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Geneva,
20 January 2000
The
President
Executive
Board
World Health Organization
20 Avenue Appia
1211 Geneva 27
Dear Mr.
President,
The enclosed
petition has been signed on behalf of different organizations and by individuals
who are deeply worried by the World Health Organization's seeming silence
about the effects that radiation has on the health of people.
We believe
that the reason for this may lie in the Agreement between WHO and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), two organizations with contradictory
purposes. While one of the IAEA's goals is "to accelerate and enlarge
the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout
the world" (IAEA Statutes, 1956), WHO's goal is to
promote and
protect "health for all".
There is
evidence that the nuclear cycle and its by products, including nuclear
weaponry, and nuclear accidents have caused serious harm to people's health.
The petition therefore calls on WHO to amend the WHO/IAEA agreement with
a view to giving WHO full freedom of investigation and publication, and
asks the Executive Board to place the item on the agenda of the forthcoming
World Health Assembly.
The signers
of the petition are worried about the consequences of Chernobyl, especially
the damage done to the human genome, the most dramatic ethical problem
connected with the development of atomic industry. This concern was already
expressed by the outstanding WHO working group on genetics, at its meeting
in Geneva in 1956.
After the
Chernobyl disaster, WHO had the opportunity to verify the predictions
of its expert group and its recommendations, published in the WHO Document
"Effets génétiques des radiations chez l'homme, OMS, 1957",
in particular: "It is recommended that the investigation of the amount
and type of damage and related genetic questions, be greatly extended
and intensified with a view to safeguarding the well-being of future generations."
Such a verification can still be undertaken now and it is urgent that
WHO do so.
During the
IAEA congress in Vienna, 8-12 April 1996, the genetic damages were minimized
or even completely denied by the official speakers, whereas at the same
time the Editorial in NATURE, April 25 1996, by Prof. Hillis of the University
of Texas, concluded : "We now know that the mutational effects of nuclear
accidents can be much greater than suspected, and that evolutionary rates
in at least parts of eukariotic genomes can be raised well beyond levels
previously considered possible."
After reading
"Health Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident" (WHO, Geneva 1996), which
concluded the IPHECA programme, the petitioners fear that the Agreement
with the AIEA of 28 May 1959 may explain WHO'S delay in initiating post-Chernobyl
research projects. It may even be the principal explanation why e.g. dental
health in Belarus was considered as more important by WHO than genetic
damages due to the exposure to chronic low-dose radiation?
The Agreement
between the IAEA and the WHO also contains a confidentiality clause (Article
3 of this Accord), which is in contradiction with the Constitution of
WHO, recommending a thorough and full information to the public as an
important means to solve and prevent health problems.
The proceedings
of the important congress organized by WHO on Chernobyl in Geneva in November
1995 were to be available in March 1996. They have still not been published
and we wonder whether this also may be related to the restrictions imposed
by the 1959 Agreement? On the other hand, the proceedings of the IAEA
conference on Chernobyl, 8-12 April 1996 in Vienna, were published already
in September of the same year. On the first page of this publication,
the principal objective of the Agency is restated
"to accelerate
and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity
throughout the world".
With such
a principal objective, assessments of the consequences of the nuclear
cycle on health must not be under the control of the IAEA, but be freely
undertaken by the WHO with full transparency. The population of the world
needs to be informed about the real risks of atomic energy, and about
the full extent of the consequences of accidents such as in Sellafield,
Three Mile Island and especially Chernobyl.
We therefore
reiterate our appeal to urgently amend the Agreement between the International
Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization (Res WHA12-40,
28.5.59), so as to liberate WHO from any restrictions due to a conflict
of interests in the field of health consequences of radiation, and to
place the matter on the agenda of this forthcoming World Health Assembly.
Sincerely,
Michaela
Told
Secretary General
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