal properties in the folklore
system of medicine [43]. The micronucleus study of
radioprotective effect of dichloromethane and methanol
(1:1) extract of jamun (SCE) in human peripheral blood
lymphocytes (HPBLs) ascertained its radioprotective
potential, where 12.5 µg/ml SCE was found to reduce
the micronuclei up to a maximum extent. In vivo
evaluation further established its radioprotective activity
where it was found to reduce radiation-induced sickness,
gastrointestinal and bone marrow deaths [7, 44]. Not
66-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
only leaf but the hydroalcoholic extract of jamun seeds
(JSE) also exhibited a greatest protective effect at 80
mg/kg JSE. The JSE was more effective when
administered through the intraperitoneal route at
equimolar doses than the oral. The JSE treatment
protected mice against the gastrointestinal as well as
bone marrow deaths with a DRF of 1.24 [45].
Pudina or Mint (Mentha arvensis Linn., Family
Lamiaceae), a plant, native of Japan, is used as a food
seasoner, household remedy, and for industrial purposes
[46]. Treatment of mice with 10 mg/kg b. wt. of
chloroform extract of mint (Mentha arvensis Linn)
protected against the radiation-induced sickness,
gastrointestinal and bone marrow deaths with a DRF of
1.2. Further it was non-toxic up to a dose of 1000 mg/kg
b. wt., the highest drug dose that could be tested for
acute toxicity [47]. Pre-treatment of mice with leaf
extract of another species of pudina, i.e. Mentha piperita
has been reported to protect mice against the radiation-
induced decline in hematological constituents, serum
phosphatase, endogenous spleen colonies formation,
spleen weight, goblet cells/villus section and
chromosomal damage [48–50].
The rhizome of Zingiber officinale, commonly known as
ginger, is consumed daily worldwide as a spice and
flavoring agent. The rhizome of ginger has been
reported to possess diverse medicinal properties in the
traditional Indian system of medicine, the Ayurveda,
and it is widely used in several medicinal preparations
[51]. Administration of 10 mg/kg (i.p) or 250 mg/kg
(orally) hydroalcoholic extract once daily, consecutively
for 5 days was found to protect mice against the
radiation-sickness, gastrointestinal as well as bone
marrow deaths with a DRF of 1.15. Ginger has been
reported to increase glutathione, reduce lipid
peroxidation in vivo and scavenging of various free
radicals in vitro [52, 53].
Ageratum conyzoides, (family: Asteraceae) is commonly
known as Billy Goat Weed. It has been used in various
parts of Africa, Asia and South America for curing
various diseases. The study of various doses of alcoholic
extract of Ageratum conyzoides, Linn. revealed that the
best protective dose was 75 mg/kg and it reduced
radiation-induced, sickness gastrointestinal as well as
bone marrow deaths. A DRF was found to be 1.3. The
radioprotective effect was due to scavenging of DPPH
(1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), free radical [54].
Aegle marmelos Correa, commonly known as bael, is a
spinous tree belonging to family Rutaceae. It is grown
throughout the sub-continents as well as Bangladesh,
Burma and Srilanka [55]. The hydroalcoholic extract of
Continued on page 67
Continued from page 66 - Radioprotective Potential of Plants The DNA-DSBs are considered the most lethal events
and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation following ionizing radiation and has been found to be
Aegle marmelos (AME) protected cultured HPBLs the main target of cell killing by radiation. The putative
against the radiation-induced micronuclei at a mechanisms of radioprotection by plant and herbal
concentration of 5 µg/ml. It was also reported to scavenge radioprotectors are shown in Fig. 1.
·
OH, O2·–, DPPH, ABTS·+ and NO (nitric oxide) radicals Figure 1. The putative mechanisms of radio-
in vitro in a concentration dependent manner [56]. The protection by various plants and herbs.
radioprotective efficacy of 15 or 250 mg/kg AME was
further confirmed in animal studies where its
intraperitoneal as well as oral administration has been
found to protect mice against the radiation-induced
sickness, gastrointestinal and bone marrow deaths and
mortality giving a DRF of 1.2. It also protected mice
against the radiation- induced lipid peroxidation and
elevated GSH concentration in the liver, kidney, stomach
and intestine at 31 days post-irradiation. Oral
administration also protected mice against the gamma
radiation-induced decline in erythrocytes, leukocytes,
lymphocytes and clonogenicity of hemopoietic progenitor
cells assessed by exogenous spleen colony forming assay.
Pretreatment of mice with AME elevated the villus height
and the crypt number accompanied by a decline in goblet
and dead cell number [57, 58]. Not only leaf but also the
hydroalcoholic extract of Aegle marmelos fruit
administered intraperitoneally at a dose of 20 mg/kg once
daily, consecutively for five days found to protect mice
against the radiation-induced sickness, gastrointestinal as
well as bone marrow deaths with a DRF of 1.1 [59].
The radioprotective activity of plant and herbs may be
Rohituka, Aphanamixis polystachya Wall. Parker mediated through several mechanisms, since they are
[Amoora rohituka, Amoora aphanamixis (Roxb.) Wight complex mixtures of many chemicals. The majority of
& Arn.] is a member of the family Meliaceae. The ethyl plants and herbs contain polyphenols, scavenging of
acetate fraction of Aphanamixis polystachya at a dose of radiation-induced free radicals and elevation of cellular
7.5 mg/kg b. wt. before exposure to 1–5 Gy of whole antioxidants by plants and herbs in irradiated systems
body gamma-radiation significantly reduced the could be leading mechanisms for radioprotection. The
frequencies of aberrant cells and chromosomal polyphenols present in the plants and herbs may
aberrations like acentric fragments, chromatid and upregulate mRNAs of antioxidant enzymes such as
hromosome breaks, centric rings, dicentrics, exchanges catalase, glutathione transferase, glutathione peroxidase,
and total aberrations at all post-irradiation scoring times. superoxide dismutase and thus may counteract the
It also showed a concentration dependent scavenging of oxidative stress-induced by ionizing radiations.
hydroxyl, superoxide, 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl Upregulation of DNA repair genes may also protect
(DPPH) radicals and the 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethyl against radiation-induced damage by bringing error free
benzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) cation radicals repair of DNA damage. Reduction in lipid peroxidation
in vitro. EAP treatment also reduced lipid peroxidation in and elevation in non-protein sulphydryl groups may also
bone marrow cells in a concentration dependent manner contribute to some extent to their radioprotective
[60]. activity. The plants and herb may also inhibit activation
Mechanism of action of protein kinase C (PKC), mitogen activated protein
Ionizing radiations induce reactive oxygen species in the kinase (MAPK), cytochrome P-450, nitric oxide and
form of ·OH, ·H, singlet oxygen and peroxyl radicals that several other genes that may be responsible for inducing
follows a cascade of events leading to DNA damage such damage after irradiation.
as single- or double-strand breaks (DSB), base damage, Conclusions
and DNA-DNA or DNA-protein cross-links, and these Humans are exposed to ionizing radiations during
lesions cluster as complex local multiply damaged sites. Continued on page 68
67-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued from page 67- Radioprotective Potential of Plants
and Herbs against the Effects of Ionizing Radiation
diagnostic, therapeutic and industrial purposes. Apart
from these humans also get exposed to ionizing
radiations during air and space travel, background
radiation nuclear accidents, and use of electronic
devices. Nuclear terror attacks are not distant possibility,
therefore it is essential to protect humans from ionizing
radiations by pharmacological intervention. Recently,
focus of radiation protection has shifted to test the
radioprotective potential of plants and herbs in the hope
that one day it will be possible to find a suitable
pharmacological agent/s that could protect humans
against the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation in
clinical and other conditions as well as during nuclear
terror attack. Majority of plant and herbs described in
this review have medicinal properties and are being used
in traditional Ayurvedic or Chinese systems of medicine
to treat various ailments in humans. Most of these plants
and herbs certainly have potential as radioprotectors of
future. They protect against the radiation-induced
damage by scavenging of free radicals and increasing
antioxidant status. Fractionation guided evaluation may
result in the development of ideal radioprotector/s in the
near future.
Article information
J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2007 March; 40(2): 74–81.
Published online 2007 March 14. doi: 10.3164/jcbn.40.74
PMCID: PMC2127223
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2006;82:197–209. [PubMed]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2127223/#!po
=54.6875
☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 61 - Fukushima: Think Low
Level Radiation Is Harmless? Think Again…
prevalence of a disease such as Down’s Syndrome, or
the sex ratio produced in offspring. For each effect, a
statistical algorithm was used to generate a single value,
the effect size, which could be compared across all the
studies.
The scientists reported significant negative effects in a
range of categories, including immunology,
physiology, mutation and disease occurrence. The
frequency of negative effects was beyond that of
random chance.
“When you do the meta-analysis, you do see significant
negative effects. It also provides evidence that there is
no threshold below which there are no effects of
radiation,” he added. “A theory that has been batted
around a lot over the last couple of decades is the idea
that is there a threshold of exposure below which there
are no negative consequences. These data provide fairly
strong evidence that there is no threshold — radiation
effects are measurable as far down as you can go, given
the statistical power you have at hand.”
Mousseau hopes their results, which are consistent with
the “linear-no-threshold” model for radiation effects,
will better inform the debate about exposure risks.
“With the levels of contamination that we have seen as a
result of nuclear power plants, especially in the past, and
even as a result of Chernobyl and Fukushima and
related accidents, there’s an attempt in the industry to
downplay the doses that the populations are getting,
because maybe it’s only one or two times beyond what
is thought to be the natural background level,” he said.
“But they’re assuming the natural background levels are
fine.”
