Image courtesy of Radiation Monitoring Project Early findings from a government-funded study reveal that almost a quarter of 781 Navajo (Diné) women examined have high levels of uranium in their bodies. Newborns continued to have these high levels in their bodies as well, for at least the first year of their life. This discovery by the University of New Mexico researchers is occurring decades after uranium mining for cold war atomic bombs has ended, meaning that living in a contaminated environment is to blame.
Uranium and its decay products travel throughout the body and have been associated with a whole host of diseases including cancer, and peri-and post-natal impacts. Uranium is used not just for atomic bombs, but atomic reactors as well.
The study results were revealed at a hearing in Albuquerque and according to U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland -- an enrolled member of Laguna Pueblo -- they force "...us to own up to the known detriments associated with a nuclear-forward society." Women and children are particularly susceptible to damage from exposure to radiation and they will pay the highest health price for our continued use of nuclear weapons and power. More