WOMEN TRANSFORM THE MAINSTREAM

Women do not want to be mainstreamed into a polluted stream.
We want to clean the stream and transform it into a fresh and flowing body.
One that moves in a new direction -- a world at peace,
that respects human rights for all, renders economic justice
and provides a sound and healthy environment.
Bella S. Abzug
1920 - 1998

18 Case Studies of Women Activists
Challenging Industry, Demanding Clean Water
and Calling for Gender Equality
in Sustainable Development

Acknowledgments

The Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) thanks all the women's organizations who provided case studies for this compilation. The Division would especially like to thank and recognize WEDO for making this Background Paper a reality: Anita Nayar, Associate Director and Margarita Zambrano, Gender and Environment Consultant for leading the project; Susan Davis, Executive Director, Pamela Ransom, Action for Cancer Prevention Director, Smita Malpani and Mita Sen, interns for compiling case study information; Mim Kelber, co-founder, Bharati Sadasivam, Women's Rights Program Director, Helen Howard and Roxanne Abder, intern for editorial assistance. Sarah Chamberlin, Program and Development Associate for French translation and Jane Welna, Communications Director and Claire Ince, intern for designing the document. WEDO would especially like to thank Zehra Aydin of UNDESA for her contribution and collaboration.

The views expressed in these case studies are those of the submitting organizations and are not necessarily those of the United Nations.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Women Challenge Industry and Demand Clean Water

Women Respond to a Shrinking Aral Sea

Once one of the world's largest inland freshwater seas, the Aral Sea is now drying up as a result of unsustainable water use for large-scale cotton monoculture. This crisis has dramatically affected the health and livelihoods of the 35 million inhabitants of the entire Aral Sea Basin. The Karakalpakstan region in Uzbekistan, which borders the Aral Sea, is the area hardest hit by the crisis and now the poorest region in Uzbekistan.

Mediterranean Sea Under Siege by Military and Industrial Abuse

The increasing degradation of the Mediterranean Sea due to oil spills, military exercises and toxic trade has threatened the regional economy and people's health. In response to the contamination of the marine environment, women activists from countries bordering the Mediterranean have come together to work on strategies for educating and mobilizing local and international actors to address the problem.

Forty Years of Nuclear Contamination in Chelyabinsk, Russia

The air, soil and water in the Chelyabinsk region at the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains in Russia, has been heavily contaminated by wastes from nuclear armament plants and metallurgical industries. The river Techa, the sole source of drinking water for rural communities in the Chelyabinsk region, has been the site of irresponsible disposal of radioactive waste from a nuclear armament factory. Only recently, Russian women have unveiled the shroud of secrecy surrounding 40 years of nuclear and chemical pollution.

Gold Mine Destroys Guyana's Essequibo River Area

Environmentally-unsound practices at the Omai gold mine, managed by Canadian company Cambior, led to contamination of the Essequibo River, Guyana's largest source of potable water. While the government banned domestic use of water, it has yet to acknowledge the ecological and health crisis resulting from the cyanide spill. Local women are seeking international assistance for justice in a case that could be precedent-setting.

Innu Women Respond to Industrial Development in Nitassinan, Canada

Nitassinan is the territory of the Innu people in eastern Quebec and Labrador, Canada. Mining activities, hydroelectric dams and the clear-cutting of forests has already destroyed much of the Innu lands. Many more industrial developments are planned for this region. The case describes the efforts of the Innu women to resist further exploitation.

Dineh Peoples in Arizona Undermined by Coal Mining Interests

Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona, USA is home to the indigenous communities of the Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi people. This region is the site of North America's largest coal strip mine, which operates the only slurry line in the U.S. and uses 1.4 billion gallons of water from the sole freshwater source, lowering the water table and drying up local wells. Native women have succeeded in gaining international attention to what is both a human rights and environmental disaster.

Political Persecution Exacerbates Environmental Destruction in Nigeria

For over 30 years, Shell oil Company, and other transnational companies have been extracting oil from the rich deposits in the lush Delta region of Nigeria. The oil production activities have led to the contamination of the local freshwater sources, loss of wildlife, and reduction in soil fertility. This environmental damage has severely affected the region's economy and health of the Ogoni people, the main tribal group. Ogoni women lead the local resistance to the continual environmental, political and physical violence.

Ukraine's Drinking Water Grossly Polluted

Extensive pollution of surface and groundwater has contaminated the drinking water supply in Ukraine . The disastrous condition of the sewage and water pipeline systems has exacerbated this situation. Contaminated drinking water has caused a wide variety of oncological disease, metabolic disorders, endocrine dysfunction and periodic epidemics of gastro-intestinal infections, cholera and hepatitis-A. The NGO MAMA-86 is working to address the health concerns of mothers and children in the region.

Bangladeshi Women Expose Arsenic Poisoning of Ground Water

Rural women played a key role in uncovering negative health effects of arsenic contaminated water on their communities. The overuse of groundwater for agricultural practices has likely caused geologically-occurring arsenic to enter the water table in poisonous proportions. National and international NGOs are working with communities, to survey and monitor the health implications and negotiate with government and international agencies to respond to the crisis.

First-Ever Study on Rural Women's Water Use in Egypt

A study of women's use of water in rural Egypt uncovered strategies to improve health and reduce disease transmission. Mobilizing women's participation was key to successful implementation of a holistic approach to water and sanitation needs.

Women in Texas Address Military Contamination of Community Water.

Women activists have played a key role in organizing community residents to recognize the connections between the Kelly military installation and health impacts on the community, surveying and monitoring those impacts and negotiating with government and Air Force base officials to respond to local concerns. Pollutants identified in the community include a variety of volatile organic compounds, groundwater contaminants, jet fuel components and soil contaminants.

Women Demand Gender Equality In Sustainable Development

Women are engaged in concrete and creative responses to environmental crises across the world as well as in improving long-term strategies for sustainability. The following case studies highlight ways in which women are using the Local Agenda 21 framework to transform development priorities and policies for their communities with a gender perspective. The Local Agenda 21 process, a multi-stakeholder participatory methodology, offers a practical vehicle for governments to mainstream gender into sustainable development. The case studies also point to challenges of translating the rhetoric of women's participation and gender equality into reality.

Women's Visions into Action: Heidelberg, Germany

A bellwether of the Local Agenda 21 process, Heidelberg's approach to city planning is regarded as a best practice of civil society participation. The 'Future Workshop Methodology,' was initiated by the gender department of the city council, to foster women's involvement in designing the city with a gender perspective.

Testing the Local Environment: Amstelveen, the Netherlands

Drawn from diverse political, social and economic backgrounds, women in Amstelveen, Netherlands battle problem areas in their living environments, advocate for feasible policy changes through the local decision-making process.

Women and City-keeping: Hamilton, New Zealand

Innovative outreach methods were used to ensure that women participated and shaped Hamilton's 20 year strategic plan. The city's strives to maintain the now considerable representation of women in environmental decision making roles.

Women and Local Environmental Planning: Kurdzhali and Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

Women's participation in local environmental initiatives has emphasized the impact of pollution on people's health and the need to address the conflict between employment opportunities offered by large polluting industries and the health implications of emissions on local residents.