“And the truth is, if we see effects at these low levels,
then we have to be thinking differently about how we
develop regulations for exposures, and especially
intentional exposures to populations, like the emissions
from nuclear power plants, medical procedures, and
even some x-ray machines at airports.” …….
http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/fukus
hima-think-low-level-radiation-is-harmless-think-again/
☻☻☻☻☻
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
Renewable Energy in Africa
By Wikipedia
The developing nations of Africa are popular networks,[3] too many problems exist to make this a
locations for the application of renewable energy realistic option for the vast majority of people in
technology. Currently, many nations already have Africa, especially those who live in rural locations.
small-scale solar, wind, and geothermal devices in Distributed generation using renewable energy
operation providing energy to urban and rural systems is the only practical solution to meet rural
populations. These types of energy production are electrification needs.[4][5]
especially useful in remote locations because of the
Renewable energy resources
excessive cost of transporting electricity from large-
Hydro-electric, wind and solar power all derive their
scale power plants. The application of renewable
energy from the Sun. The Sun emits more energy in
energy technology has the potential to alleviate many
one second (3.827 × 1026 J) than is available in all of
of the problems that face Africans every day,
the fossil fuels present on earth (3.9 × 1022 J),[6] and
especially if done so in a sustainable manner that
therefore has the potential to provide all of our
prioritizes human rights.
current and future global energy requirements. Since
Access to energy is essential for the reduction of the solar source for renewable energy is clean and
poverty and promotion of economic growth. free, African nations can protect their people, their
Communication technologies, education, environment, and their future economic development
industrialization, agricultural improvement and by using renewable energy sources[7] to this end they
expansion of municipal water systems all require have a number of possible options.[8]
abundant, reliable, and cost-effective energy access.[1]
Solar resources
Avoiding fossil fuels
By investing in the long term energy solutions that
alternative energy sources afford, most African
nations would benefit significantly in the longer term
by avoid the pending economic problems developed
countries are currently facing.
Although in many ways fossil fuels provide a simple,
easy to use energy source that powered the
industrialization of most modern nations, the issues
associated with the widespread use of fossil fuels are
now numerous, consisting of some of the world's most
difficult and large scale global political, economic,
health and environmental problems. The looming
energy crisis results from consuming these fossil fuels
at a rate which is unsustainable, with the global Map of global solar energy resources. The colors show the
demand for fossil fuels expected to increase every average available solar energy on the surface during 1991
year for the next several decades, compounding to 1993. For comparison, the dark disks represent the land
area required to supply the primary energy demand in the
existing problems.[2]
year 2010 using currently available technology (i.e. with a
While a great number of projects is currently conversion efficiency of 8%).
underway to expand and connect the existing grid Continued on page 72

71-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 71 – Renewable Energy in Africa
Many African countries receive on average 325 days per
year of bright sunlight.[9] This gives solar power the
potential to bring energy to virtually any location in
Africa without the need for expensive large scale grid
level infrastructural developments.
The distribution of solar resources across Africa is fairly
uniform, with more than 80 percent of their landscape
receiving almost 2000 kW·h per square meter per year.
A recent study indicates that a solar generating facility
covering just 0.3% of the area comprising North Africa
could supply all of the energy required by the European
Union.[10]
Wave and wind resources
Africa has a large coastline, where wind power and wave
power resources are abundant and underutilized in the
north and south. Geothermal power has potential to
provide considerable amounts of energy in many eastern
African nations.[11]
Wind is far less uniformly distributed than solar
resources, with optimal locations positioned near special
topographical funnelling features close to coastal
locations, mountain ranges, and other natural channels in
the north and south. The availability of wind on the
western coast of Africa is substantial, exceeding
3,750 kW·h, and will accommodate the future prospect
for energy demands [12][13] Central Africa has lower than
average wind resources to work with.[14]
Geothermal resources
Geothermal power is mostly concentrated in eastern
Africa, but there are many fragmented spots of high
intensity geothermal potential spread across the
continent.[15] There is enormous potential for geothermal
energy in the East African Rift which is roughly 3,700
miles in length and spans several countries in East
Africa including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya,
Uganda, and Zambia.[11]
This is a photo of the Great Rift Valley as it is visible near
Eldoret, Kenya.
72-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Biomass
The use of biomass fuels endangers biodiversity and risks
further damaged or destruction to the landscape. 86% of
Africa’s biomass energy is used in the sub-Saharan
region, excluding South Africa.[16] Even where other
forms of energy are available, it is not harnessed and
utilized efficiently, underscoring the need to promote
energy efficiency where energy access is available.[17]
There is, however, an urgent need to address the current
levels of respiratory illness from burning biomass in the
home. Taking into respect the cost differential between
the biomass and fossil fuels, it is far more cost-effective
to improve the technology used to burn the biomass than
to use fossil fuels.[18]
Horizontal integration potential
Solar and wind power are extremely scalable, as there are
systems available from less than 1 watt to several
megawatts. This makes it possible to initialize the
electrification of a home or village with minimal initial
capital. It also allows for dynamic and incremental
scaling as load demands increases. The component
configuration of a wind or solar installation also provides
a level of functional redundancy, improving the reliability
of the system. If a single panel in a multi panel solar
array is damaged, the rest of the system continues
functioning unimpeded. In a similar way, the failure of a
single wind tower in a multi tower configuration does not
cause a system level failure.
Because solar and wind projects produce power where it
is used, they provide a safe, reliable and cost effective
solution. Because transmission equipment is avoided,
these systems are more secure, and less vulnerable to
attack.[19] This can be an important feature in regions
prone to conflict. Wind and solar power systems are
simple to set up, easy to operate, easy to repair, and
durable. Wind resources and solar resource are abundant
enough to provide all of the electrical energy
requirements of rural populations, and this can be done in
remote and otherwise fragmented low density areas that
are impractical to address using conventional grid based
systems.[20]
Finance
Photo-voltaic panels, wind turbines deep cycle batteries,
meters, sockets cables and connectors are all expensive.
Even when the relative difference in buying power,
materials cost, opportunity cost, labor cost and overhead
are factored in, renewable energy will remain expensive
for people who are living on less than US$1 per day.
Many rural electrification projects in the past use
government subsidies to finance the implementation of
electrification projects to be accomplished by for profit
Continued on page 73
Continued from page 72 – Renewable Energy in Africa
companies; in economically impoverished areas these
programs must be run at a loss for reasons of
practicality.[21] There are several theorized ways in
which specific African nations can rally the rural
development programs. It is difficult for rural resources
for such projects.
Renewable energy use
Several large-scale solar power facilities are under
development in Africa including projects in South Africa
and Algeria.[31] Although solar power technology has the
potential to supply energy to large numbers of people,
and has been used to generate power on a large scale in
the U.S. and other developed nations, its greatest
potential in Africa may be to provide power on a smaller
scale and to use this energy to help with day to day
needs such as small-scale electrification, desalination,
water pumping, and water purification.
The only example of a grid-linked solar power station in
Africa is the photovoltaic 250 kW Kigali Solaire station
in Rwanda.[32] The Desertec project, backed by several
European energy companies and banks, plans to generate
renewable electricity in the Sahara desert and distribute
it through a high-voltage grid for export to Europe and
local consumption in North-Africa. Ambitions seek to
provide continental Europe with up to 15% of its
electricity.
Solar Radiation Map: Global Horizontal Irradiation for Africa
and Middle East, SolarGIS 2011
Power Up Gambia, a non-profit operating in The
Gambia, uses solar power technology to provide power
to Gambian health care facilities, providing a reliable
73-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
source of electricity for lighting, diagnostic testing,
treatments, and water pumping.[33][34] Energy For
Opportunity (EFO), a non-profit working in West Africa,
uses solar power for Schools, Health Clinics and
Community Charging Stations, as well as teaches
Photovoltaic installation classes at local technical
institutes. So far its work has been mainly in Sierra
Leone.[35] In particular its solar powered Community
Charging Stations have been recognized as an innovative
model to provide electricity to rural communities in the
region.[36]
Solar water pumping
One of the most immediate and lethal problems facing
many third world countries is the availability of clean
drinking water. Solar powered technologies can help
alleviate this problem with minimal cost using a
combination of solar powered well pumping, a water tower
or other holding tank, and a solar powered water purifier.
These technologies require minimal maintenance, have
low operational costs, and once set up, will help provide
clean water for drinking and agriculture. With large
enough reservoirs for the water that has been pumped and
purified with solar powered technology, a community will
be better able to withstand drought or famine. This
reservoir water could be consumed by humans, livestock,
or used to irrigate community gardens and fields, thus
improving crop yields and community health. A solar
powered water purification system can be used to clean
many pathogens and germs from groundwater and runoff.
A group of these devices, filtering the water from wells or
runoff could help with poor sanitation and controlling the
spread of waterborne illnesses.
Kenya may be a good candidate for testing out these
systems because of its progressive and relatively well-
funded department of agriculture, including the Kenya
Agricultural Research Center [5], which provides funding
and oversight to many projects investigating experimental
methods and technologies.
Even though this solar technology may have a higher
starting cost than that of conventional fossil fuel, the low
maintenance and operation cost and the ability to operate
without fuel makes the solar powered systems cheaper to
keep running. A small rural community could use a system
like this indefinitely, and it would provide clean drinking
water at a negligible cost after the initial equipment
purchase and setup. In a larger community, it could at
least contribute to the water supply and reduce
pressures of daily survival. This technology is capable
of pumping hundreds of gallons of water per day, and
is limited only by the amount of water available in the
water table. Continued on page 74
Continued from page 73 - Renewable Energy in Africa
With a minimum of training in operation and
maintenance, solar powered water pumping and
purification systems have the potential to help rural
Africans fulfill one of their most basic needs for
survival. Further field test are in progress by
organizations like KARI and the many corporations that
manufacture the products needed, and these small-scale
applications of solar technology are promising.
Combined with sustainable agricultural practices and
conservation of natural resources, solar power is a prime
candidate to bring the benefits of technology to the
parched lands of Africa.
Supplementing the well water would be collection of
runoff rainwater during the rainy season for later use in
drought. Southern Africa has its own network of
information sharing called SEARNET [6] which informs
farmers of techniques to catch and store rainwater, with
some seeing increased yields and additional harvests.[37]
This new network of farmers sharing their ideas with
each other has led to a spread of both new and old ideas,
and this has led to greater sustainability of water
resources in the countries of Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe. This water could be used for agriculture or
livestock, or could be fed through a purifier to yield
water suitable for human consumption.
