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TOXICS and ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Whether
as Native Americans or First Nations, we are "indigenous" to these
lands called Canada and United States. We are "peoples" that have
collective rights within the hundreds of tribes that still exist
today. We are "Indigenous Peoples" who have inherent rights to our
traditional lands and we still maintain our culture and spiritual
beliefs. Over 1,000 distinct Indigenous communities, reserves, villages
and reservations or territories exist in both Canada and United
States. These territories sustain us and when they are contaminated
with chemical pollutants, our communities often suffer the most
- because when the environment is polluted, Indigenous Peoples are
polluted.
The Indigenous Environmental
Network has been working on these toxics, radiation and environmental
health issues since our formation. These pages provide you with
information and links to these "Life and Death" issues that add
to the complexities that face our communities - locally and with
our Indigenous brothers and sisters globally.
Traditional Knowledge. Indigenous knowledge teaches us how to walk upon our Earth Mother and to respect the sacredness of her creation. We use every part of our Earth Mother to sustain us in ceremony and in everyday life. We use the water for ceremony to purify and nourish our spirit and bodies. We depend on traditional foods and plants for ceremony and to nourish our communities. When our water, soil and air are poisoned with toxic chemicals, our rights to practice our traditional lifestyles and heritage and to live in a clean and safe environment are violated.
Indigenous knowledge also teaches us our sacred relationship to the Ones-That-Swim, Ones-That-Fly, Ones-that-Crawl, and The-Four-Legged-Ones. These sacred relationships with plants and animals are embodied in our clan identities through our many traditions. Some of these species are endangered and some are polluted with high levels of toxic pollutants in their bodies. If these species are compromised, our clan identification could be endangered as well.
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ACTION ALERT!
Help the Tohono O’odham Indigenous Peoples of Sonora, Mexico Stop the Proposed CEGIR Hazardous Waste Dump Near Quitovac!
he Mexican government, led by the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (SEMARNAT), and a company called CEGIR/Centro de Gestion Integral de Residuos S.A., have been quietly planning to put a hazardous waste dump in O’odham territory, close to the sacred site of Quitovac. Just a few miles southwest of the Sonora state border with Arizona and close to the beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, this project has been conducted with no involvement of the Indigenous O’odham communities in decision-making processes.
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One of the most critical but least known human rights stories in America is the savaging of Native American lands and its impact on Native peoples. Nearly all Indian nations sit on land threatened by ruinous environmental hazards - toxic waste, strip mining, oil drilling, and nuclear contamination....
Four Portraits of Native Action, a ninety-minute documentary, is the first film to take a hard look at these realities. It tells the stories of five remarkable Native American activists in four communities who are fighting these "new Indian Wars" ...
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May 25, 2005
Indian artifacts contain insect poisons
www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=052505a4_brf_book
LARRY COPENHAVER
lcopenha@tucsoncitizen.com
The Arizona State Museum is returning artifacts to Indian tribes, but
there's a problem: They're poisonous.
The relics being returned under a 1990 federal law may have been treated
with mercury, arsenic, lead, DDT or chlordane in an effort to prevent
insect damage.
The problem has spawned a book, "Old Poisons, New Problems: A Museum
Resource for Managing Contaminated Cultural Materials," by Arizona
State Museum researchers Nancy Odegaard and Alyce Sadongei.
"We're really the ground zero for information coming out on this
subject," said Odegaard, who directs the Preservation Division at
the museum. Sadongei is assistant curator for Native American relations
there.
"We're talking about headdresses, masks, ceremonial dance
paraphernalia and many other sensitive items that are going back home and
back into cultural use," Odegaard said in a University of Arizona
news release. To avoid insect damage, many of the objects have been
treated "with persistent chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, lead,
DDT or chlordane."
The $39.95 book is available from AltaMira Press at
http://www.altamirapress.com.
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May 6, 2005
REGARDING OVARIAN AND OTHER WOMEN'S CANCERS
ACT NOW! SUPPORT H.R. 1245
"Johanna's Law:
The Gynecologic Cancer
Education and Awareness Act of 2005"
Nilak Butler, a founding mother of the Indigneous Women’s Network and founding council member and staff of Indigenous Environmental Network, died of advanced ovarian cancer in December of 2002. Nilak’s disease was initially misdiagnosedtwice. Her experience tragically mirrors the experience of most women suffering from gynecologic cancers. That’s because there is a general lack of education and awareness about the signs and symptoms of ovarian and other women’s cancers. When it comes to women’s reproductive issues, complaints are often dismissed or ignored.
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Persistent
Organic Pollutants (POPs) . The Indigenous Environmental
Network continues its commitment to work towards the elimination
of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and other persistent toxic
substances from the world's environment. IEN participated in the
global POPs Intergovernmental Negotiating Process, with other NGOs,
intergovernmental organizations and countries that enabled Indigenous
peoples to make important contributions toward securing international
agreement on important provisions of the 2001 Stockholm POPs Convention,
Learn about what POPs is and what actions need to take place to
eliminate these chemicals.
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Dioxin.
Recent studies have found that Indigenous Peoples are at greater
risk for toxic illness due to the lack of an enzyme. The federal
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reported that Indian
tribes may be "at higher risk
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Mercury.
Mercury poisoning can affect Indigenous peoples, all tribes,
all ages, geographical areas, however, developing fetuses are especially
vulnerable. Methyl-mercury is one form of mercury that targets and
damages the developing brain and nervous system. In some areas,
Indigenous Peoples may experience higher exposures to mercury poisoning
from higher consumption of fish and wildlife contaminated from mercury.
In the US, Alaska, Canada and Mexico, mercury contamination from
old gold mine operations have left a legacy of mercury-laden river
and lake bottoms, soil sediments and water systems, such as estuaries
and wetlands.
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Indigenous
Peoples take Part in the Global Treaty. The
Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference (ICC) are Indigenous-based non-governmental organizations
(NGO's) that took part in this historical legally- binding global
treaty on the elimination of POPs. Pictures, press releases, interventions
and statements are available.
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ALERT : Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s)
IEN would like to ask your help in stopping the U.S. Congress from weakening our ability to regulate dangerous chemicals. These chemicals, called POPS, include dioxins, PCB’s and pesticides, and are extremely toxic and pose significant environmental and human health risks. ..
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