Participatory Planning : Cajamarca, Peru

Despite the lack of a legal framework to sustain women's participation in the Local Agenda 21 process, women in Mollepampa, Cajamarca are fighting to protect their environment from encroaching urbanization. Meanwhile, in the town's agricultural outskirts, women's concerns revolve around access to water and the regulation of its use.

Strengthening Women's Participation: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A women's NGO in Rio de Janeiro developed a step-by-step model for mobilizing women within a Local Agenda 21 framework. Strategies employed to foster women's participation include creative experiments in recycling and reutilization of domestic waste.

Women in Action: Santos, Brazil

The institutionalization of sector specific conselhos or councils in Santos, presented an opportunity to increase women's participation in the creation and implementation of Local Agenda 21. Women advocated the wise use of resources, reduction of waste and environmental education.

Introduction

Women Respond To A Shrinking Aral Sea

Dr. Oral Ataniyazova
P.O. Box 27
Nukus-12, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan
Tel: (7-361) 227-5517; Fax: (7-95) 251-7617
E-mail: perzent@center.nukus.silk.org

Women in Europe for a Common Future, an NGO based in the Netherlands, networks women working on environment and health in Western and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Its primary aims are to link European women's organizations and networks that promote sustainable development and to strengthen their decision-making power in environmental and health policies.

Women in Europe for a Common Future

Contact:

Sascha Gabizon
P .O. Box 12111
3501 AC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tel: (31-30) 231-0300; Fax: (31-30) 234-0878
E-mail: wecf@antenna.nl

Abstract

The Aral Sea, once one of the world's largest inland freshwater seas, is now a shrinking sea due to unsustainable water use. The local population used to live on fishing, commercial shipping, rice growing or cattle herding, but the ongoing Aral Sea crisis has dramatically affected the health and livelihoods of the 35 million inhabitants of the region. Doctors and NGOs in the region say that there is a strong link between the environmental crisis and the health problems of women and children living in the region. Local women and children suffer from menstrual disorders, anemia, liver diseases, cancer and birth defects. Infant mortality is said to be the highest in the former Soviet Union (40 to 60 deaths per 1,000 live births in Karakalpakstan compared with 19 per 1,000 in Russia and between 7-12 per 1,000 in Europe). Birth defects are also on the increase (27 per 1,000 in Karakalpakstan compared with 3-5 per 1,000 in Europe). There has been a clear destruction to the region's economy. The Aral Sea has shrunk to almost half its size, which has led to the loss of livelihoods of an estimated 40,000 - 60,000 fishermen and fish-processing workers in the area. Karakalpakstan is now the poorest region in Uzbekistan and the area hardest hit by the Aral Sea crisis.

Cause of the Environmental Crisis

The arrival of Soviet developers in the 1930s heralded the destruction of the age-old system of rice-field irrigation and water pricing and the installation of a wasteful, large-scale irrigation system. Under the Soviet economic system, the entire region along the Amu Darya River (Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) was designated for the production of cotton. To ensure the productivity of the cotton agro-industry, large quantities of water were needed to irrigate the fields. Thus, the Amu Darya river was dammed at several places along the river, diverting water that would have ordinarily gone into the Aral Sea, to irrigate cotton fields instead.

In the 1960s it became apparent that the dams and large-scale irrigation projects were drawing too much water from the Amu Darya river (which feeds into the Aral Sea), as the sea was beginning to dry up. The large cotton monoculture developed by the Soviet regime is the main reason for the dying of the Aral Sea.

Cotton production also led to toxic pollution of the region. Pesticides like DDT and lindane were used to maximize the total yield of cotton. Defoliants containing dioxin were used to make it possible for mechanical pickers to harvest the crop. The use of DDT and lindane has now been banned, however defoliants and other pesticides are still being used. The entire population continues to be exposed to chemicals. Often, pesticides are sprayed from airplanes, which fly over villages and cotton field workers, many of whom are women. These chemicals have entered the food chain where they bio-accumulate and are transferred from fatty foods, such as oil and milk, to women who then transfer the chemicals to their children through their womb and breast-milk.

Reports recently published by the World Bank, the Japanese International Development Agency (JICA) and UN agencies testify to the immense environmental pollution problem in the area, particularly water pollution and water mismanagement. At the UN international meeting on Urgent Human Needs, held in Tashkent in January 1994 an Uzbek government representative observed that 150,000 tons of toxic chemicals had entered the water over the last 10 years and that these would continue to pollute soil and water supplies. The report from the 1995 UN conference on the Aral Sea states, "Once a prime source of potable water, ground water is no longer suitable for drinking in most areas."

A 1996 JICA report attributes deterioration of water quality to the discharge of mineralized water into rivers, highly contaminated with organic and inorganic substances (nitrogen, phosphorus, pesticides, phenols, etc.). The defoliants (used on the cotton fields) polluted underground and river water which was used as drinking water in the downstream areas. In addition ground water was also used for irrigation, leading to underground salt deposits, thus exacerbating the salinification of the soil. The 1996 JICA report describes increasing aridity, as salt crystallized on the dry bed of the sea and on the agricultural land due to surface water evaporation. Salt dust blown over the surrounding area, caused damage to agricultural land and adverse effects on people's health. More than 40% of cultivated land has suffered salt damage.

The inefficient irrigation system installed by the Soviets eventually caused declining cotton yields and infertile agricultural land. Furthermore, the region was affected by pollution from upstream, particularly from heavy metals used in mining and metalworking industries. In the Pamir mountains, dams and large industrial sites include chromium plants, which emit waste into the Amu Darya river and chemical and biological weapons factories in Kongrad and Muniak, two towns in Karakalpakstan, that tested their weapons in the Aral Sea. This toxic inheritance probably continues to pollute the area.

Impact of the Environmental Crisis

The Aral Sea case is a prime example of how unsustainable water management can lead to an economic and human disaster. The local people see more and more community members becoming ill or dying. They see their environment becoming increasingly hostile as salt crusts on the land thicken, fewer trees grow old, the growing season is shorter and harvests are lost. They see the places they used to swim in the sea when they were young, covered by sand. There are no more fish and the animals and plants are disappearing. They notice how they have less and less water and how bad it tastes.

It is the women of Karakalpakstan who are worst hit by the environmental crisis, because women traditionally bear the burden of caring for ill family members. Often it is the women who are wrongly blamed for the illnesses. Two studies (Crosslinks 1994, Binnies 1996) blamed the high level of anemia, diarrhea and consequent increase of morbidity and mortality, indirectly on women for not cooking adequately for their families and not providing their children with a balanced diet and clean water. Many women in Karakalpakstan work in the kolkhozes (state farms) or are in the service sectors (doctors, nurses, schoolteachers, etc.) In their spare time women try to grow some food in their gardens, if they have them and if they can find sufficient water, which is becoming increasingly difficult.