Examples
A solar powered water pump and holding system was
installed in Kayrati, Chad, in 2004 as compensation for
land lost to oil development.[38] This system utilizes a
standard well pump powered by a photovoltaic panel
array. The pumped water is stored in a water tower,
providing the pressure needed to deliver water to homes
in the area. This use of oil revenue to build infrastructure
is an example of using profits to advance the standard of
living in rural areas.
Hundreds of solar water pumping stations in Sudan fulfil
a similar role, involving various applications of different
systems for pumping and storage. Over the past 10 years
approximately 250 photovoltaic water pumps have been
installed in Sudan. Considerable progress has been made
and the present generation of systems appears to be
reliable and cost–effective under certain conditions. A
photovoltaic pumping system to pump 25 cubic metres
per day requires a solar array of approx. 800 Wp. Such a
pump would cost US$6000, since the total system
comprises the cost of modules, pump, motor, pipework,
wiring, control system and array support structure. PV
water pumping has been promoted successfully in
Kordofan state in Sudan. It shows favorable economics
74-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
as compared to diesel pumps, and is free from the need to
maintain a regular supply of fuel. The only maintenance
problems with PV pumping [are] due to the breakdown of
pumps and not the failure of the PV devices.[39]
The Solar Water Purifier, developed and manufactured by
an Australian company, is a low-maintenance, low
operational cost solution that is able to purify large amounts
of water, even seawater, to levels better than human
consumption standards set by the World Health
Organization.[40] This device works through the processes
of evaporation and UV radiation. Light passes through the
top layer of glass to the black plastic layer underneath. Heat
from the solar radiation is trapped by the water and by the
black plastic. This plastic layer is a series of connected
troughs that separate the water as it evaporates and trickles
down through the levels. The water is also subjected to UV
radiation for an extended period of time as it moves through
the device, which kills many bacteria, viruses, and other
pathogens. In a sunny, equatorial area like much of Africa,
this device is capable of purifying up to 45 litres per day
from a single array. Additional arrays may be chained
together for more capacity.
The Water School uses SODIS Solar disinfection currently
in target areas of Kenya and Uganda to help people drink
water free of pathogens and disease causing bacteria.
SODIS is a UV process that kills microorganisms in the
water to prevent water borne disease. The science of the
SODIS system is proven with over 20 years of research.
Wind power
The Koudia Al Baida Farm in Morocco is the largest wind
farm in the continent, currently two others big wind farms
are under construction in Tangier and Tarfaya. There are
also projects being planned in South Africa to implement
the use of a wind farm, or large, commercial scale
operations, the construction of these wind farms is being
planned for west coast, north of Cape Town. Kenya plans
on building a wind farm the Lake Turkana Wind Power
(LTWP) in Marsabit County.The first 50 - 90 MW from
(LTWP) are scheduled for 2015. LTWP is planned to
produce 300 MW of wind power at full capacity.[41]
In January 2009, the first wind turbine in West Africa was
erected in Batokunku, a village in The Gambia. The 150
kilowatt turbine provides electrical power for the 2,000-
person village.[42]
Geothermal power
So far, only Kenya has exploited the geothermal potential
of the Great Rift Valley.[11] Kenya has been estimated to
contain 10,000 MWe of potential geothermal energy [43] and
has twenty potential drilling sites marked for survey in
addition to three operational geothermal plants.[44]
Continued on page 75
Continued from page 74 – Renewable Energy in Africa
Kenya was the first country in Africa to adopt
geothermal energy, in 1956, and houses the largest
geothermal power plant on the continent, Olkaria II,
operated by Kengen, who also operate Olkaria I. A
further plant, Olkaria III, is privately owned and
operated.[45][44]
Ethiopia is home to a single binary-cycle plant but does
not utilize its full potential energy output for lack of
experience in its operation.[11] Zambia has several sites
planned for construction but their projects have stalled
due to lack of funds.[11] Eritrea, Djibouti and Uganda
have undertaken preliminary exploration for potential
geothermal sources but have not constructed any type of
power plant.[11]
Geothermal power has been used in agricultural projects
in Africa. The Oserian flower farm in Kenya utilizes
several steam wells abandoned by Kengen to power its
greenhouse. In addition, the heat involved in the
geothermal process is used to maintain stable greenhouse
temperatures. The heat can also be utilized in cooking
which would help eliminate the dependence on wood
burning.[46]
Finance
Exploration and construction of future geothermal plants
present a high cost for poor countries.[47] Drilling
potential sites alone costs millions of dollars and can
result in zero energy return if the consistency of the heat
and steam is unreliable.[48] Return on investments into
geothermal power are not as quick as those into fossil
fuels and may take years to pay off, however, low
maintenance cost and the renewable nature of geothermal
energy means more benefits in the long term.[47]
As an early and successful adopter of geothermal power,
Kenya now has significant financial backing from the
World Bank.[45] The country hosts development
conferences between representatives of the UN
Environment Program and various African governments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Africa
☻☻☻☻☻
Advantages of Hydroelectric
Power Production and Usage
By Itaipu Binacional.
Representatives of more than 170 countries reached
consensus at the Top World Conference on Sustainable
Development, in Johannesburg (2002), and at the 3rd
World Forum on Water, in Kyoto (2003): all hydro-
75-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
electric generation is renewable and merits international
support. Read, below, the ten reasons leading them to this
conclusion.
1. Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy source.
Hydroelectricity uses the energy of running water, without
reducing its quantity, to produce electricity. Therefore, all
hydroelectric developments, of small or large size,
whether run of the river or of accumulated storage, fit the
concept of renewable energy.
2. Hydroelectricity makes it feasible to utilize other
renewable sources.
Hydroelectric power plants with accumulation reservoirs
offer incomparable operational flexibility, since they can
immediately respond to fluctuations in the demand for
electricity. The flexibility and storage capacity of
hydroelectric power plants make them more efficient and
economical in supporting the use of intermittent sources of
renewable energy, such as solar energy or Aeolian energy.
3. Hydroelectricity promotes guaranteed energy and
price stability.
River water is a domestic resource which, contrary to fuel
or natural gas, is not subject to market fluctuations. In
addition to this, it is the only large renewable source of
electricity and its cost-benefit ratio, efficiency, flexibility
and reliability assist in optimizing the use of thermal
power plants.
4. Hydroelectricity contributes to the storage of
drinking water.
Hydroelectric power plant reservoirs collect rainwater,
which can then be used for consumption or for irrigation.
In storing water, they protect the water tables against
depletion and reduce our vulnerability to floods and
droughts.
5. Hydroelectricity increases the stability and
reliability of electricity systems.
The operation of electricity systems depends on rapid and
flexible generation sources to meet peak demands,
maintain the system voltage levels, and quickly re-
establish supply after a blackout. Energy generated by
hydroelectric installations can be injected into the
electricity system faster than that of any other energy
source. The capacity of hydroelectric systems to reach
maximum production from zero in a rapid and foreseeable
manner makes them exceptionally appropriate for
addressing alterations in the consumption and providing
ancillary services to the electricity system, thus main-
taining the balance between the electricity supply and
demand.
Continued on page 76
Continued from page 75– Advantages of Hydroelectric Power
Production and Usage
6. Hydroelectricity helps fight climate changes.
The hydroelectric life cycle produces very small amounts
of greenhouse gases (GHG). In emitting less GHG than
power plants driven by gas, coal or oil, hydroelectricity
can help retard global warming. Although only 33% of
the available hydroelectric potential has been developed,
today hydroelectricity prevents the emission of GHG
corresponding to the burning of 4.4 million barrels of
petroleum per day worldwide.
7. Hydroelectricity improves the air we breathe.
Hydroelectric power plants don't release pollutants into
the air. They very frequently substitute the generation
from fossil fuels, thus reducing acid rain and smog. In
addition to this, hydroelectric developments don't
generate toxic by-products.
8. Hydroelectricity offers a significant contribution to
development.
Hydroelectric installations bring electricity, highways,
industry and commerce to communities, thus developing
the economy, expanding access to health and education,
and improving the quality of life. Hydroelectricity is a
technology that has been known and proven for more
than a century. Its impacts are well understood and
manageable through measures for mitigating and
compensating the damages. It offers a vast potential and
is available where development is most necessary.
9. Hydroelectricity means clean and cheap energy for
today and for tomorrow.
With an average lifetime of 50 to 100 years,
hydroelectric developments are long-term investments
that can benefit various generations. They can be easily
upgraded to incorporate more recent technologies and
have very low operating and maintenance costs.
10. Hydroelectricity is a fundamental instrument for
sustainable development.
Hydroelectric enterprises that are developed and operated
in a manner that is economically viable, environmentally
sensible and socially responsible represent the best
concept of sustainable development. That means,
"development that today addresses people's needs
without compromising the capacity of future
generations for addressing their own needs" (World
Commission on the Environment and Development,
1987).
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/hydroadvantages.html
☻☻☻☻☻
76-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Solar Power: India’s Moment
in the Sun
If tapping this source needs a new market then it should be
created
August 27, 2013
There are times in the life of a nation when it is presented
with an opportunity to radically change its fortunes. The
Industrial Revolution in Britain, the discovery of oil
reserves in the Middle East, the first movable type printing
press in Germany, the tapping of geo-thermal energy in
Iceland have all been massive game changers for these
countries.
For India such an opportunity may be presenting itself in
the form of solar power. As this form of energy nears grid
parity (solar is now cheaper than diesel for electricity),
while the cost of conventional fuel scales up on the back
of a weakening rupee, India’s moment of truth may well
be nigh. Pursued aggressively, with the kind of single-
minded focus the US has brought to its shale gas efforts
over the last six years (by the end of 2012, those efforts
have led to the production of more than 1.5 million barrels
per day (mbd) of crude oil, starting from virtually zero in
2006), India has the real chance of joining early pioneers
like Germany, Italy and increasingly China in reaping the
rewards of embracing one of the safest and cleanest of
energy sources, with a virtually inexhaustible supply. One,
furthermore, that faces little of the unpredictability that
dogs coal-based power production.
