To Dr Tero And The IAEA Expert Panel - 31/5/2011
Dear Dr Tero Varjoranta and team, welcome to this beautiful city of Kuantan. We trust that our government has bestowed upon you all the warmest Malaysian hospitality during your short stay in Malaysia. I hope you have enjoyed the clean fresh air, cool pure water, beautiful beaches and not forgetting the delicious seafood in town.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and our government for organisating this meeting.
We believe our government would have briefed you and your team thoroughly on the events leading to the setting up this expert panel.
Yes, we were hopeful when our Prime Minister reiterated that safety and health of the people cannot be compromised in the review.
Allow me to briefly relate to you our side of the story on the events leading to this meeting today. Why we happened to meet here, We believe it is not by coincidence but because of the grave concerns expressed publicly by all the stakeholders.
It all started on 8th March 2011 by a New York Times report, titled “Taking A Risk On Rare Earths” by Keith Bradsher. It was reported that, “ For Malaysia and the world's most advanced companies, the plant is a gamble that the processing can be done safely enough to make the local environment risks worth the promised global rewards”.
On 20th March 2011, the Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas committee was formed to create awareness among the public and to gather signatures from all the stakeholders. The petition of more than 4,000 signatories was subsequently presented to the Parliament on the 29th April 2011.
Concurrently, a Facebook page “Pahang Does Not Need Hezadous Projects” was created and have garnered close to 30,000 fans to date, and it is still growing by the day. Please note that the majority of these supporters are children of Kuantan and Kemaman residents who live in other parts of Malaysia or oversea. They are voicing their concerns on behalf of their parents who are IT illiterate.
In early April, the Pahang government organised two town hall meetings to brief the public and stakeholders on the Lynas Lamp refinery. But the panel from the Atomic Agency and AELB of MOSTI and Department Of Environment, Pahang has failed miserably to convince the public and stakeholders on the safety and health aspect of the refinery.
During the meeting, only the EIA report was briefly explained by the Department of Environment but the most important Radioactive Impact Assessment report was not even mentioned by AELB.
The Atomic Agency of MOSTI, who acted as the consultant for Lynas Lamp may have contravened the rule of good practice and guilty of conflict of interest.
To our greatest disappointment, Lynas Lamp’s representative as the other stakeholder was not even present to answer our questions and concerns.
The key issues in contention are the large amount of the imported radioactive waste and its work-in-progress Waste Management Plan.
With due respect, correct me if I am wrong, please allow me to ask 7 questions here :-
1)Does IAEA permits the dumping of large amount of low level radioactive material from one country to another ?
2)In this case, Lynas may be technically legal to bring in low level radioactive rare earth, but is it morally right to allow the accumulation of such a huge amount thorium waste, estimated 106 tonnes per year ?
3)Is it the international practice of IAEA to allow building of rare earth refinery with work-in-progress Waste Management Plan ?
We were told by the DG of AELB during the town hall meeting on the 5th April 2011, that Malaysia will impose the highest international licensing standard for rare earth refinery as a result of the bad experience with Asian Rare Earth in Perak.
My next question is, “ Is Malaysia imposing the strictest international licensing standard for the Lynas Lamp refinery ?' as claimed by the DG of AELB.
Sadly, based our observations, AELB has failed in this respect. Apparently AELB allowed Lynas to rush ahead to build the plant without a RIA report...Malaysiakini, 23/5/2011
But we are in totally agreement with Western Australia MP Robin Chapple's statement that “We should have stripped the material out here in Western Australia, returned it to the pit and not exported to Malaysia where it becomes a problem for the Malaysian people.”..........ABC News May 22, 2011
Our fear on the hazardous radioactive waste were confirmed with the latest reports by Dr Chan Chee Koon, Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya and Dr David KL Quek, President MMA.
Dr Chan said Lynas has conveniently ignored the deliberations of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal emitters (Cerrie), an independent committee established by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of Health (2001-2004) following concerns over risks of internal irradiation (www.cerrie.org) when he responded to Lynas chairman's claim that the plant is safe and the stakeholders' irrational fear of non-existent threat.
'While the committee did not arrive at a consensus on the severity of health hazards from internal emitters, 'all but one member of the committee believe that the low level intake of radio nuclides leads to some increased risk of adverse health effects as a result of internal irradiation of organ and tissues.'...Report of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters, 2004, p117, para22.
The intensity of radiation from a radioactive particle a metre away from a human body is increased a trillion fold when it is ingested or inhaled and sits within a micron of the body's organs and tissues.”............The Sun 23/5/2011
My next question is, “ Is the Lynas Lamp refinery so impregnably designed that it can absolutely prevent any suspended, respirable dust particulates of both the raw materials and residual solid wastes from leaking into the air space ?
In the article by Dr KL Quek, President of MMA, “No dose of radiation is safe”, it is found that there is no safe level of residual thorium, particularly if the isotope is unstable. Even when about 0.02-0.05% of ingested thorium is absorbed into the blood stream it is quickly deposited in : bone (70%, biological half life 22 years), liver (4% biological half life 700 days), other organs and tissues (16%, biological half life 700 days) with only 10% excreted. This internal emission gives rise to continued harmful effects of internal radiation which can lead to possible cancers, leukaemias and other genetic mutations and organ damage.
“Low level radiation is certainly not harmless. The US National Academy of Science BEIR VII report has concluded that no dose of radiation is safe, however small, including background radiation; exposure is cumulative and adds to an individual's risk of developing cancer.”...The Sun..27/5/2011
My next question is, “Does this IAEA expert panel concurred with the finding of the US National Academy of Science that NO DOSE OF RADIATION IS SAFE ?”
It is ironic that the lives of the estimated 575,000 residents of Kuantan and Kemaman now lie your hands, the nine members IAEA expert panel. And we can understand the heavy responsibility upon all of you when deliberating ton his decision of grave importance. I beseech you to listen to your inner hearts on top of the arguments and facts presented from both sides of the divide.
My final question will be, “With due respect, we noted that in this IAEA expert panel, independent experts from public health, radiation safety, medicine, environment, law and social science are conspicuously missing. Will your report provide an all encompassing and holistic conclusion to the safety and health of the stakeholders ?”
As stakeholders, we hope the IAEA expert panel and the government will recognise our right to choose the air that we breath, the seafood that we partake, the clean water that we drink, the radiation-free sea that we swim in and the uncontaminated foods that we consume every day.
Without a shadow of doubt, we absolutely object to the Lynas Lamp refinery in our city as it has already threatened the livelihood of the most of the stakeholders. Workers around Gebeng area are already thinking of leaving their jobs. Businesses and tourism industry are directly and indirectly affected. Property prices within 20 km of the refinery have already dropped by 20%. Many residents in Kuantan and Kemaman are fearful of the adverse effect on airborne radiation should any human errors or natural disasters happened to the refinery.
As our Prime Minister has promised us that the safety and health of the people cannot be compromised in this review, therefore Lynas Lamp refinery must be relocated back to Australia.
We urge you, the expert panel, please do not start the clock that begins the count down to disaster ! Our bloods will be in your hands should any untoward radioactive disaster happen to the Lynas Lamp refinery. May your God guides you in the decisions making, for men can plan, but God will decide.
From, PH Chin & Richard T'ng & family members
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