Brigitte Weidlich
5 November 2008
THE Namibia Chamber of Mines says it is disappointed about a report made public by Hilma Shindondola-Mote of the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) titled 'Uranium mining in Namibia - the mystery behind low-level radiation', calling it a pseudo-science piece funded by anti-nuclear organisations.
Shindondola-Mote, who is the Director of LaRRi, presented the report in Windhoek last Monday during an African civil society conference on the impact of uranium mining.
"The Chamber is especially concerned about the fact that a Namibian research institute could release into the public domain a document of this poor quality, which at most, can be called a 'pseudo science' document," said Veston Malango, General Manager of the Chamber of Mines (CoM) in a statement.
"The document distorts the truth and is a biased anti-nuclear publication aimed to promote their views and basically to scare people.
Fear can be an obstacle in the search for truth when it turns Namibian uranium mining's benefits into unsubstantiated mythical problems.
The mines create jobs, alleviate poverty and provide preventive and curative programmes to actively combat dreaded diseases like tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS.
"The document was initiated and paid for by well-known anti-nuclear organisations to promote their point of view.
"It is a poorly prepared draft document which cannot be regarded as a factual or scientific document."
Dr Wotan Swiegers, principal advisor at the Chamber of Mines, says all of us receive a small amount of radiation all the time from natural sources such as cosmic radiation, rocks, soil and air.
"Uranium mining in Namibia does not increase the radiation levels discernibly for members of the public, for those living near the mines, or for others outside the industry," Dr Swiegers says.
"Namibian uranium mines are low-grade uranium mines and do not differ much from mining in general.
Namibian radiation safety regulations today compare well with others worldwide and radiation doses at Namibian uranium mines are well within regulatory limits.
"Uranium mining companies have generally taken active steps to reduce radiation doses wherever and whenever they can, and voluntarily adopted the most recent international recommendations on dose limits long before they became part of the regulations."
The LaRRi study focused on Roessing workers' views about occupational health and safety measures, which they allege were not in place during the first few years of uranium mining.
Exposure to radiation is still there, and we spoke to many workers and residents in nearby Arandis who say they are sick, or were diagnosed with cancer after they left, despite being declared fit by the doctors on the mine," Shindongola-Mota said on Monday.
In an emotional moment, a tearful Roessing employee, Petrus Hoaeb (51), told his story of suffering after he was diagnosed with too high radiation levels.
"I have been unable to work for eight years and must live on 75 per cent of my salary, too little for my family with three children.
I worked in the laboratory reading uranium samples and acids on X-rays, so in 1982 I was informed by my foreman and the medical doctor that I was exposed to radiation," Hoaeb said.
"I was examined by many doctors and specialists.
I am anaemic and traces of radiation were found in my urine and doctors told me my body cells were harmed.
This condition still prevails," Hoaeb added.
His retired colleague, Fillipus Ndeshikeva, aged 60, said he started at Roessing in 1979 and worked in the open pit from 1995 to 2005.
"I once slipped and injured my foot, which then got swollen, the skin turned yellowish and water came out.
I asked the medical doctors to take out the blood clots in my foot but they refused and later on my leg became swollen and this condition also befell my other leg and my lower body.
I am in pain and cannot sit, walk or stand for a long time," Ndeshikeva said and showed the audience his swollen legs.
According to Roessing it has not had the time to consider the report in detail.
"However, following a perusal, Roessing would comment that the report does not appear to be a scientific study, but rather a polemic writing.
Roessing notes that the report is funded by organisations that are known to be vehemently opposed to any form of nuclear energy," it said in a recent statement.
The report was commissioned by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) in The Netherlands.
Reacting to the Chamber of Mines' statement, SOMO, LaRRi, Earthlife and the civil society organisations from Malawi, Tanzania, Germany and South Africa, who held the conferences in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Arandis last week, said the criticism was "unseemly".
"SOMO is not an anti-nuclear organisation as the CoM alleged, but has a 30-year track record of supporting workers by conducting research on diverse multinational operations, including mining," the organisations said in a statement.
"Instead of blindly criticising the LaRRi report we expected the CoM to release relevant data to the public and ensure greater radiological protection of its workers."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