Currently, solar power contributes less than 0.5% of
India’s energy mix, a figure the government hopes to raise
to 5-7% by 2022. According to the solar energy
consultancy Bridge to India, the country had 1,700
megawatts (MW) of photo voltaic capacity installed by
May 2013, with 80% of it in Gujarat and Rajasthan which
enjoy long periods of sunlight. The consultancy projects
that the figure will jump to 12,800 MW by 2016.
While a dysfunctional central government has done
precious little to actualize its own ambitious target of
20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 (which in itself is no
more than 10% of India’s potential solar generation
capability), there are definite green shoots visible in the
states. West Bengal is experimenting with a floating solar
power plant in a pond located at Victoria Memorial which
is expected to generate 10 kilowatts of power. If the
experiment succeeds, other water bodies in the state could
be similarly used. That’s significant because studies have
also shown with a cooler rear surface for the solar panel,
its power generation capacity goes up by 16%.
Continued on page 77
Continued from page 76 – Solar Power: India’s Moment in
the Sun The U.S. Relies on Foreign
Other states have already woken up to solar’s potential Uranium, Enrichment
for transformative change. Last week, Rajasthan laid the
foundations of the world’s largest solar farm with a Services to fuel its Nuclear
capacity to generate 3,000 MW. This puts in shade even Power Plants
the 2,000 MW farm that Gujarat had announced last
year. While these two have been at the forefront of the August 28, 2013
solar rush for obvious reasons, other states are catching
on, with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the
process of setting up plants that will generate 300 MW
between them.
Even without grid parity, solar energy offers huge
advantages over conventional energy sources in terms of
lower greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to
cleaner air. Which is why solar is booming across the
US, leading to falling solar panel and installation costs.
Residential solar installations in the US reached 488
MW last year—a 62% increase over 2011 installations.
But it isn’t just in the US or Europe that the rush is
visible. The 102-member NYSE Bloomberg Global
Solar Energy Index (SOLAR) has gained 37% this year
on the back of surging Asian demand. Japan is Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Uranium
promoting wider use of solar power after closing nuclear Marketing Annual Report
facilities following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster
while China, which accounts for 60% of global solar Owners and operators of U.S. commercial nuclear power
photovoltaics manufacturing capacity, has said it reactors buy uranium in various forms as well as
expects to install 10 gigawatts of solar panels this year. enrichment services from other countries. U.S. nuclear
plants purchased 58 million pounds of uranium in 2012
Bloomberg reported that major US solar manufacturers
are churning out panels at full speed, running their from both domestic and foreign suppliers; 83% of this
factories at maximum and mulling ways to boost output total was of foreign origin. About 38% of the enriched
and expand capacity to meet surging demand in Asia. uranium needed to fabricate fuel for U.S. reactors was
supplied by foreign enrichers.
The world has tried out various energy alternatives, with
Owners and operators of commercial nuclear power
mixed results. Biofuels, for instance, once touted as the
fuel for the future, are beginning to wind down reactors buy uranium in the form of uranium concentrate,
following their impact on food production worldwide. uranium hexafluoride, and/or enriched uranium. If
India has unique advantages in solar power, receiving uranium is purchased after the enrichment process, the
only step remaining is the fabrication into nuclear fuel.
adequate solar radiation for 300 days a year, amounting
Historically, U.S. owners and operators have purchased
to 3,000 hours of sunshine equivalent to over 5,000
trillion kilowatt hour, according to Energy Alternatives most of their uranium from foreign countries. In 2012,
India. Tapping this treasure is now a question of 84% of foreign-supplied uranium came from Canada,
throwing sufficient resources at it. If that needs a new Russia, Australia, Kazakhstan, and Namibia. The rest
market mechanism, it is for the government to find one. came from Uzbekistan, Niger, South Africa, Brazil, China,
Malawi, and Ukraine.
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ptPZtoZXN1rkwhnJSY7lu
O/Solar-power-Indias-moment-in-the-sun.html Uranium purchased earlier in the nuclear fuel cycle, such
☻☻☻☻☻ as the purchase of uranium concentrate, must be converted
to natural uranium hexafluoride and enriched before
reactor fuel can be fabricated. The owners and operators of
U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors pay for
conversion, enrichment, and fabrication. During 2012, a
Continued on page 78

77-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 77 – The U.S. Relies on Foreign
Uranium, Enrichment Services to fuel its Nuclear Power
Plants
total of 52 million pounds of uranium hexafluoride
(UF6) was delivered to enrichers in China, France,
Germany, Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, and
the United States. Enrichers in the United States
received 62% of the deliveries, and the remaining 38%
went to foreign enrichers.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Uranium
Marketing Annual Report - Note: * specific country unknown
The capacity of enrichment plants is measured in terms
of separative work units (SWU). SWU is a measure of
how much work it takes to enrich uranium. In 2012, the
average price per SWU was $141.36, and owners and
operators of U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors
purchased enrichment services totaling 16 million SWU.
This represents a total cost to the owners and operators
of U.S. commercial nuclear power reactors of about $2.3
billion.
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=12731
☻☻☻☻☻
The Cost of being the
World's No.1 Uranium
Producer
Kazakhstan's industry has skyrocketed in the past 10
years. But what could that mean for the environment?
By Ben Arnoldy
August 28, 2013
Astana, Kazakhstan - If you make a toxic mess under
one of the most isolated parts of the planet, does it
matter if you don't clean it up? Does it make a difference
if that mess will be there for thousands of years?
Scientists are asking those questions as Kazakhstan has
78-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
steadily risen to become the world's No. 1 uranium
producer, surpassing such nations as the United States,
Canada, and Australia, which require more cleanup.
Rather than employing miners to haul rock up to the
surface, mine operators in Kazakhstan have embraced a
newer – and generally cleaner – process by which a
chemical solution is injected down a pipe to dissolve the
underground uranium deposits and then is sucked back up
to the surface.
A tank filled with uranium solution stands at Inkai uranium
mine near Taikonur settlement in southern Kazakhstan.
Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters/File
This in situ leach (ISL) method avoids making a mess
above ground, but leaves toxic levels of heavy metals in
the ground water. In the US, companies using the method
have tried for years and failed to return ground water to its
pre-mining state.
In Kazakhstan, a country that has seen the disastrous
effects of the Soviet Union's use of nuclear testing and
waste disposal, officials with the state-owned uranium
company, Kazatomprom, express no concern about the
legacy of its rapidly expanding use of ISL mining. They
argue that natural processes will clean the mine site.
Scientists studying the effects of ISL doubt how quickly
mine sites can self-cleanse. This uncertainty appears to be
little known to both Kazakhstan's nuclear industry and
fledgling environmentalists.
In the near term, the stakes do not appear high:
Kazakhstan's uranium mines are mostly located in
deserted areas of an already sparsely populated country.
But as the US learned in its own uranium-rich Southwest,
population patterns and land use can change, potentially
deferring an expensive cleanup or rendering some water
resources unusable.
Continued on page 79
Continued from page 76 – The Cost of being the World's
No.1 Uranium Producer
"Kazakhstan is a growing country and the pollution
could persist for up to thousands of years, and you just
don't know in the future if people might live in the area,"
says Brian Reinsch, an environmental scientist
researching ISL remediation methods in Kazakhstan.
It could take natural processes between tens to
thousands of years depending on the conditions at each
mine site, says Dr. Reinsch. Active remediation efforts
can shorten the time substantially, removing the
uncertainty that comes with such longtime horizons.
Drinking water
ISL mining in many parts of the world involves some
treatment of the solution that is left behind in the ore-
bearing aquifers. If untreated, the solution could contain
arsenic and cadmium at levels thousands of times higher
than drinking water standards, says Gavin Mudd, an
environmental engineer at Monash University in
Australia. Arsenic can also be absorbed by plants,
leaving the water unusable for irrigating crops.
Over time, the contaminated water will gradually spread
laterally – often at paces as slow as a meter per year –
beyond the mining site. ISL mine sites are chosen in
areas where there are barriers like clay above and below
the ore deposit to prevent water from seeping vertically
into new aquifers with higher quality water.
But the clay layer is not entirely continuous, nor is it
certain the mining acid wouldn't dissolve the clay,
according to Reinsch. Furthermore, the mining process
treats the ore-bearing aquifer like a pincushion, drilling
holes all over the area. These are plugged up. But there
is uncertainty about the spread of contamination over the
long haul.
"Even if we were monitoring for five or 10 years, that's
nowhere near enough. We need literally hundreds of
years of data of watching these sites to show yes, they
are stable," says Dr. Mudd.
Kazatomprom officials say they don't share this doubt.
"It's the other way around," says senior manager
Kalilallo Baytasov, who notes companies must set aside
funds in case cleanup is needed. "We extract … uranium
from the formation and send it to atomic reactors, so we
are actually purifying the subsoil from heavy metals."
'Unique capability of self-restoration'
In 2012, Kazakhstan accounted for 35 percent of global
uranium production, garnering $1.54 billion in uranium
sales for Kazatomprom. China bought more than half of
it.
79-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
The company claims that "it has been unambiguously
proved" that southern areas of Kazakhstan have "a unique
capability of self-restoration."
But Susan Hall, a geologist with the US Geological
Survey, says: "When I question them about what kind of
work they've done to prove this concept, I don't get a clear
response."
Jerry Grandey, a former mining executive, experienced in
international ISL projects argues that active remediation
may not be required here given the water quality.
"Generally, the water in Kazakhstan is unsuitable for most
uses including drinking water and agriculture," he says.
Nevertheless, he says, the water should be monitored. He
adds, cleanup is more important in the US, where the
surrounding water often has agricultural and industrial
uses.
Some US wells have been cleaned enough for the water to
be deemed fit for its pre-mining uses.
But no site in the US has been entirely returned to pre-
mining conditions, says Dr. Hall. The difficulty has led to
some soul-searching among regulators, she adds, who will
ask: "Would natural processes just take care of it? Is it a
wasted effort?... We don't have the data to know."
Out in the Kazakh desert, the French uranium company
AREVA is funding Reinsch to find a better way. He is
planning to send food down the mine pipes to more
quickly grow the population of natural microbes that help
clean the sites.