Health effects on women and children in Karakalpakstan:

Maternal mortality rates are 3 to 4 times higher than the national average;

99% of women and 90% of children suffer from anemia;

90% of women have complications during pregnancy and deliveries;

15% of pregnant women have miscarriages;

30%of pregnant women have kidney diseases;

30% of women have a high levels of certain elements (Mn, Cr, and Cd) in their blood and placenta;

30% of women have low levels of essential elements (Fe, Zn) in their serum and have lindane and DDT in their breast milk and placenta;

Frequency of birth defects is 5 times higher than in most of Europe;

A 1995 UNDP report stated that the average infant mortality rates was 4.48%, the highest in Uzbekistan, which has an average infant mortality rate of 3%;

A 1996 JICA report found infant mortality rates to be 10% in some areas;

6.49% of children below the age of 14 years suffer from skin diseases; and

Children are prone to water borne diseases notably diarrhea, as well as acute respiratory illness.

Health effects on general population of Karakalpakstan:

Viral hepatitis has increased from 62.4% to 94.8percent in the past 19 years;

Incidence of tuberculosis is 1.5 times greater than before;

Cancer incidence has increased from .163% to .183% from 1985 to 1992; and

Skin disease is twice the national level affecting 9.83% of `the general population.

The effects of environmental pollution on people are being played down by government and international agencies. According to these agencies, the causes of health problems are lack of hygiene and poor diet, rather than environmental pollution. The population of the Aral Sea region and particularly women and children, generally suffers from poor health. Part of this is due to a breakdown in the health care infrastructure since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There are repeated outbreaks of infectious diseases and average lifespans are declining dramatically. This phenomenon is seen in most of the newly independent states; however, Karakalpakstan and other regions bordering the Aral Sea have been particularly hard hit. Poor drinking water quality is assumed to have contributed to documented increases of certain morbidities such as hepatitis, kidney failure, birth defects and spontaneous abortions (Ataniyazova 1994, Abdirov 1993).

Anemia is often disregarded since almost 50% of the world's population suffers from it, but policy makers must examine the severity of the problem, not just the occurrence. One out of seven women in Karakalpakstan suffers from severe hemorrhage (bleeding) during pregnancy which is the main cause of maternal death (they bleed to death, so to say). A World Bank report (Binnies 1996) relates hemorrhaging directly to severe anemia. Severe anemia is also found in 99% of newborn babies. The same 1996 World Bank report relates severe anemia in newborns to increased fetal morbidity and mortality, impaired language and motor development and impaired coordination.

Frequent pregnancy and poor diet were considered to be the causes of anemia among Central Asian women. Thus, the programs designed to address anemia have been directed at regulating the number of births, proper diet and iron supplementation. However, Dr. Oral Ataniyazova's research has shown that the high frequency of anemia among women in Karakalpakstan is independent of pregnancy and age. The study reveals a high frequency of anemia in women who were not pregnant (92%), teenage girls (87%) and among newborn babies (85%). This research has shown that environmental factors such as high mineralization of drinking water have led to anemia amongst women in the Aral Sea region.

Effects on the climate and economy:

The drying up of the Aral Sea and water pollution have led to economic decline in the region, through loss of resources and productive labor. The Karakalpak tourism industry along the Aral Sea shore was abandoned in the 1980s. It is estimated that some 40-60,000 fisher people have lost their livelihoods. While fishing and related activities once provided 50% of the region's income, large fish canning industries now have hardly any fish to process. Species extinction is taking place with almost 40 fish species in the Aral Sea having become extinct. The former fish catch of 40,000 tons a year has declined to zero. The mutagenic activity of the water is 1.5 times higher than in Moscow. Great numbers of other species (i.e., mammals, birds) have also become extinct.

Under the Soviet system the entire region specialized in growing cotton, which was then exchanged for wheat and other goods from other areas of the Soviet Union. This specialization is increasingly problematic for the newly independent states of the Aral Sea Basin. The quality of Aral Sea Basin cotton is low, because it has short fibers. Although cotton exports still make up most of the country's income, cotton sales are declining and the Uzbek government has to import three million tons of wheat to feed it's people.

The greatest effects of the Aral Sea crisis are expected to hit the agricultural sector of Karakalpakstan, where local climate changes and increased salinity are starting to take their toll. The agricultural output of the region has already declined by 20-30% due to soil salinity, climate change and reduced labor productivity stemming from health problems. As a result of the shrinking Aral Sea, the Karakalpak region suffers increasingly from climate change. The climate of the Aral Sea basin used to be tempered by the moderating influence of the enormous water body. Now, temperature changes are wider and more abrupt, resulting in shorter growing seasons and higher probability of harvest loss.

Response to the Environmental Crisis

Response by Governments and International Agencies

The enormity of the ecological crisis in the Aral Sea basin became more visible following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It also became increasingly clear that no country acting alone could stop the destruction and an interregional effort of all the riparian states - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - was necessary. The Heads of State of the five riparian countries came together to form the Executive Committee of the Interstate Fund for the Aral Sea (ICAS). Each country contributed to this fund, for activities to improve the Aral Sea problems. The five countries also asked the UN and the World Bank for assistance.

In January 1994, the Aral Sea Basin Program was set up in cooperation with the World Bank, UNEP and UNDP. The objectives of the program were to:

Stabilize the environment of the Aral Sea basin;

Rehabilitate the disaster zone around the sea;

Improve the management of the international waters of the Aral Sea basin; and

Build the capacity of the regional institutions to plan and implement the above programs (ASBP progress report No. 2, p.1).

The program included seven sub-programs divided into 19 projects. The cost of implementing these planned projects was estimated at US $470 million. The money came from donor countries including Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Kuwait (progress report No.3, p. 1).

There was a great deal of hope and optimism in 1994, it was the first time that these five newly independent states had established international relations independent of Moscow. The governments of the five countries believed that their problems were the problems of the world and that the world community would help them solve this crisis. In this state of euphoria, the heads of state of the Aral Sea riparian countries declared themselves committed to sustainable development and signed the Nukus Declaration on September 1995 at an UN International Conference on Sustainable Development of the Aral Sea Basin (ICAS) held in Nukus. The state leaders acknowledged the need to "Preserve the quality of life for our peoples, without compromising the life of future generations by encouraging and supporting initiatives aimed at improvement of health, income generation and preservation of cultural heritage" (UN ICAS final report, p.20). They also committed themselves to human development stating, "As representatives and supporters of the new democratic countries of Central Asia, we are committed to achieving the participation of our peoples and NGOs in the overall economic process and in the solution of their problems." (UN ICAS final report, p.21)

Several million dollars have already been spent on feasibility studies by the World Bank and more than 131 foreign missions and delegations have visited the Aral Sea area, discussed the problems, and published articles and reports. However, no epidemiological studies have been done to look at the links between the chemical pollution of the region and the health disorders. In 1997, several World Bank reports stated that it had been shown that there were no health problems resulting from agrochemicals in Karakalpakstan. The World Bank bases this conclusion on the 1996 JICA study on water quality of urban drinking water reservoirs. But the JICA report only measured treated drinking water; it did not look at untreated water used in rural areas or at other sources of chemical intake such as cotton oil, used for cooking, or milk. More than half of the test sites in the JICA report are not those closest to the Aral Sea. Other measurements are also inconsistent and show major mistakes. For example, chemical tests for lindane and the DDT breakdown product DDD are indicated in milligrams per liter, or in grams per liter, whereas they probably meant to write one-millionth of a gram per liter, as these pesticides are usually measured.

