2. THE NAVAJO RESERVATION IS THE LARGEST NATIVE LAND AREA IN USA
Abandoned Uranium
Mines number in the
THOUSANDS all
across the Navajo
Reservation, especially
in the area of the
Kaibab Plateau of
Northern Arizona.
3. MINING OVER WHAT MATTERS
BEFORE THE ATOMIC AGE… THE MANHATTAN PROJECT…
Wilhelm Roentgen (1895)
discovers X-rays as
diagnostic procedure first
used on his wife: “I have
seen my death!”
Vanadium mining in the
Southwest begins
Uranium had been used for
centuries as a glazing
pigment, e.g., green and
yellow Fiesta Ware
Enrico Fermi conducts first
nuclear controlled fission in
1942 in Chicago.
Einstein et al, strongly
advise FDR to build a
nuclear device to counter
Nazi development.
Oppenheimer et al build
and detonate Trinity in New
Mexico: “I have become
Shiva – the god of death!”
4. FOUR TONS OF NAVAJO U35
Went into the production of the
Hiroshima & Nagasaki atomic bombs
5. DOG HOLES AND YELLOW CAKE
Non-Native contractors
easily manipulated
Navajo people into
obtaining mining
permits.
Then, often the same
Navajo men were hired
as miners.
The miners were never
told about contamination.
6. NATIVE LAND BECOMES TAINTED DESERT
The Kaibab Plateau is “rich”
in uranium deposits.
There are places where
kicking up the topsoil can
reveal yellow cake inches
below the surface.
Old “tailing” piles litter the
Res. and blow about in the
wind.
7. NAVAJO NEUROPATHY
As a consequence of
the contaminated
water and food
ingested during
pregnancy a
teratogenic effect is
passed on to Navajo
children. Their motor
nerves deteriorate
and/or they suffer
malformations. Most
do not live to become
teenagers.
8. A GRAVE DECEIT…
Few original miners have survived. Cancer rates soared on the Reservation compared to
the general US population, and for years the Government did deny that cancer rates and
uranium mining were “correlated.”