Hall cautions that such bioremediation sometimes only
works temporarily.
But Reinsch is optimistic, saying that if the technique
works, Kazakhstan has an opportunity to show the world
how it's done: "If you ... can reduce the risk significantly,
then why not? It's kind of like what your mother told you:
Clean up after yourself."
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-
Central/2013/0828/The-cost-of-being-the-world-s-No.1-
uranium-producer
☻☻☻☻☻
Millions Benefiting From
Solar Lights in Africa
By Energy Matters
30 August 2013
The uptake of off-grid lights in Africa has been
phenomenal and up to 140 million people will have access
to safer, better lighting by 2015.
Continued on page 84
 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 8 NEWSLETTER September 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES
IEA: Renewables To Exceed Natural Gas, Nuclear
Energy By 2016
By Silvio Marcacci
Marcacci Communications, June 28, 2013
this jump, and non-hydro renewable power will double
from 4% of gross generation in 2011 to 8% in 2018.
IEA cites two main drivers for their incredible outlook:
accelerating investment and deployment, and growing
cost competitiveness versus fossil fuels.
Strongest Growth In Developing Countries
Even though government funding has been inconsistent,
private investment has remained strong, especially in
developing economies. Rural electrification, energy
poverty, and rising demand have been major challenges
for policymakers in these countries, and renewables
have become an increasingly attractive option for
diverse and non-polluting power.

Global renewable electricity production by region image

via IEA
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts
power generation from renewable sources will
exceed natural gas and be twice the contribution
from nuclear energy globally by 2016 – just three
short years from now.
IEA’s second-annual Medium-Term Renewable
Energy Market Report (MTRMR) forecasts
renewable generation will grow 40% in the next five
years despite difficult economic conditions. Countries with non-hydro renewable capacity above 100MW
image via IEA
Wind And Solar Power The Renewables Charge
Non-developed countries, led by China, are expected to
Renewable energy is now the fastest-growing sector
contribute two-thirds of all renewable market growth
of the global power market, and will represent 25%
between now and 2018, compensating for slower growth
of all energy generation worldwide by 2018, up
and market volatility acorss Europe and the US.
from 20% in 2011. In addition, renewable electricity
generation is expected to reach 6,850 terawatt-hours Indeed, non-hydro renewable power will make up 11%
(TWh) and total installed renewable capacity should of gross generation in these countries by 2018, up from
hit 2,350 gigawatts (GW), both by 2018. 7% in 2012. By itself, China will account for 310GW,
or 40% of all global renewable power capacity increases
Wind and solar photovoltaic generation is powering
over this time period. Continued on page 81

80-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Continued from page 80 – Cloning Camels with Human
Genes for Big Pharma
Falling Costs, Rising Capacity
Solving energy poverty issues without harmful
emissions is key to renewables growth, but the
larger reason for IEA’s outlook is more likely
falling costs. The report finds renewables now cost-
competitive with fossil fuels across many countries
and a wide set of circumstances.
Solar PV annual capacity additions by region image via
IEA
IEA notes wind is competitive with new fossil fuel
in multiple markets, including Brazil, South Africa,
Mexico, and New Zealand, and solar is competitive
both in markets with high peak prices and
decentralized power needs. “As their costs continue
to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly
standing on their own merits versus new fossil-fuel
generation,” said Maria van der Hoeven of IEA.
IEA – Policy Uncertainty Is Public Enemy #1
However, the IEA warns renewables still face a
challenging future. Global investment fell in 2012,
and policy uncertainties loom over clean energy
technology in several important markets. In
addition, grid integration challenges have
materialized in some regions as renewables
penetration has hit new levels.
“Policy uncertainty is public enemy number one,”
said Van der Hoeven. “Many renewables no longer
require high economic incentives, but they do still
need long-term policies that provide a predictable
and reliable market and regulatory framework.”
http://theenergycollective.com/silviomarcacci/242601/iea
-renewables-will-exceed-natural-gas-and-nuclear-2016
☻☻☻☻☻
81-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Weaving Power Generation
into the Fabric of Everyday
Life
By Lou Del Bello
7 August 2013
The Guardian
Every year as summer in Rome grows brighter and
warmer, colourful awnings spring up at every door to
shield shops and homes from the sun. "Imagine if every
piece of fabric in those streets … could capture sunlight
to produce electricity," says Aldo Di Carlo, professor of
electronic engineering at Tor Vergata University in
Rome.
Di Carlo, who co-directs the Centre for Hybrid and
Organic Solar Energy (Chose), thinks there's a real
prospect of this happening in the not so distant future.
"The basic research is already there," he says, "and we
are working to liberate it from the lab and turn it into
viable solutions for the market."
"Organic solar cells" use biological molecules to mimic
the light-capturing component of photosynthesis,
incorporated into ultrathin, flexible panels. This year
Chose presented a prototype of an emergency tent with
integrated organic solar panels. These are currently
visible as patches on the fabric, but according to Di
Carlo, soon enough we won't see them at all.
Hiding solar cells in a fabric's weave is just one of many
possibilities for an invisible energy revolution. One day
they could be built into car roofs, cellphone cases,
windows and building materials, for example.
Chose was established at Tor Vergata University in
2006, but organic solar cells were first developed in the
early 1990s by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne as part of the family of "thin film solar cells"
– layers of photovoltaic materials just one micron (one-
thousandth of a millimetre) thick. The cells usually
comprise a photo-active layer sandwiched between two
conductive electrodes.
Scientists all over the world study photosynthesis with a
view to reproducing its mechanism to generate
electricity or biofuels. By contrast, researchers working
on organic solar cells aim to reproduce just the first,
light-capturing step of photosynthesis using natural
pigments, for example from wild berries or aubergine
skin. The pigment molecules absorb photons and
transfer their energy to an electrically conducting layer
made of titanium dioxide. Continued on page 82
Continued from page 81 – Weaving Power Generation into
the Fabric of Everyday Life
Despite being developed two decades ago, organic solar
cell technology is not yet mature enough to be
competitive in most parts of the world. Some countries
have now made photovoltatic-generated energy
competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels,
known as "grid parity" – at least for specific markets. For
example, Italy has achieved grid parity in its residential
power generation and Cyprus in its industrial sector.
But for now, grid parity can only be achieved through a
combination of government subsidies, good solar
conditions and high fossil fuel prices. According to Di
Carlo, to reach grid parity and make solar energy stand
alone without subsidies would require what he calls a
"pervasive photovoltaic system" – in which solar cells are
built into the very fabric of cities.
At the moment, photovoltaic technology is not efficient
enough to produce a significant amount of energy from a
small surface. And if conventional solar cells are still
well behind fossil fuels in terms of efficiency, thin film
solar cells are even less productive.
The solution proposed by Di Carlo is to exploit the
advantages of thin film cells to hide solar panels
everywhere: "in the structure of a building, in a cellphone
case, in a tent's fabric, on a car roof". These cells are
cheaper and can be produced easily using a technique
similar to printing. They are also very light and flexible,
and can be as transparent as glass. "I see a future in which
every window will be photo-active. By engineering solar
cells to capture infrared light, invisible to the human eye,
we can obtain completely transparent solar cells that can
be integrated in glass without shielding the visible light."
Di Carlo and his team are looking at pervasive solar
energy as one of a group of applications that will
revolutionise our energy supply without changing the
shape of our cities. "Energy will be produced and
consumed locally," he says. "The whole idea of
electricity supply will get closer to the concept of an
information technology network. Now we generate and
transport energy in a well-defined hierarchical way, but
in the future we will see it as a nontangible flow that is
generated and utilised locally."
http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/aug/07/weavin
g-power-generation-fabric-everyday-life
☻☻☻☻☻
82-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Africa can choose its Future:
Will it be Coal and Oil or
Renewables and Water?
Africa has the potential to leapfrog the world by
investing in future-proof technology, but the thinking
needs to be bigger, writes
By Chris Loker
May 2013 was the 339th consecutive month of above
average global temperatures and we have already
breached the 400 parts per million (ppm) carbon limit
that we were warned about. This must shift the focus in
capital markets from short term gains toward long term
consequences and give rise to the mother of all asset
bubbles for carbon-producing industries. As President
Obama said recently, this is no time for a meeting of the
Flat Earth Society.
The Carbon Tracker Initiative estimates that between
50-80% of known coal, oil and fossil fuels should be left
unused to prevent temperature rises over 2C, which the
International Panel on Climate Change suggests is
prudent. The impact on business valuations is enormous,
even before another United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) sponsored report's assertion that
none of the top 20 industrial regions and sectors would
be profitable if environmental costs were accounted for.
The report puts the unpriced natural capital cost at
$7.3tn (£4.7m) a year, 10% of global GDP, a cost not
presently accounted for and the biggest culprit is coal
power production.
These challenges represent a massive opportunity if the
flow of money can be altered.
Traditionally, investment houses allocate capital based
on returns and do not account for the positive and
negative externalities created by the businesses
employing this capital. In the last few decades many
financial institutions have tended to focus mainly on the
demands of shareholders, to the detriment of other
stakeholders, such as local communities, employees and
the environment. Often projects with negative social
and/or environmental impacts have received capital,
while projects offering measurable benefits to society
have been denied that boost.
Chasing yield in the short term has often been
detrimental to shareholders in the long run. Though the
local banking industry dodged the sub-prime bullet, it is
no stranger to asset bubbles, funding microlending,
Continued on page 83
Continued from page 82 – Africa can choose its Future: Will
it be Coal and Oil or Renewables and Water?
dotcom, contracts for difference, unsecured lending,
property and other sectors with negative consequences.
This, at the same time that social enterprises targeting
sustainability outcomes as well as profit, are battling to
raise capital due to perceived higher risk. But
sustainability has evolved from a social movement into a
market opportunity through the growth of new market
options that are healthier, cleaner and more efficient.
This is broader than environmentalism, encompassing
social justice and economic prosperity.
South Africa (correctly) trumpets the R50bn (£3.2bn)
invested in the first round of the Independent Power
Producer's programme aimed at delivering 20% of
electricity from alternative sources by 2030, but this
needs to be compared with the R300bn (£19.2bn) spent
on coal fired power plants. This, at a time when both the
US government and the World Bank are significantly
cutting financing for coal.