The World Bank health project's final report focuses entirely on the bacteriological health problems in the region. It states that chemical pollution is not a problem and that if water was indeed chemically polluted, "experience shows that in such incidents the water usually becomes undrinkable owing to unacceptable taste, odor and appearance and is not consumed." (Aral Sea Program 5 project no. 1 Uzbekistan Water Supply Sanitation and Health Project Final Report Health Aspects, p.5). What is omitted is that when people have nothing other than polluted water to drink, they will have to drink it, and that is what is happening in Karakalpakstan. In rural areas people even use water from the irrigation drainage ditches for drinking water.

In 1997, a change in strategy occurred. It became clear that the health dimension bothered officials at the World Bank. World Bank officials wanted to get on with their work and look for economic projects that would promise a return on investment from which to start paying back the interests on the loans. The World Bank officially appeared all too willing to accept the outcomes of JICA water tests, a few fish analyzed for pollutants, and a graduate student's study on the causes of anemia. The World Bank transferred the responsibility for the program to a 2-person team in Tashkent, and decided to reduce the number of programs and to focus primarily on the agricultural program to improve cotton production. Health projects were integrated into the water supply program. After spending around US $2 million, donor countries seem uninterested in giving more funds to relieve pressing human needs. The UN agency which was supposed to focus on the human needs issues, the UNDP office in Tashkent, is busy with internal problems and is in the process of being reorganized.

In Fall 1997, the heads of state of the five riparian countries came together and, following recommendations from the World Bank, decided that the sea should be left to die since there was no longer a chance of saving it. Trying to save the Aral Sea would mean making economic sacrifices that were deemed too great. This decision was taken without any input from the affected populations. It could mean that some of the populations living closest to the Aral Sea, like the Karakalpaks, will now have to leave their towns and villages. A representative of Doctors Without Borders in Tashkent remarks, "Isn't it just incredible that five years and $13 million dollars later we are still trying to find out what pollutants exactly occur in the drinking water of the Aral Sea region?" The region still does not have a good hospital; there is no diagnostic center to identify diseases; and no toxicological laboratory where environmental hazards can be studied.

NGO Response

In most countries, women are society's most experienced and important natural resource managers. In Karakalpakstan women do most of the agricultural work, supply water, care for the ill and try to grow sufficient food for their families. Environmental degradation has added to women's low status in society by increasing their burdens in an environmentally vulnerable region. Their children are at increased risk of disease from unsafe water, nutritional deficiencies and lack of knowledge about prevention. A 1997 UNICEF report on a children's right to sustainable development states, "Environmental problems are social problems and the time women spend each day with the ramifications of environmental decline is time lost to their own development and that of their children and the wider community. Sustainable development cannot be isolated from implementing the rights of women to sustainable livelihood and equal opportunities for education, training, technology, access to credit and decision making."

With the premise that sustainable development is not possible without the direct participation of women, the NGO Center-Perzent has initiated a number of projects in Karakalpakstan. These projects incorporate women's perspective into the research and analysis of the crisis as well as directly involve them in programs such as health education and organic food farming. The following initiatives are being undertaken by Center-Perzent in collaboration with international networks.

Research

Center-Perzent conducts research to assess the quality of environment and human health in the Aral Sea region. In collaboration with the NGO ECOLOGIA, Center-Perzent has engaged the public in monitoring water quality, made recommendations on how to improve household water quality and developed several workshops with local authorities and physicians on water quality and health problems.

In collaboration with the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Scientific Center of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center-Perzent is investigating the epidemiology of reproductive pathology and reproductive toxicity. Working with Women in Europe for a Common Future, Center-Perzent has started an investigation of pesticides levels in the blood of Karakalpak women. In cooperation with World Resources Institute Center-Perzent is developing an investigation on reproductive health indicators. This project covers several countries including Brazil, Mexico and Uzbekistan. Center-Perzent is also receiving assistance from an international team of experts to carry out research in the Karakalpak region and to identify problem areas, thus reducing the population's exposure to contaminants.

Education and Community Awareness

There is a need for enhanced community participation, self-sufficiency, and empowerment in Karakalpakstan. Center-Perzent has chosen a strategy of education, information and training as the central components of moving towards this goal. In its first year of existence Perzent brought out a series of five booklets on women's health, providing basic information on hygiene, diet, the functioning of a woman's body, ways of contraception, the needs of pregnant women, how to take care of newborn babies etc. The booklets were printed in the Karakalpak language and distributed in hospitals. The NGO also publishes a women's newsletter, as well as booklets on "a safe childhood" and the relationship between health and environment.

Center-Perzent has an environmental education program for 200 children in Nukus schools. It organizes environmental summer camps for children and has an environmental library open to the public. In collaboration with Save the Children Fund, Center-Perzent has a program which provides water filters to kindergartens and environmental educational programs for pre-school children.

Since 1996 Center-Perzent has been running a 'women, health and environment' project with Women in Europe for a Common Future and partners in Russia and the Ukraine. As part of this project a group of 20 women from five towns in Karakalpakstan have been trained on basic health and health and environment issues. They are now conducting workshops for women in their communities and run a 'health-desk' where people can come for advice and information.

It is crucial for education and information projects to be interactive, and not to use a top-town approach. Often women have a lot of knowledge of the local environment and resources that has been handed down through the generations. The key is to revitalize that knowledge to improve the current situation.

Community Projects Build Self Sufficiency

Center-Perzent has recently set up the project 'Sustainable Chimbay,' a self-help, organic vegetable and fruit farming program to improve women's and children's diet and avoid further contamination. The local authorities in the town of Chimbay provided 20 hectares of land for the organic farm.

The goal is to use the vegetables and fruits from this farm in meals served at the school, thereby improving the health of the children. Another part of the harvest will be used to improve the women's diet, particularly pregnant women. If the harvest is good, the families of participating women will consume the surplus food and sell the rest. The income from the sales will be used for the target group's most serious needs, such as securing additional food, repairing the kindergarten's heating system, building a hand pump, filtering drinking water, obtaining medicines and syringes for the children's clinic, etc. The project also includes plans of capacity building training for women who work on the farm. The training sessions will look at methods of organic farming and methods to reduce exposure to pollution and improve personal health including hygiene, diet and water purification.

The main aim of the Sustainable Chimbay project is to show that organic farming is a viable alternative to pesticide intensive farming. It will improve the diet of children and families in Chimbay and offer income-generating opportunities for women farmers and the staff at the training center. The project will become a training and education center for surrounding farming communities. Thus the "kindergarten-farm" will gradually become a demonstration farm where local farmers and Kolkhoz directors can see how different crops can be cultivated with good yields using organic methods. Furthermore, the demonstration farm can serve as an experimental center to test new species of plants which can regenerate the soil, adapt to saline soils and require less water. Also, the cultivation of organic cotton in rotation with other crops will hopefully become a pilot project in this demonstration center.

