Re: [Marxism] Cockburn deals with the Larouche problem

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sayan Bhattacharyya wrote:
> 
> I have no comment on the other things in your email, but, as has been
> pointed out in this list (you can look at the archives), that
> Chernobyl did not, in fact, lead to a large number of deaths seems to
> be a view that is not outside of mainstream thinking. (Look for the
> article published in the British medical journal Lancet, which I
> posted here.)

I guess you didn't bother to read my blog entry on this, but the report 
you are referring to was drafted by the IAEA, a notoriously pro-nuke 
outfit that provided the data that Jaworowski stood by. Counterpunch had 
this to say about the report:

Counterpunch Weekend Edition
October 8 / 9, 2005
There's No Such Thing as a Peaceful Nuke
A Nobel Prize for Chernobyl?

By ALICE SLATER

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has given peace a black eye by awarding 
its annual honor to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its 
Director, Mohammed El Baradei, ironically, for working to stop the 
spread of nuclear weapons. The IAEA has been the world's most effective 
agent for increasing the spread of nuclear weapons around the planet 
with its industry-dominated promotion of so-called "peaceful" nuclear 
technology.

The nuclear crisis we face today is a direct result of the export of 
peaceful nuclear technology to countries such as Iraq, Iran, and North 
Korea. Indeed, every nuclear reactor enables a country to develop its 
own nuclear weapons, as we have seen in the case of India, Pakistan, and 
Israel, who never joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty and now have 
nuclear arsenals as a result of "peaceful" nuclear technology. Under the 
guise of "peace", other countries, such as South Africa, Argentina, 
Brazil, and Libya were also well on their way to developing nuclear 
bombs, which they later abandoned.

The international community has already acknowledged that peaceful 
nuclear technology is a gateway to nuclear weapons proliferation when it 
required the signatures of 44 "nuclear-capable" nations on the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) before it could take effect. These 
are the 44 countries in possession of the 440 nuclear reactors around 
the world, spewing out their toxic radioactive waste which can be turned 
into bombs. The signers of the CTB were well aware that by having a 
nuclear reactor, a nation had been given the keys to a bomb factory and 
would need to be included in any effort to ban nuclear tests, regardless 
of whether they proclaimed any intention to develop weapons.

The IAEA has been instrumental in covering up the disastrous health 
effects of the Chernobyl tragedy, understating the number of deaths by 
attributing only 50 deaths directly to the accident. This was a 
whitewash of health studies performed by Russia and the Ukraine which 
estimated thousands of deaths and thousands who suffered thyroid cancer 
and leukemia as a result of the accident. This cover-up was no doubt due 
to the collusive agreement between the IAEA and the World Health 
Organization, which provides that if either of the organizations 
initiates any program or activity in which the other has or may have a 
substantial interest, the first party shall consult with the other with 
a view to adjusting the matter by mutual agreement. Thus our scientists 
and researchers at the WHO are required to have their work vetted by the 
industry's champion for "peaceful" nuclear technology, the IAEA. For 
example, WHO abandoned its original 1961 agenda for research on the 
basic human health implications of food irradiation. It ceded to the 
IAEA, whose mission is preserving the nuclear industry not the health of 
people, the ultimate power of researching the safety of irradiated 
foods. The IAEA is leading a global campaign to further the 
legalization, commercialization and consumer acceptance of irradiated 
foods. "We must confer with experts in the various fields of advertising 
and psychology to put the public at ease," one IAEA report states, also 
recommending that the process "should not be required on the label.

It is time for the IAEA to give up its dual mission in nuclear 
technology. While the Agency may play a useful role in inspecting and 
verifying compliance with nuclear disarmament agreements, it cannot 
continue to act with a manifest conflict of interest as a shill for the 
nuclear industry. Instead, the global community should establish an 
International Sustainable Energy Agency and give our peace prize to that 
more laudable effort. We need to give peace a chance.

ALICE SLATER is a founder of Abolition 2000, a global network working 
for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons and is the Co-Convenor of the 
Abolition 2000 Working Group for Sustainable Energy. She also serves as 
President of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 
(GRACE), a nonprofit organization working to form links between 
research, policy, and grassroots communities in order to promote 
solutions to preserve the future of the planet and protect the quality 
of the environment.


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