We need to ask what is the true cost of carbon-producing
power (including externalities) and what happens when
the carbon tax is introduced in 2015? Especially as the
cost of alternative energy plummets. Compare this to
California where all new power generation will come
from renewables this year, Germany where 50% of
power was delivered by renewables at a point last year
and Saudi Arabia's £70bn solar power plan, and perhaps
we are thinking too small.
Jason Drew, one of rising breed of local ecopreneurs,
talks often of Africa's potential to leapfrog the developed
world by investing in future-proof technology rather
than trying to catch up. In the same way that the
continent skipped landline telephony and went straight
to mobile (there are 700m mobile phones in Africa), we
have an opportunity to take a leadership position with
farsightedness, and at the same time, "repair the future".
After all, the solar energy hitting earth in a year is
20,000 times more than the whole of humanity
consumes annually, and South Africa is the third-best
solar location in the world with one of the highest and
most stable solar radiations.
Investors are rushing to Africa, lured by new markets
and consumers, resources, growth and infrastructure
opportunities - at this inflection point we can choose our
future by investing wisely today. Will it be in coal,
mining, arms, oil, nuclear, chemicals, casinos,
consumptive manufacturing or in organic farming,
renewables, entrepreneurs, energy efficiency, water and
affordable housing?
83-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Money is finite and on the cusp of a post-carbon
revolution that could be as big as the fossil-fuel-fueled
industrial revolution, with an underdeveloped
infrastructure, there would be significant advantage to
investing in job-intensive, clean technology that
enhances food and water security as well as advancing
health benefits. By de-centralising infrastructure
development, governments can also empower local
communities and create more resilience, modelling
networks on nature.
Sustainability is a mega-trend that can deliver long term
competitiveness through better management of risk and
incorporating the broadest notion of stakeholders. It's
not a fad because the climate crisis is real, the energy
crisis is permanent and new technology is changing the
game. Investors are starting to care, consumer
purchasing behaviour is changing and there is an
appreciation that inequality, poverty and unemployment
need to be addressed. Media coverage is increasing,
politicians are reacting, and it's personal.
If 1% of conventional global assets were to move to
companies already addressing challenges in water
management, ecological conservation, pollution, waste,
poverty, transport alternatives, health, entrepreneurial
development and innovation, that would represent 10
times total annual foreign aid. In the UK, (population:
62 million) there are over 600 alternative financial
providers which move savers' monies transparently to
enterprises focussed on positive outcomes as well as
profitability. On the entire African continent
(population: 1 billion) there are a handful. But this is
changing and so it should; sustainable finance makes
sense for individuals, communities, the country,
continent and the planet. It also makes financial sense -
even the money-men are starting to see that, and why
shouldn't money be a force for good?
"Everyone can rise above their circumstances and
achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate
about what they do." Nelson Mandela
Chris is financial services strategy consultant at
Moksha and founder of a sustainable finance company
Water Financial
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/africa-
future-coal-oil-renewables-water
☻☻☻☻☻
Nuclear Radioisotopes
Iodine-131 is ingested into the thyroid, where it emits
beta particles (electrons) that damage tissue. It can
stunt both physical and mental growth in children.
Continued from page 79 – Millions Benefiting From Solar
Lights in Africa
In Africa, approximately 600 million people still rely on
expensive and polluting lighting fuel sources, such as
kerosene. The use of kerosene is not only dangerous and
greenhouse gas emissions intensive; but also contributes
to instances of respiratory disease.
A new report by the joint IFC-World Bank Lighting
Africa Program says the Africa will become the world’s
largest market for clean off-grid lamps and has
experienced a 300 percent growth in sales in the past
three years.
The latest Lighting Africa Market Trends Report
projects that cumulative sales could reach 28 million Haiti's central plateau is riddled with intermittent flows
solar lanterns in Africa by 2015, double the 2010 of energy- a fact that derails the possibilities of large-
estimate. scale healthcare infrastructure. In the specific region of
Mirebalais, located 30 miles north of the capital port-au-
Lighting Africa was launched in September 2007 and
prince, outages occur for an average of three hours each
has a goal of reaching 250 million people without access
day. The new Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais, a
to reliable electricity by 2030 - a goal it says it is on
venture of partners in health, will cover an area of
track to reach. Currently, only about four percent of the
205,000 square feet and its 300 beds will assist in
continent’s population has access to solar lanterns.
correcting a national healthcare system with scarce or
"IFC and the World Bank are committed to ensuring disparate resources.
consumers gain better access to products that meet basic
needs. With the price declines in raw materials and solar
panels, off-grid lamps are becoming increasingly
affordable and within reach for rural households that
lack electricity," said Itotia Njagi, Lighting Africa’s
Program Manager.
A slew of solar LED products and projects have been
developed with the African market primarily in mind.
Some of these we've covered over the years such as
Panasonic's 100,000 Solar Lantern Project, LUCI,
LuminAID, the Solar Pebble and Solar Aid.
The number of off grid lighting manufacturers involved Most impressively, however, is the employment of
in the African market has increased from 20 in 2008 to design solutions in the building system as a whole,
more than 80 now. Lighting Africa Market Trends wherein the building is set to generate more energy than
Report 2012 can be viewed here. the hospital will consume. Even before the complex
officially opened, the German-supplied solar panels
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=new
s_article&article_id=3916 reportedly produced 139 megawatt hours of electricity-
☻☻☻☻☻ enough to charge 22 million smartphones and offset 72
tons of coal. The architecture is solving myriad
World's Largest Solar problems and composed such that it provides rather than
garners resources. The surplus electricity will be
Powered Hospital opens in funnelled back into Haiti’s national grid, a testament to
the ability of the built form to create a sustainable
Haiti system for survival.
30 May 2013 http://www.designboom.com/architecture/worlds-largest-
The world's largest solar powered hospital has just solar-powered-hospital-opens-in-haiti/
opened its doors in Haiti and boasts over 1800 solar ☻☻☻☻☻
panels on its elegant and otherwise, stark, white rooftop.
84-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

Unveiling Prehistoric
Civilizations: Some
Thoughts about the
Discovery of a Two Billion
Year Old Nuclear Reactor
The Zhengjian Book Series Edit
The remnants of nuclear reactors nearly two billion
years old were found in the 1970s in Africa. These
reactors are thought to have occurred naturally. No
natural reactors exist today, since the relative density of
fissile uranium has now decayed below that needed for a
sustainable reaction. Uranium oxide remains are visible
as the yellowish rock. Oklo by-products are being used
today to study the stability of the fundamental constants
over cosmological time-scales and to develop more
effective means for disposing of human-manufactured
nuclear waste.
I-4 Nuclear Reactor from Two Billion Years Ago
[PureInsight.org] In 1972, a French company imported
some uranium ore from Oklo in the Gabon Republic in
Africa. Surprisingly the uranium concentration in the ore
was as low as spent uranium fuel from a nuclear reactor.
The finding led scientists to believe that the uranium had
already been used for energy production. This discovery
shocked the world and attracted scientists from many
countries to go to Oklo for further investigation. The
results showed that the uranium mine was an ancient
nuclear reactor. The ancient reactor consisted of five
hundred tons of utilized uranium ore in six different
areas. Its output power was estimated to be
approximately one hundred kilowatts. The reactor was
perfectly preserved and its layout was very rational. It is
estimated that the reactor had been in operation for
around 500,000 years. Furthermore, nuclear wastes
produced in this reactor had not spread all over the
surrounding areas. Instead, they were confined within
the separate sections. From the perspective of modern
nuclear technology, this ancient reactor used very
advanced techniques.
According to geological dating, the Oklo uranium mine
was formed about 2 billion years ago. Shortly after
formation, the nuclear reactor commenced operation.
The research results made scientists seriously consider
the possibility of prehistoric civilization. Such a nuclear
reactor could be a product of a civilization from long
ago, although scientists have proposed completely
natural mechanisms by which the chain reactions could
have taken place.
85-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Human beings have only made use of nuclear power for a
couple of decades. This discovery raised the intriguing
possibility that a technologically more advanced
civilization existed two billion years ago and it had
advanced knowledge of nuclear fission. But if this
assumption were correct, one would ask why such an
advanced civilization did not perpetuate its own existence.
Instead, it disappeared for unknown reasons, leaving only
ancient relics. How should we view such a discovery? A
large unaccounted-for time gap exists between two billion
years ago and our present historical human civilization.
What could have happened during that time?
If we neglect relics of prehistoric civilization, there is no
way we can broaden the scope of our present knowledge.
We will neither know what caused prehistoric civilizations
to degenerate, or how they finally came to disappear.
Moreover, we should carefully examine whether our
current method of scientific development is following the
same disastrous road. This is surely a subject worthy of
serious consideration.
http://www.pureinsight.org/node/1582
☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 3 – A Pre-historic Nuclear
War?
But just as we are trying our best to fit skeletal fragments
together in a manner that will be found acceptable to what
we believe we know about our origins, footprints are being
found in stone, which, if they are what they appear to be,
will make a total shambles of our accepted evolutionary
calendar.
In Pershing County, Nevada, a shoe print was found in
Triassic limestone, strata indicative of 400 million years, in
which the fossilized evidence clearly revealed finely
wrought double-stitching in the seams.
Early in 1975, Dr. Stanley Rhine of the University of New
Mexico announced his discovery of human-like footprints
in strata indicative of 40 million years old. A few months
before, a similar find was made in Kenton, Oklahoma. At
almost the same time, a discovery of a footprint in stone
was revealed in north-central Wisconsin.
In Death Valley, there is ample fossil and skeletal evidence
to indicate that the desolate area was once a tropical
Garden of Eden where a race of giants lived and fed
themselves with palatable foods taken from the local lakes
and forests.