For the last 50 years the local population has been conditioned against undertaking any individual action. All responsibility for society's well being was the domain of the state. The local population appears to think that someone will come and solve all the problems for them. The local communities need to realize that they possess the power to improve their environment and their lives. It is in this context that projects promoting self-sufficiency, like the organic farm in Chimbay, take on a greater significance.

Recommendations for Action

Based on the experience in the Aral Sea region, the following recommendations are made:

Make Women's Health a Priority

Women and children are the main victims of the Aral Sea crisis and they cannot be expected to bear the increasingly high cost of health care. Therefore, we call on donors of international aid and credit projects to create a special fund with grants to pay for health care and monitoring programs, using a gender differentiated approach with special attention to the health impact on women and children.

Make Environmental Health a Priority

The Aral Sea case shows that there is a need to create a training program for staff of the World Bank and other international agencies on the links between health and the environment. In addition and parallel to existing expertise on bacteriological health issues, expertise is needed in toxicology and epidemiology. Therefore, we call on donors of international aid and credit projects to engage environmental health experts and dedicate funds for research on environmental health effects, as well as funds for practical projects working on ways to reduce this impact.

Increase Funding to Women's NGOs

"National and local NGOs are at the cutting edge of the environmental movement and no government or international agency can afford to ignore their critical contribution," according to a 1997 UNICEF report. In countries with a history of authoritarian rule, NGOs are often the only ones trusted by communities. NGOs with strong participation of women can motivate and mobilize communities to understand the health and other harmful effects of their activities and show how this can be changed. The World Bank and other international agencies working in Uzbekistan have made some attempts at working with NGOs but the proportion of funds dedicated to working with NGOs is a fraction (0.25%) of total funds spent. Therefore, we call on donors of international aid and credit projects to set apart at least 5% of total funds for grants to community-based NGO projects, with specific attention to the participation of women.

Create an International Independent Assessment Committee

The responses to the Aral Sea problem have been marked by the misallocated expenditures of funds. To prevent further misallocation, an International Independent Assessment Committee should be created to monitor and assess the international programs on the Aral Sea, involving local and international scientists and NGO representatives.

Create a UN Fund for Ecological Disaster Zones

Environmental pollution and resource mismanagement of fresh water bodies like the Amu Darya river and Aral Sea can cause the devastation of a region and its people. The UN should develop international agreements to avoid the devastation of one region's livelihoods by pollution from other regions. The UN has a role to play that is similar to its peace keeping function.

Beyond developing international conventions, the UN needs to assist the affected people in cleaning and regenerating their region. How can such regions repay loans if their resources have been severely damaged and are increasingly unproductive? We call on the UN to create a fund for grants to pay for clean-up, resource regeneration and health care in ecological catastrophe areas like the Aral Sea Region.

Integrate Agricultural, Environmental and Health Policies

After five years and such high expenditures, there still has not been any scientific analysis of the contaminants in the air, soil, water and food of the Aral Sea region. The World Bank and UNDP need to integrate their research, for example, the agricultural department has data which the health department has not looked at.

Governments must ensure that policies and programs to fulfill people's basic needs such as clean water and their right to know what is harmful to their health. It is inappropriate to place trust in a trickle-down approach and more attention must be given to UNICEF's recommendations and utilizing a bottom-up approach that involves women's NGOs.

Humanitarian Aid

International agencies, including the World Bank, UNDP and UN, need to create a fund for humanitarian aid to this region. Above all, international agencies need to treat the Aral Sea Basin with the same urgency that they would treat a war or earthquake zone. The Aral Sea region is an environmental disaster area in need of immediate assistance.

Mediterranean Sea Under Siege by Military and Industrial Abuse

Ninetta Pourou-Kazantzis
Box 320, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
Tel: (357-5) 372-497; Fax: (357-5) 368-457
Email: npourou@anet.com.cy

Abstract

Oil spills, military exercises and toxic trade increasingly threaten the Mediterranean Sea. The growing degradation of the marine environment poses threats to the region's economy as well as to the health of people in the region. Women activists from all countries bordering the Mediterranean have joined together to work on strategies to educate and mobilize international action in response to the worsening problem.

Cause of the Environmental Crisis

The World Health Organization estimated in 1992 that one-third of the children swimming in the Mediterranean Sea would subsequently fall ill within two weeks. What used to be called flotsam and jetsam is now large-scale dumping of toxic chemicals. The oil tankers plying the Mediterranean spill or leak an amount of oil 17 times the size of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe every year, according to a 1992 report in 'The Economist.' They do so with complete immunity.

In addition, constant military exercises and the increasing number of hostilities in the Mediterranean area lead to residues of gasoline, solvents, weapons, and munitions which find their way into the sea. Worse, where the U.S. sixth fleet houses nuclear-powered submarines at ports in Sardinia and Crete, there has been so much radioactive waste that the sea is considered dead in that area. According to the Attorney General of Reggio, Guido Neri, the Neapolitan Mafia or "Ndrangheta" is responsible for the mysterious sinking of 25 ships, each full of radioactive waste, around the coast of Italy between 1992 and 1993. One ringleader, Georgio Comerio, is not in jail for dumping 5,000 tons of lethal waste in our seas but instead "enjoys the support of banks, institutions, and influential people in business and politics," according to Neri. This waste will have toxic and carcinogenic effects on millions of people. A warning sign is the rise in leukemia rates among children and adult inhabitants of nearby fishing ports.

The recent history of violence in the Mediterranean, especially the Israeli-Arab wars, the 1974 Turkish occupation of one third of the island of Cyprus, the war in former Yugoslavia and continued violence in Algeria have all taken a serious toll on the physical and psychological health of the Mediterranean people. Wars and war games not only destroy the environment with toxic and radioactive contamination and increase the incidence of violent behavior in society, they also increase the scarcity of essential resources such as clean drinking water, safe and hygienic living conditions and nutritious food.

Mediterranean countries officially engage in toxic trade. The Italian government shipped some 16,000 barrels containing over 24,000 tons of hazardous waste from Italy to Beirut between 1987 and 1988. "The barrels of solid waste with chlorinated substances and toxic heavy metals are ecological time bombs in Lebanon's soil and waters," according to GFouad Hamdan of Greenpeace Mediterranean.

The dumping of toxic wastes in the Mediterranean Sea is in direct violation of the Barcelona Convention signed by all Mediterranean States in 1975. But oil spilled daily by multinational oil companies and military pollution, are not covered by the terms of this regional pact. The UN must address these abuses.

The complete lack of education about the hazards of these international and local practices is shocking. In fact, many Mediterranean farmers are officially encouraged to use dangerous pesticides and many local governments allow untreated sewage and industrial effluence to flow straight into coastal waters.

Impact of the Environmental Crisis

According to a 1995 AWMR report, in just three countries of the Southern Mediterranean - Algeria, Morocco and Egypt - over 39 million people have no basic sanitation and, as a result, 550,000 children died before the age of five in 1990 alone. The lack of good nutrition, clean water and sanitary facilities means maternal mortality rates are 200 to 300 per 100,000 live births in the South compared to an average of 10 per 100,000 in the Northern Mediterranean. Resources have been diverted to military expansion instead of sustainable development, and fighting poverty and unsanitary conditions. This has encouraged the reemergence of tuberculosis and other acute infectious respiratory diseases in Algeria and Bosnia in the 1990s. In Bosnia, cancers of the stomach and colon have also increased among people of all ages.

