Uranium is different from all other minerals extracted from the Earth, in a number of ways. Together with its by products (such as plutonium) and it's end products (many kinds of radioactive waste) uranium is a health hazard: not only for those who work in the industry, but for all the inhabitants of this planet and for all future generations.

What is Radiation?

Radiation consists of high-speed particles and electromagnetic waves which damage living tissue by breaking chemical bonds and cause biochemical changes. Different types of radiation have different hazards. Alpha particles are damaging if inhaled or swallowed, gamma rays and X-rays penetrate very thick layers and neutrons are even more penetrating. Radiation can induce cancer and inheritable genetic disease, both of which usually appear decades after exposure. Radiation also lowers the ability of the body to respond to infection by interfering with the immune system.

Decades of research has confirmed that there is no safe, threshold dose of radiation below which no damage is done. One decay trail through one cell can cause cancer. This finding has not been well received by the nuclear industry, which depends for its operation on being able to expose workers and the public to 'safe' doses of radiation.

How are radiation standards set? Who decides what is an allowable dose of radiation when it is now an accepted fact that there is no safe dose?

Uranium threatens the health of mine workers and the communities surrounding the mines. According to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, uranium mining has been responsible for the largest collective exposure of workers to radiation.

John Gofman's analysis of common myths about radiation perpetuated by the nuclear indsutry, which has a vested interest in irradiating the environment.

Ever inventive, the nuclear industry proudly asserts that radiation can make food more healthy. But what's really going on?

Radiation damage
at Jaduguda, India

By any reasonable standard of scientific proof ... there is no safe dose or dose-rate below which dangers disappear. No threshold-dose. Serious, lethal effects from minimal radiation doses are not "hypothetical," "just theoretical," or "imaginary." They are real.
Dr. John Gofman

“It's like throwing a grenade into a computer. The probability of getting an improvement in a computer by throwing a grenade into it is very small, and similarly with radiation events and human cells. Now, the cells that die are really no problem, as long as not too many of them die. They can be replaced. The ones that are particularly dangerous are the ones that survive. Those damaged cells can develop into cancers. You can also have damage to germ cells -- eggs and sperm -- leading to genetically damaged children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren.”
Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.