To speak of a race of prehistoric giants in what is now the
desert sands of Death Valley is simultaneously to refute the
doctrine which decrees that man is a relative newcomer to
the North and South American continents. While on the
Continued on page 86
Continued from page 85 – A Pre-historic Nuclear War? One of the most heretical theories that I suggest in Worlds
one hand, new radiocarbon dates demonstrate that the Before Our Own is that the cradle of civilization might
Bering Land Bridge and Cordilleran Ice Corridor were possibly have traveled from the so-called New World to
not passable until 9000 years ago, an increasing amount the Old.
of physical evidence indicates that man was surely in Now, in December 2007, years after Ruth Shady Solis
this hemisphere much earlier than that recent date. found the ancient city of Caral, Peru, scientists have
For one thing, corn, an American contribution to the accepted the carbon dating of 2,627 B.C.E., thereby
dinner tables of the world, is said to be, at 9000 years, establishing the civilization in South America to be much
our oldest domesticated seed crop. Some agriculturist older than the Harappa Valley towns and the pyramids of
had to be in the Americas more than 9000 years ago in Egypt.
order to domesticate the seed. Caral must now be recognized as “the mother of all
Ancient squash seeds, peanuts, and cotton balls dated at civilizations,” the missing link of archaeology, the Mother
8,500 years old found in Peru’s Nanchoc Valley City.
constitute additional evidence that New World farming Scientific knowledge has seemingly been prized by the
was well established. Conclusive proof that such ancient inhabitants of every culture, known and unknown. Rock
farmers did exist in the Americas was offered when a engravings, which may be as old as 60 million years,
Humble Oil Company drill brought up Mexican corn depict in step-by-step illustrations an entire heart-
pollen that was more than 80,000 years old. transplant operation and a Cesarean section. The ancient
The anomalous Indian blood serration and dentition, and Egyptians used the equivalent of contraceptive jelly and
the geographic distribution of the American Indian, had urine pregnancy tests. The cement used in filling
demands an impossible genetic time scale in which to Mayan dental cavities still holds after 1500 years.
transform Asiatic immigrants to distinctive New World No fabric is supposed to have been found until Egypt
inhabitants. produced cloth material 5000 years ago. How, then, can we
Even if we attempt to keep some kind of peace with the deal with the Russian site which provides spindle whorls
accepted theories of New World habitation, we must and patterned fabric designs more than 80,000 years old?
grant more evolution in 40,000 years in North America Not only did the ancient Babylonians appear to use sulphur
than that which took place in more than one million matches, but they had a technology sophisticated enough to
years in Europe, Africa, and Asia. employ complex electrochemical battery cells with wiring.
Skulls found in California, which are clearly those of There is also evidence of electric batteries and electrolysis
American Indians, have been dated at 50,000 years old. in ancient Egypt, India, and Swahililand.
But we are left with another mystery. Remains of a metal-working factory of over 200 furnaces
A 140,000 year old American Indian type skull (via was found at what is now Medzamor in Russian Armenia.
metric analysis) has been found at an Iranian excavation Although a temperature of over 1780 degrees is required to
site. melt platinum, some pre-Incan peoples in Peru were
making objects of the metal.
• What of the lost Amerindian civilization of
Cahokia, complete with pyramids and a great wall? One Even today the process of extracting aluminium from
site, near the present city of St. Louis, may have bauxite is a complicated procedure, but Zhou Chu, famous
contained a metropolis of more than 250,000 North general of the Jin era (265-420 A.D.), was interred with
American Indians. aluminium belt fasteners on his burial costume.

• And who constructed the mysterious seven-mile Carved bones, chalk, stones, together with what would
walls of the Berkeley and Oakland, California, hills? appear to be greatly ornamented ''coins," have been
brought up from great depths during well-drilling
• And which pre-Mayan peoples engineered an operations. A strange, imprinted slab was found in a coal
elaborate waterworks in Yucatan to irrigate crops over mine. The artifact was decorated with diamond-shaped
2000 years ago? squares with the face of an old man in each ''box."
The Caracol Tower at Chichen Itza is a remarkable In another coal-mine discovery, miners found smooth,
Mesoamerican observatory that seems to have correlated polished concrete blocks which formed a solid wall.
its findings with similar sites in North America, According to one miner's testimony, he chipped one block
including Mesa Verde, Wichita, and Chaco Canyon.
Continued on page 87
86-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Continued from page 86 – A Pre-historic Nuclear War?
open only to find the standard mixture of sand and
cement that makes up most typical building blocks of
today.
A gold necklace was found embedded in a lump of coal.
A metal spike was discovered in a silver mine in Peru.
An iron implement was found in a Scottish coal-bed.
Estimated to be millions of years older than man is
believed to have existed. A metal, bell-shaped vessel,
inlaid with a silver floral design was blasted out of solid
rock near Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Two hypotheses may explain the presence of these
perplexing artifacts:
1. that they were manufactured by an advanced
civilization on Earth which, due either to natural or
technological catastrophe, was destroyed before our
world's own genesis
that they are vestiges of a highly technological
civilization of extraterrestrial origin, which visited this
planet millions of years ago, leaving behind various
artifacts
Even if a highly advanced extraterrestrial race might
have visited this planet in prehistoric times, it seems
unlikely such common, everyday items as nails,
necklaces, buckles and vases would have been carried
aboard a spacecraft deposited in such widely separated
areas; for such artifacts have been found in North and
South America, Great Britain, the whole of Europe,
Africa, Asia, and the Mid-East.
In spite of the general unpopularity of catastrophism,
there does seem to be a number of recently discovered
"proofs" of ancient cataclysmic changes in the Earth's
crust which may account for the nearly total
disappearance of these prehistoric worlds. Geological
evidence indicates that these changes were both sudden
and drastic might have completely overwhelmed and
destroyed the early inhabitants and their cultures.
Perhaps the most potentially mind-boggling evidence of
an advanced prehistoric technology that might have
blown its parent-culture away is to be found in those
sites which ostensibly bear mute evidence of prehistoric
nuclear warfare.
Large areas of fused green glass and vitrified cities have
been found deep in the strata of archaeological digs at,
• Pierrelatte in Gabon, Africa
• the Euphrates Valley
87-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
• the Sahara Desert
• the Gobi Desert
• Iraq
• the Mojave Desert
• Scotland
• the Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt
• south-central Turkey
In contemporary times, such material as fused green glass
has only been known at nuclear testing sites (where the
sand had melted to form the substance). It is quite
unsettling to some to consider it possible that these sites
provide evidence of a prehistoric nuclear war.
At the same time, scientists have found a number of
uranium deposits that appear to have been mined or
depleted in antiquity. If it is possible that nuclear
annihilation of a global civilization did occur in prehistoric
times, it seems even more urgent to learn who we really
are before we find ourselves doomed to repeat the lessons
left to us, by a world before our own.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ancientatomicwar/esp_ancient
_atomic_17.htm
☻☻☻☻☻
Continued from page 90 – Amelioration of Ionizing
Radiation Induced Lipid Peroxidation
Among the environmental stresses, ionizing radiation is a
crucial risk factor for human being. Ionizing radiation
initiates the decomposition reaction of water, producing a
variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl
radicals (OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide
anion radicals (O 2·-) etc. These reactive species react with
the molecules of cell membranes and causes a chain
reaction called lipid peroxidation (LPO).
Among all free radicals, OH. is considered to be rapid
initiators of the lipid peroxidation process, due to removal
of hydrogen atoms from unsaturated fatty acids.
The present study clearly demonstrated that Moringa
oleifera leaf extraction (MoLE) protected liver in mice
from radiation induced lipid peroxidation in entire study
period. The result also showed that Moringa leaf extract
quenched the hydroxyl radical which is the key mediator of
lipid peroxidation. Moreover it showed that Moringa
leaves possess variety of phytochemicals such as ascorbic
acid, phenolics etc. HPLC data of phenolics revealed that
MoLE contains a range of important antioxidant molecules
such as catechin, epicatechin, ferulic acid, ellagic acid and
myricetin.
Ascorbic acid is considered to be the one of the most
important antioxidant and also acts to protect membranes
Continued on page from 88
Continued from page 87 – Amelioration of Ionizing
Radiation Induced Lipid Peroxidation
against peroxidation by enhancing the activity of α-
tocopherol, the chief lipid-soluble and chain-breaking
antioxidant. The flavonoids, typical phenolic compounds
are powerful chain-breaking antioxidants. It was
reported that LPO (lipid peroxidation) can be inhibited
by flavonoids, possibly through their activity as strong
superoxide radical scavengers and singlet oxygen
quenchers. It is concluded that the above phytochemicals
and other free radical scavengers present in total
antioxidant pool of the leaf extract may neutralize the
effect of radiation induced free radicals, thus preventing
lipid peroxidation in mice. Some of these
phytochemicals individually conferred protection when
analyzed with same biochemical tests.
It was also observed that, radiation caused depletion in
GSH (glutathione) levels during the entire test period.
Under normal conditions, the inherent defense system
like glutathione protects against oxidative damage. GSH
is a versatile protector and executes its radio protective
function through free radical scavenging, restoration of
the damaged molecules by hydrogen donation or by
reduction of peroxides and maintenance of thiols in the
reduced state. The restored GSH also plays an important
role in inhibiting lipid peroxidation. Therefore the
protection by Moringa oleifera has been attributed to
phytoantioxidants present in MoLE.
Other studies have showed similar preventive potential
of ethanolic extract of Moringa leaf after whole body
irradiation. Previously it was reported that water extract
of Moringa oleifera leaf also possess radioprotective
potential (data not shown). Several reports of the
hepatoprotective potential of this leaf have been also
documented. Recently it has been reported that Moringa
oleifera leaf extract prevents radiation induced oxidative
stress in mice.
In conclusion, Moringa oleifera leaf may be considered
as a promising radiopreventive agent especially for the
nuclear workers or for defense personals assuming
possibility of nuclear exposure. The present study
showed the capability of a vegetable phytoextract
against the whole body radiation generated systemic
stress in the mammalian model. The leaf extract
efficiently prevented the lipid peroxidation and restored
the GSH levels, two immediate markers of radiation
stress. This popular vegetable may also be used as
supplement for the patients who undergo total body
irradiation (TBI) during different clinical maneuvers
such as bone marrow transplantation, to prevent higher
levels of lipid peroxidation. However, this needs further
88-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
investigation before clinical trials.