The French nuclear tests in the Sahara began with an above ground explosion at Reggane on February 16, 1960 and continued until the test site was moved to French Polynesia in 1996. Radioactive clouds from the Algerian Sahara tests traveled over Libya and around the Mediterranean. The negative effects on health and development in downwind Mediterranean countries are suggested by the epidemic rise in cancer rates in subsequent decades. "Nothing is known of the extinct Tuareg tribes that once roamed the region. Their camels and cattle died soon after the tests. No survey has been done of the surviving workers at the sites. Testimonies gathered in 1992 speak of sterile women, cancers, of whole tribes having disappeared, of dying camels and other animals," according to Solange Fernex of AWMR.

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus has suffered a phenomenal increase of over 1000% in the incidence of cancers between 1960 and 1990 (3 new cases per 10,000 people in 1960 compared to 2000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in 1990). The Maltese Islands, that lie northeast of Algeria, are affected by the sirocco wind from the Sahara desert. The total number of cancer deaths per 1000 of the population rose by over 73% in the 1960-1993 period. Female breast cancer mortality rates increased by 150% in just two decades. By the end of the 1980s Malta had the highest female breast cancer mortality rate in the world (California Journal for Clinicians, 1989). A phenomenal increase in skin cancer deaths also occurred in the 1960s in Malta (Maltese Society 1994:195). Today, one in four deaths in Malta are due to cancer.

The Mediterranean Sea is so contaminated that it is hard to find a bay which is clean enough to swim in. Apart from ear and throat infections suffered by swimmers, there are increasing numbers of people with immune system disorders, chronic fatigue, diarrhea, hearing loss, and increased susceptibility to every passing infection. Meanwhile, the incidence of deadly cancers has been rising in the region.

The toll is not limited to the people who swim in the Mediterranean Sea. Prevalence of health problems has affected income from tourism in many places. The variety, quantity, and quality of fish, which is a staple for many households and a source of income for others, have diminished, often with disastrous multiplier effects. Marsaxlokk used to be the most prosperous fishing port in Malta, now it struggles with depleted fishing reserves and pollution from a new oil-fired power station.

The full negative impact of sea pollution on drinking water, salt and fish from the Mediterranean Sea has yet to be measured. The cumulative toxic and radioactive wastes are entering the food chain to the detriment of all, especially the young, elderly, and those already weakened by sickness.

Response to the Environmental Crisis

Women of the Mediterranean region share a vital concern about the health and welfare of their families. They are concerned about commercial and state practices that harm their livelihoods and contaminate their water. Apart from joining the occasional demonstration, many women feel powerless to prevent what they term "regress" or maldevelopment. Local governments tend to be slow, bureaucratic and ineffective. Industry is notoriously negligent if not criminal in its hazardous waste practices especially where environmental legislation is weak or poorly implemented. The United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environmental Programme Mediterranean Action Plan based in Greece have not made any measurable impact in addressing this ecological disaster.

"I have come here to regain my childhood," said Mona Selmy of Egypt at the founding conference of AWMR. She had grown up on the shores of the Mediterranean near Alexandria and has seen a healthy sea become polluted and sick. We have all similarly lost our ancient maritime heritage, and many have lost their health. Association members, through educational and activist work on these issues, have become powerful forces for progressive change in many Mediterranean countries such as Malta, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and the countries of former Yugoslavia.

At every local meeting and regional conference of the Association, the devastating effects of the military/ industry, wars, and embargoes on the environment, natural resources, and health have been exposed. The primary aims of the organization are "to work toward the peaceful resolution of conflicts and to demilitarize and denuclearize the Mediterranean Region while fostering the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable among us and ending all forms of discrimination and poverty." The Association's newsletters, books, conferences, solidarity actions and international interventions have served to educate on the issues of industrial and governmental malpractices and the fundamental right to clean seas and fresh water. The prosperity and cleanliness of the Mediterranean Sea, on which the personal and economic health of so many depends, are the determinants and the gauge of our movement's success.

Representatives of the association participated in the International Conference on Health at Miami in 1991 and the UN Conference on Human Settlements at Istanbul in 1996. They have held annual regional conferences for women activists and writers, inviting international experts to speak on such issues as community health, environmental contamination, and military-industrial practices. The association is educating local communities on the illnesses caused by toxic exposures and encouraging community health studies.

Recommendations for Action

At the 1995 AWMR conference on Health in the Mediterranean participants voted for a pro-active position on alternative energy. Women from 17 countries, approved the following resolution, addressed to the November 1995 Mediterranean and Sustainable Development conference:

Considering the steps taken by states in favor of sustainable development in Rio in 1992; Considering the conclusions of the Climate Summit in Berlin, in Spring 1995; Considering the Chernobyl disaster, and the damage done to health and the environment; Considering the constant risk of similar accidents; and considering the unsolved problem of nuclear waste; We request that the states participating in the Barcelona conference prepare to:

Launch a multi-media information campaign on the conservation of energy, economy, and renewable sources of energy which would enable the replacement of fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources;

Launch effective and courageous policies of energy conversion to utilize renewable energy, solar panels, photo-voltaic energy, wind, biomass, etc., and begin equipping buildings and public installations;

Subsidize investments of private installations which conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources;

Impose a tariff on electricity distributors that correctly reflects the cost of production, favoring decentralized and renewable sources of energy, in a way that will stimulate public and private investments in this area;

Present the results of these political measures in the field of energy conservation and utilization to the international community.

Additional recommendations include the need for all governments with military presence in the region to reduce military expenditures and interventions and prevent the deleterious effects on natural resources such as water and health.

The value of women's activism and importance of women's concerns have yet to be recognized by many official bodies. Representatives from women's NGOs should be invited to participate in all relevant forums and their recommendations must be seriously considered and implemented.

Forty Years of Nuclear Contamination in Chelyabinsk, Russia

Contact: Natalya Ivanovna Mironova
9-12 Kaslinskaya, 454084 Chelyabinsk, Russia
Tel: (7-3512) 356-459; Fax: 7-3512-356-459
Email: chel@glasnet.ru

Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), an NGO based in the Netherlands, networks women working on environment and health in Western and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Its primary aims are to link European women's organizations and networks that promote sustainable development and to strengthen their decision-making power in environmental and health policies.

