Observational Studies as Human Experimentation: The Uranium Mining Experience in the Navajo Nation (1947–66) (original) (raw)
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Uranium Exposure and Public Health in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation: A Literature Summary
Navajo Uranium Miners. Risk of lung cancer among male Navajo uranium miners was 28 times higher than in Navajo men who never mined, and two-thirds of all new lung cancer cases in Navajo men between 1969 and 1993 was attributable to a single exposure-underground uranium mining. 1 Through 1990, death rates among Navajo uranium miners were 3.3 times greater than the U.S. average for lung cancer and 2.5 times greater for pneumoconioses and silicosis. 2 Smoking does NOT account for the large increased risk of lung cancer in Navajo men who were uranium miners. 3 The root cause was the miners' exposure to in-mine radon and radon progeny: "The causal association between exposure to radon progeny and lung cancer has been firmly established". 4 Of an estimated 5,000 Navajo uranium workers, 500-600 had died by 1990 and another 500-600 were expected to have died by 2000. 5 Vital status for these workers has not been updated since the early 1990s.
Geosciences, 2015
Uranium occurrence and development has left a legacy of long-lived health effects for many Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States. Some Native American communities have been impacted by processing and development while others are living with naturally occurring sources of uranium. The uranium production peak spanned from approximately 1948 to the 1980s. Thousands of mines, mainly on the Colorado Plateau, were developed in the western U.S. during the uranium boom. Many of these mines were abandoned and have not been reclaimed. Native Americans in the Colorado Plateau area including the Navajo, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and several other Pueblo nations, with their intimate knowledge of the land, often led miners to uranium resources during this exploration boom. As a result of the mining activity many Indian Nations residing near areas of mining or milling have had and continue to have their health compromised. This short review aims to rekindle the public awareness of the plight of Native American communities living with the legacy of uranium procurement, including mining, milling, down winders, nuclear weapon development and long term nuclear waste storage.
2016
Uranium occurrence and development has left a legacy of long-lived health effects for many Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States. Some Native American communities have been impacted by processing and development while others are living with naturally occurring sources of uranium. The uranium production peak spanned from approximately 1948 to the 1980s. Thousands of mines, mainly on the Colorado Plateau, were developed in the western U.S. during the uranium boom. Many of these mines were abandoned and have not been reclaimed. Native Americans in the Colorado Plateau area including the Navajo, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and several other Pueblo nations, with their intimate knowledge of the land, often led miners to uranium resources during this exploration boom. As a result of the mining activity many Indian Nations residing near areas of mining or milling have had and continue to have their health compromised. This short review aims to rekindle the public awareness of the plight of Native American communities living with the legacy of uranium procurement, including mining, milling, down winders, nuclear weapon development and long term nuclear waste storage.
2006
Uranium mining on the Navajo Reservation created an environmental justice disaster which has strangely helped bring the Navajo Nation to achieve considerable self-determination within the United States. The United States’ need for uranium to fuel the nuclear weapons and energy program brought the Atomic Energy Commission to establish an extensive mining operation on Southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. Many of mines established were on or near the Navajo Indian reservation. The Navajo Nation received little share in the profits due to poorly constructed lease and royalty contracts. What is more, most mines employed almost entirely Navajo men who were never told of the known health hazards from radiation expose. The Navajo people were desperate to work, the AEC was driven to produce uranium as quickly as possible, and the mining companies working for the AEC wanted the largest possible profits. Despite pressure from the Public Health Service (PHS), who had been gathering data r...
The Ethical Issues in Uranium Mining Research in the Navajo Nation
Accountability in Research, 2007
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Uranium Exposure in American Indian Communities: Health, Policy, and the Way Forward
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2021
BACKGROUND: Uranium contamination of drinking-water sources on American Indian (AI) reservations in the United States is a largely ignored and underfunded public health crisis. With an estimated 40% of the headwaters in the western U.S. watershed, home to many AI reservation communities, being contaminated with untreated mine waste, the potential health effects have largely been unexplored. With AI populations already facing continued and progressive economic and social marginalization, higher prevalence of chronic disease, and systemic discrimination, associations between various toxicant exposures, including uranium, and various chronic conditions, need further examination. OBJECTIVES: Uranium's health effects, in addition to considerations for uranium drinking-water testing, reporting, and mitigation in reference to AI communities through the lens of water quality, is reviewed. DISCUSSION: A series of environmental health policy recommendations are described with the intent to proactively improve responsiveness to the water quality crisis in AI reservation communities in the United States specific to uranium. There is a serious and immediate need for better coordination of uranium-related drinking-water testing and reporting on reservations in the United States that will better support and guide best practices for uranium mitigation efforts. https://doi.