Excerpts from “Amelioration of ionizing radiation induced
lipid peroxidation in mouse liver by Moringa oleifera Lam. leaf
extract”; Mahuya Sinha, Dipesh Kr Das, Sanjukta Datta,
Santinath Ghosh& Sanjit Dey; Department of Human Physiology
and Department of Chemical Technology, University Colleges of
Science, Technology and Agriculture, 92 APC Road, Kolkata
700 009, India; Indian Journal of Experimental Biology Vol.50,
March 2012 pp. 209-215
http://imsear.hellis.org/bitstream/123456789/145242/1/ijeb2012v
50n3p209.pdf
☻☻☻☻☻
MORINGA SEED POWDER
The increasing influx of heavy metals into water bodies
from industrial, agricultural, and domestic activities is of
global concern because of their well documented negative
effects on human and ecosystem health.
Scientific studies have shown that M. oleifera seed
powder, a well known source of natural water clarifiers is
effective in heavy metal detoxification of water
The water soluble Moringa seed proteins possess
coagulating properties similar to those of alum and
synthetic cationic polymers. Scientific studies were
conducted and have confirmed the coagulating properties
of Moringa seeds after observing women in the Sudan
using the seeds to clarify the turbid Nile waters.
www.blackherbals.com.
The seeds are also eaten green, roasted, powdered and
steeped for tea or used in curries (50). This tree has in
recent times been advocated as an outstanding indigenous
source of highly digestible protein, Ca, Fe, Vitamin C, and
carotenoids suitable for utilization in many of the so-called
“developing” regions of the world where under-
nourishment is a major concern.
Moringa preparations have been cited in the scientific
literature as having antibiotic, antitrypanosomal,
hypotensive, antispasmodic, antiulcer, anti-inflam-matory,
hypo-cholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic activities, as well
as having considerable efficacy in water purification by
flocculation, sedimentation, antibiosis. Moringa oleifera: A
Review of the Medical Evidence for Its Nutritional,
Therapeutic, and Prophylactic Properties. Part 1. Jed W.
Fahey, Sc.D., Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
www.TFLJournal.org
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Nuclear Radioisotopes
Cesium-137 from Fukushima has been found in fish. It
spreads throughout the body, but tends to accumulate in
the muscles.
 African Moringa Nuclear Energy/Radiation: The Gift that
Keeps on Giving
Botanical Name
Moringa stenopetala, Moringa oleifera The effects of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima are very
much in the news lately. Mistakes that were made and not
Moringa is a remarkable tree whose leaves gram for disclosed are coming to a head and the whole world is
gram have seven times the Vitamin C found in oranges,
beginning to taking notice. Why? As reported before no
four times the Vitamin A of carrots, three times the iron
one or nothing is immune to the effects of nuclear
of spinach, four times as much calcium as milk and three
radiation. The world as we knew it is changing and not for
times the potassium of bananas plus eight essential
the better. Fukushima is now rated a 3 on the scale of 1-7.
Amino Acids* We are just beginning to see genetic destruction and
MORINGA OLEIFERA radiation pollution. Only total annihilation of our species
Nutritional Value of Leaves and Pods could be considered 7. We are speaking of ionizing
Leaf radiation, the gift that keeps on giving. We cannot hear it,
Pods Leaves
Powder see it, smell it or taste it. But we will feel it. It seems we
Moisture (%) 86.9 75.0 7.5 may have been in this position before millions of years
Calories 26.0 92.0 205.0 ago. Once again we reap what we sow. Not only do we
Protein (g) 2.5 6.7 27.1 have to worry about radiation from Fukushima, there is
depleted uranium from weapons of mass destruction that
Fat (g) 0.1 1.7 2.3
more developed countries continue to use in their ceaseless
Carbohydrate (g) 3.7 13.4 38.2 wars against undeveloped ones, contributing to death,
Fiber (g) 4.8 0.9 19.2 cancer, birth defects, and many health problems not only
Minerals (g) 2.0 2.3 0.0 on unsuspecting civilians but on military personnel who
Ca (mg) 30.0 440.0 2,003.0 participated in their use. Of course, there is also the storage
Mg (mg) 24.0 24.0 368.0 and use in domestic applications of nuclear trash that will
P (mg) 110.0 70.0 204.0 continue to emit dangerous radiation for millions of years
K (mg) 259.0 259.0 1,324.0 to come. Let’s not forget to mention the old and
Cu (mg) 3.1 1.1 0.6 dilapidated nuclear reactors that are showing signs of
Fe (mg) 5.3 7.0 28.2 radioactive leakages, pollution and other problems. This
S (mg) 137.0 137.0 870.0 type of “renewable energy” has never been and will never
Oxalic acid (mg) 10.0 101.0 0.0 be safe. As a means of making weapons of mass
Vitamin A-B carotene (mg) 0.1 6.8 16.3 destruction, the science of using nuclear methods for
Vitamin B choline (mg) 423.0 423.0 0.0 renewable energy has only served its military supporters.
Vitamin B1 thiamin (mg) 0.05 0.21 2.6 Being man-made, this type of radiation is not natural,
Vitamin B2 riboflavin ((mg) 0.07 0.05 20.5 generally does not exist in nature in this form and never to
Vitamin B3 nicotinic acid the degree that it exists now. Not all renewable energy is
0.2 0.8 8.2
(mg) sustainable energy. Energy derived from the sun, the water,
Vitamin C ascorbic acid (mg) 120.0 220.0 17.3 the air and the earth are renewable and sustainable. Africa
Vitamin E tocopherol acetate is blessed with sunshine and solar power, but it is not being
0.0 0.0 113.0
(mg) used optimally. Melanin, that pigment that is present in us
Arginine (g/16g N) 3.6 6.0 1.33 exteriorly as well as interiorly is radio-protective. The only
Histidine (g/16g N) 1.1 2.1 0.61 living organism at the devastated Chernobyl nuclear
Lysine (g/16g N) 1.5 4.3 1.32 reactor in Russia is a black (melanin) fungus that eats
Tryptophan (g/16g N) 0.8 1.9 0.43 radioactivity. But of course, our melanin has its limits. We
Phenylanaline (g/16g N) 4.3 6.4 1.39 should start to incorporate radioactive protective foods into
Methionine (g/16g N) 1.4 2.0 2.0 our diet to protect our melanin. As in “Let you food be
Threonine (g/16g N) 3.9 4.9 1.19 your medicine and your medicine be your food”, Moringa
Leucine (g/16g N) 6.5 9.3 1.95 is both a food and a medicine that will help our bodies
Isoleucine (g/16g N) 4.4 6.3 0.83 maintain its integrity against the effects of radioactivity.
Valine (g/16g N) 5.4 7.1 1.06 Blackherbals – A Marcus Garvey Pan-African
University’s Community Site of Knowledge
http://www.blackherbals.com/moringa.htm
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89-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013

 Mission Statement
Our aim at The African Traditional Herbal
Research Clinic is to propagate and promote the
awareness in Afrikan peoples at home and abroad of
their health, biodiversity, history and cultural
richness. We gather pertinent information on these
issues and disseminate these freely to our people in
Uganda, the rest of the continent, and anywhere in
the Diaspora where Afrikans are located…. One of
the main ingredients for increasing poverty, sickness,
exploitation and domination is ignorance of one's
self, and the environment in which we live.
Knowledge is power and the forces that control our
lives don't want to lose control, so they won't stop at
anything to keep certain knowledge from the people.
Therefore, we are expecting a fight and opposition to
our mission. However, we will endeavor to carry
forward this work in grace and perfect ways.
“Where there is no God, there is no culture.
Where there is no culture, there is no
indigenous knowledge. Where there is no
indigenous knowledge, there is no history.
Where there is no history, there is no science
or technology. The existing nature is made
by our past. Let us protect and conserve our
indigenous knowledge.”
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Afrikan Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
54 Muwafu Road, P.O. Box 29974
Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda East Africa
Phone: +256 (0) 702 414 530
Email: clinic@blackherbals.com
rglent@blackherbals.com
http://www.blackherbals.com
http://www.facebook.com/blackherbals
90-- Traditional African Clinic May 2013
Herbs of the Month
“Amelioration of Ionizing
Radiation Induced Lipid
Peroxidation in Mouse Liver by
Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaf
Extract”
In recent times, there has been an increased interest on plant
research in exploring their advantageous aspects owing to
their natural origin, cost effectiveness and less side effects.
One such plant, Moringa oleifera Lam. Family: Moringaceae)
is referred as “Miracle tree” in tropics and sub-tropics. The
leaf of Moringa oleifera has a wide range of beneficial effects
which was predicted in Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda
and Unani). Moringa oleifera leaves have been reported to
possess immunomodulatory and wound healing properties. It
was also reported to prevent gastric ulceration. There are
reports that the leaf extracts prepared using either by
methanol or by ethanol inhibit microsomal lipid peroxidation.
Lipid peroxidation refers to the oxidative degradation of
lipids. It is the process whereby free radicals "steal" electrons
from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage.
This process proceeds by a free radical chain reaction
mechanism. ...wikipedia
Moringa also showed radio protective potential as the leaf
extract protects bone marrow chromosomes against radiation
induced damage. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that leaf
extract of Moringa oleifera may inhibit the radiation induced
lipid peroxidation.
Liver is the most metabolically active organ and it reflects
any systemic derangement upon ionizing radiation. After
radiation exposure liver is affected significantly. It has been
reported that extract from Moringa oleifera is able to protect
the liver against acetaminophen, carbon tetrachloride induced
damage. However, the effect of Moringa leaf against
radiation induced alteration in liver has not been reported.
Hence, in the present investigation an attempt has been made
to study the protective effect of Moringa oleifera leaf extract
in radiation induced oxidative insult. The protective effect
was evaluated in terms of lipid peroxidation using liver as an
experimental model. The study also aimed at identifying
phytochemicals present in Moringa oleifera leaf extract which
may be responsible for the prevention of in-vivo lipid
peroxidation. Continued on page 87