Women in Europe for a Common Future

Contact: Sascha Gabizon, Hanna van Vonderen
P .O. Box 12111
3501 AC Utrecht, the Netherlands
Tel: (31-30) 231-0300; Fax: (31-30) 234-0878
Email:wecf@antenna.nl

Abstract

Chelyabinsk was one of the former Soviet Union's main military production centers, which included nuclear weapons manufacturing. Accidents, nuclear waste disposal and day to day operation of the Mayak reactor and radiochemical plant contaminated a vast area of the province. In the early 1950s there were so many occurrences of death and disease from the nuclear waste dumping in the Techa river that 22 villages along the river banks in a 50 kilometers zone downstream from Mayak were evacuated. In 1957, a nuclear waste storage tank accident released radiation double the amount released by the Chernobyl accident. This accident was kept secret and 10,700 people were evacuated. The severe environmental contamination of this region led to dramatic increases in cancer rates, birth defects, and sterility. Over the past 33 years, there has been a 21% increase in the incidences of cancer, 25% increase in birth defects and 50% of the population of child bearing age are sterile.

Cause of the Environmental Crisis

During World War II, Chelyabinsk was one of the Soviet Union's major armament production centers. Entire factories on the western side of the Urals were taken apart and reconstructed on the other side of the Urals, the Chelyabinsk province. Chelyabinsk had one of the largest tank factories in the country, as well as one of the major nuclear armament plants. Due to these "strategic industries" the province was closed to visitors until 1989. Following the political and economic transformation in Russia, the tank factory now produces tractors, and the Mayak nuclear armament plant is trying to evolve into a fast breeder recycling plant for foreign spent-plutonium (nuclear wastes).

The Mayak nuclear complex was one of the Soviet Union's main military production centers. During the last fifty years this complex has contaminated the Chelyabinsk region with highly dangerous nuclear and chemical wastes. The following is a chronological listing of the practices and accidents that caused the environmental crisis:

1949 to 1956: Liquid wastes from the Mayak nuclear complex were dumped into the Techa-Iset-Tobol river system

From 1949 to 1956, medium and high-level radioactive liquid wastes were dumped into the river system Techa-Iset-Tobol. During this period about 76 million m3 of radioactive wastes were released into the Techa river. Over 124, 000 people living along the banks of the river system were exposed to radiation. Protective measures finally began in 1956 when hydrological engineering measures aimed at immobilizing deposited radioactive substances in the upper reaches of the river were implemented. The river system is currently in the process of a natural deactivation that will take a few hundred years. The water downstream is nearly free of excess radioactive caesium, however the riverbed sediment and the riverbanks still contain high levels of caesium and strontium.

1957: Explosion of a nuclear waste storage tank at the Mayak nuclear complex

On September 29, 1957 a liquid radioactive waste storage tank exploded following a failure in the cooling system and polluted an area equal to the size of New Jersey with plutonium and strontium. The explosion formed a radioactive cloud over the provinces of Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Tyumen. A total area of 23,000 sq. kilometers was contaminated and the area is now called the East Ural Radioactive Trace, the EURT. This accident was kept secret from the outside world for military safety reasons and 10,700 people were silently evacuated. This nuclear accident released twice the amount of curies that were released by the Chernobyl accident.

1967: The Lake Karachay accident

Two self-contained natural lakes near the plant were chosen to divert waste dumping in the river-system - lake Karachay for high-level waste and lake Staroe Boloto for medium level waste. During the long, hot summer of 1967, lake Karachay dried up and radioactive waste from the exposed lake blew over an area of 2,200 sq. kilometers. Other accidents, irresponsible nuclear waste disposal and day-to-day operations of the Mayak nuclear-chemical facility have contaminated an area with a diameter of 400 km.

In addition to pollution from the nuclear complex, the metallurgical industry has heavily contaminated this region. The Ural mountains are rich in iron ore, chromium, copper and nickel and the region has an enormous metallurgical industry. The amount of lead in the air in Chelyabinsk city is equal to the total amount of lead pollution in the Netherlands (population of 15 million) in 1982, before unleaded petrol and catalytic converters were introduced. Any improvement of air quality in the Urals has been due to the economic downturn and closing of factories. Hardly any investments have been made by the government to reduce pollution levels.

Impact of the Environmental Crisis

Soon after the Mayak nuclear complex became operational, death and diseases in the region increased dramatically due to the dumping of medium and high level radioactive waste into the river system. As a result, 22 villages on the riverbanks, in a 50 km downstream zone from the complex, were evacuated. The village of Muslymova, just outside the 50 km zone was particularly contaminated, but it was never evacuated. Muslyumova lies 45 km north west of Chelyabinsk city and has 4,000 inhabitants. The village had no wells and until recent years depended on the river Techa, for drinking water.

The villagers of Muslyumova grew increasingly ill following contamination of their water. The number of birth defects and cancer deaths soared, but the authorities refused to take remedial measures. Statistics show that gene-mutations in the villages just outside the evacuated zone were 15 times the average for the Russian Federation. The local authorities attributed the high level of birth defects among newborns and the high mortality rates to a low standard of living.

A report on the health of the people living on the banks of the Techa River was published in 1991, which showed that the incidence of leukemia increased by 41% since 1950. From 1980 to 1990, all cancers in this population rose by 21% and all diseases of the circulatory system rose by 31%. These figures are probably gross under-estimations, because local physicians were instructed to limit the number of death certificates they issued with diagnosis of cancer and other radiation-related illnesses. According to Gulfarida Galimova, a local doctor who has been keeping records in lieu of official statistics, the average life span for women in Muslyumovo in 1993 was 47, compared to the country average of 72. The average life span of Muslyumovo men was 45 compared to 69 for the entire country.

Chelyabinsk regional hospitals were not allowed to treat the villagers and they were sent to the Ural Centre for Radiation Medicine. The medical data of the UCRM was classified until 1990. Records of the UCRM chart the decline in health of 28,000 people along the Techa and all of them are classed as seriously irradiated. Since the 1960s, these people have been examined regularly by public health officials.

According to the head of the UCRM clinical department the rate of leukemia has doubled in the last two decades. Skin cancers have quadrupled over the last 33 years. The total number of people suffering from cancer has risen by 21%. The number of people suffering from vascular diseases has risen 31%. Birth defects have increased by 25%. Kosenko carried out a small epidemiological study of 100 people selected at random. From this group 96% had at least five chronic diseases (heart diseases, high blood pressure, arthritis and asthma), 30% had as many as ten chronic conditions. Local doctors estimate that half the men and women at child bearing age are sterile.

Even today, the local population still does not know the actual levels of radioisotopes in its home grown products. German scientists who did a field study in Muslumova in 1996 have measured some food samples in the villages and found astonishing levels of radioactivity, 17,000 becquerrel per kg in fish, and 8,000 per kg in vegetables (in Europe, products with more than 600 bequerrel are taken off the market). Only since 1989, the villagers have started to get information about the dangers of the radioactive contamination of their river.

After the 1957 storage tank accident, 10,700 people were permanently evacuated from the EURT. Half of these people were evacuated eight months after the accident. These people had been consuming contaminated food without restriction, since the accident and until their evacuation. The Karachay accident from 1967 affected 63 populated areas with a population of 41,500 with 3.7 kBq/sq m (0.1Ci/sq km) The 4800 residents nearest to the lake received an average dose of 13mSv. At the time of the Karachay accident, the International Commission for Radiological Protection (ICRP) had set the safe limit on radiation at 5mSv per year. At present, the ICRP standard is 1mSv per year.

