The 213° week of the vigil
in front of WHO
Other groups and associations have already met the directors of WHO (Download the minutes of the meeting between WHO/PSR-IPPNW Switzerland and WILPF on 18th July 2002), but this was the first time that WHO had accepted a meeting with IndependentWHO. Originally planned for the last fortnight in June, the meeting finally took place on 2nd July 2009 with Doctor Maria Neira, representing the Director General, Madame Chan. This meeting represented an opportunity for IndependentWHO to pose ten key questions (sent to WHO beforehand via letter to Doctor Fukuda. Read our letter to Docteur Fukuda of WHO)
| 1) What is the mortality figure for Chernobyl according to WHO, 23 years after the event? | |
| 1a) In your joint communique with the IAEA of 5th September 2005, you stated that about 50 people died following radiation. How do you explain the difference between your estimate and that of the Chief Medical Officer of Russia who said, at the conference in Kiev in June 2001 : “among the 184,175 liquidators listed in the Register of the Minister of Health, 10% are dead and 30% are ill”. | |
| 1b) In a letter addressed to CONTRATOM (8.6.2007), M. Couchepin Minister of Health for Switzerland, confirmed : “Unfortunately, in the reports presented by the United Nations organizations, WHO, the IAEA and UNEP, the WHO Rapporteur gave, a whitewashed image of the accident WHO is aware of the situation and has taken corrective measures”. What measures have you taken since that time, to “correct” “the whitewashed image”, given by WHO ? | |
| 1c) In a letter addressed to CONTRATOM (14.4.2009), M. Couchepin confirms, with reference to the estimates of the health consequences of the accident at Chernobyl : “even the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) does not accept these figures. That is why it is coordinating the ARCH (Agenda for Research on Chernobyl Health) project for the European Commission with the aim of studying and evaluating the research into the health consequences of the accident at Chernobyl”. Can you explain to us why the IARC is not satisfied with these figures? Why has it taken 23 years to set up this research project. | |
| 2) With reference to the last UN communiqué dated 24th April 2009, what is your definition of the ”victims” of Chernobyl ? | |
| 2a) What do you mean by “live a normal life” in the contaminated zones? On what medical and scientific basis is this judgement made? | |
| 3) What are WHO’s recommendations for the health care of those Liquidators who are still alive today? | |
| 3a) How do you justify the fact that WHO has undertaken no medical or epidemiological research concerning this enormous group of people? | |
| 4) According to WHO, what measures should be taken to protect people - particularly children - who are consuming food that has been contaminated by radionuclides? | |
| 4a) What is WHO’s view on the use of pectin, currently being used by the Belrad Institute in Belarus to protect children from radionuclides, and recommended by the Ministers of Health in Russia and the Ukraine? | |
| 5) What is WHO’s current view on the effects of low level radiation from eating food contaminated by radionuclides? | |
| 5a) on dose/effect models. | |
| 5b) on internal radiation. | |
| 5c) on the question of thresholds. | |
| 6) The ARCH/IARC project is concerned with cancers. What plans does WHO have to establish a programme of research into somatic pathologies other than cancer? | |
| 7) What expertise is available to WHO (in Geneva) in the area of radiation and health? | |
| 7a) Who is responsible for the following areas: electromagnetic fields, mobile phones and the nuclear industry, (since the technical units of the RAD department are no longer in existence)? | |
| 7b) What are the academic qualifications of each of these people? | |
| 7c) What is the programme of action and what research is being undertaken in each of these domains; what are their budgets and how are they being financed? | |
| 8) Following the experience at Chernobyl, what proposals are you putting forward, in your role as the World Health Organisation, to prepare for the health and environmental consequences of a major nuclear accident? | |
| 9) Why have the proceedings of the WHO conferences in 1995 and 2001 not been published? | |
| 9a) How do you respond to Doctor Nakajima, who explained in the documentary film made by Swiss Italian television (Nuclear Controversies) that they were not published because of the agreement between WHO and the IAEA? | |
| 9b) Could you supply us with copies of the proceedings of the international conferences on the health consequences of the Chernobyl disaster which were held in Geneva in 1995 and in Kiev in 2001? | |
| 10) Does WHO plan to revise the agreement of 28th May 1959 (WHA 12/40), which, as it stands, prevents WHO from acting independently from the IAEA? | |
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| Collective “IndependentWHO” Correspondant : Éric Peytremann 54 rue Ernest-Bloch CH- 1207 Genève |
Dr Keiji Fukudu Assistant Director-General World Health Organization 20 Avenue Appia CH-1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland Geneva, 3rd June 2009 |
Regarding : Meeting with the IndependentWHO collective
Dear Dr Fukudu,
With reference to your letter of 24th April 2009 and your email of 4th May 2009, we are proposing to meet with you on Tuesday 23rd June at 14.99, or at any other date during the last two weeks in June 2009.
We would be very happy to discuss with Dr. Maria Neira, as representative of Mme Dr Chan and the World Health Organisation, all the points that we have raised.
In order to make best use of this opportunity, which are enclosing a list of questions which will form the basis of our discussions, and as a reminder/ for reference, the minutes of the meeting which took place in July 2002 between WHO, Dr David Nabarro, Executive Director, and PSR/IPPNW Switzerland and WILPF, on the medical consequence of the Chernobyl disaster.
We would like to keep precise minutes of this next meeting. Would it be possible to use a small Dictaphone for this purpose to record the meeting? If not, we will be happy to make written notes.
We anticipate that there will be 4 or 5 members of IndependentWHO at the meeting, representing different associations. The questions will be presented to you in English and in French. The discussions, on the other hand, need to be in French, since several of our representatives do not speak fluent English.
Yours sincerely,
| Éric Peytremann for IndependentWHO |
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