According to the Russian Scientific Centre Kurchatov and the Obninsk Institute of Radiology, a total of 437,000 people have been affected by the three accidents at Mayak. Of the total 437,000 people affected, very few were ever evacuated from the area. Very often the evacuees were moved to areas not far from the contaminated zone and the people continued to use their gardens within the contaminated areas.

Other people exposed to elevated levels of radiation in Chelyabinsk region are workers of Mayak, people living in the districts in the vicinity of Mayak and participants during cleanup and restoration activities. At the beginning of operation of Mayak, the average annual exposures for reactor workers and chemical plant workers was 940 mSv and 1,130mSv respectively. (At present, the ICRP safety standard is 1mSv per year.) The workers from Mayak lived in Chelyabinsk-65 and Chelyabinsk-70, both closed cities situated about 80 km from Chelyabinsk city, and close to the Mayak complex. Chelyabinsk-65 and -70 were nicknamed chocolate city, because these cities were among the few cities in USSR where chocolate was available in abundance.

In the early 1990s, Ivan Druzhko, a Mayak plant official, told reporters from a US television show that he believed nearly 8,000 Mayak workers were exposed to doses exceeding 1,000mSv. L.A. Buldakov, deputy director of the institute of biophysics in Moscow presented data on a conference in Paris in 1991 that showed a total of 1,812 Mayak workers were exposed to least 2,450mSv over the period 1949-1954 and another 1,286 people were exposed to at least 1,220mSv. These exposure levels are horrifying when you compare these levels with the ICRP's present safety standard, which is 1mSv per year. In the 1980s, Ural Medical Radiation Center started registering diseases caused by radiation. In 1989 a booklet was published stating that 935 workers at the Mayak complex were suffering from chronic radiation syndrome. This number later came down to 66 but was changed back to the former figure after campaigns by local organizations.

While the rural communities in Chelyabinsk suffer from the effects of radioactive contamination, the urban populations face the effects of the chemical and metallurgical industries. In 1994 the Chelyabinsk Provincial Institute for Public Health and Environment did a survey on non-infectious diseases in the cities of Karabash, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Kopeisk and Miass. The survey showed considerable increases of various diseases in the Chelyabinsk region. The results from Karabash and Magnitogorsk were so bad that the provincial Ministry for the Environment classified these cities as ecological disaster zones. (SOE rep. P. 195) Children from Karabash were found to be considerably smaller than children from the control group; they had 3.5 times more birth defects; 2.7 times more skin diseases; streptodermia 10 times more, and 2.1 times more diseases of the digestive organs.

Cancer rates in the metallurgical district of Chelyabinsk are four to five times higher than the Russian average. Children's morbidity and mortality rates in the metallurgical district are three times higher than the average for the city. Lead intoxication from the metallurgical factories causes blood diseases and brain damage. Chromium is another major pollutant. U.S. studies have shown that the incidences of lung cancer for chromium factory workers are 28 times than the average rates. Workers barely survive until their retirement age and male life expectancy has gone down to 57.

Statistics from the neighboring province of Ekaterinaburg show that in the early 1990s the number of women workers in the metallurgical and electrical engineering industry doubled, and their numbers in light industry tripled. statistics in Chelyabinsk, if available, would probably show the same trend. After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, unemployment soared and Russia's social security system became more and more insecure. Today, most women cannot afford to lose their jobs and will keep on working as long as possible. The women work even though the working conditions badly affect their own health and their children's health. Maternity leave with pay was well taken care for under the Soviet system but now for fear of losing their jobs, women keep silent about their pregnancy as long as possible. Many women work more than one job. Apart from working under very unfavorable conditions women also have to take care of their families. Wages are low and poverty is increasing.

Even in the "workers paradise", as the former Soviet Union was called, working conditions were not always favorable. In the late 1980's, 20-50% of workplaces did not meet Soviet standards. By the end of the Soviet era, 14.5 million women worked in industry and 3.4 million, about one-fifth of them, worked under hazardous conditions such as toxic fumes, extreme high or low temperatures, and excessive noise and vibrations.

Chelyabinsk has long been a region of strategic military importance and has a history of secrecy. Even today it is not easy to obtain environment or health information. Obtaining information from independent sources is even more difficult.

Response to the Environmental Crisis

In 1992, Movement for Nuclear Safety (MNS), in co-operation with local authorities, organized an international conference on the consequences of nuclear industry in the South Urals. This was the first time that the public gained access to classified information concerning the health of the population affected by radionucleides from the nuclear military complex, Mayak. In the same year MNS began campaigns to register people affected by nuclear contamination in Muslyumovo. By the end of 1993 the democratic process was interrupted and the co-operation with authorities became less effective. By then, however, MNS had obtained a large group of voluntary workers and support from the local population.

During the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Natalya Mironova of MNS met with Women in Europe for a Common Future and partners in Uzbekistan and the Ukraine and discussed setting up a joint project on women, health and environment. In 1996, a project entitled Women Join Forces for Health and Environment, was launched to better understand the health effects of the environmental contamination in the Chelyabinsk region, particularly effects on women and children. MNS offered courses to women on healthy living and on strengthening their immune system. The NGO also sponsored seminars on how to reduce the effects of contamination of the human body caused by bioaccumulation of radionucleides. Women received information from a dietician and were taught how to cook to retain vitamins.

MNS also started publishing a series of brochures titled 'Simple Answers to Complicated Questions,' on the immune system and healthy food in a region contaminated with radionucleides. The brochures were widely distributed among the villages just outside the evacuated area near Mayak.

Together with other NGOs, MNS has been campaigning for resettlement of the village of Muslyumovo. In 1997 these actions finally became effective: the province administration decided to resettle the village. It is still unclear, however, when this will happen and where the villagers will go. MNS is also active in local politics and has been campaigning against the development of plutonium recycling facilities at Mayak to treat imported plutonium waste from abroad, particularly from Germany and the U.S.A. MNS promotes sustainable economic alternatives including energy-saving, alternative energy sources and organic farming.

Recommendations for Action

Most of the information about plutonium contamination and plutonium impacts is still classified, although plutonium contamination has affected a geographical area 10 times larger and 100 times more intensely than expected. Despite this, the local administration is eagerly looking at potential revenues from plutonium recycling. Plutonium recycling is not a sustainable solution. Chelyabinsk needs assistance from the international community to identify viable alternatives to polluting industries.

When the Cold War ended Russian women wrote letters to the UN asking for assistance and tried to force the Russian authorities to listen to the voices of the NGO community. The international community can support the fight for a healthy and sustainable future by endorsing our demands to:

Set up an international institution to set new health standards for radiation protection, because 1950 standards are no longer adequate or relevant;

Disseminate information about the health effects of the nuclear industry;

Support the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and make sure that victims get adequate compensation;

Stop the export of nuclear waste;

Collect data on environmental health problems;

Promote research and development of medical detoxification methods and promote the exchange of knowledge on successful methods;

Fund long-term epidemiological research in regions adversely affected by environmental pollution; and Establish health care and health monitoring programs for victims of environmental pollution and people living in hazardous zones.

Gold Mine Destroys Guyana's Essequibo River Area