AnderssonNeil and MarksShula, “Work and Health in Namibia: Preliminary Notes” in Journal of Southern African Studies (January 1987). See also the unfolding scandal of U.S. government neglect in nuclear research, for example, in The Boston Globe January 2, 1994: 1; February 20, 1994: 1.
5.
The New York Times 29 Oct 1992. This study is mostly interested in the nutrient rich dust, rather than ionizing radiation or heavy metal health effects. It reported three wind patterns in Namibia. First is a localized anti-cyclone of several days' duration that circulates dust from below the Kuiseb River to as far north as the Etosha Game Park (several hundred kilometers). A second pattern of similar duration spreads tons of dust from Namibia through to Natal Province in South Africa and off the coast into the Indian Ocean. Finally, the most distant pattern finds dust from Namibia being deposited in the Atlantic fishing grounds and onto the South American continent. Earlier studies of the Saharan dust storms found 13 million tons of dust being deposited annually into the Amazon and other Western Hemisphere locations. Only recently have similar studies been undertaken for the Namib Desert. Again the understanding of low level radiation and heavy metal exposure is subject to heated scientific debate, but it is clear that a much larger population may be affected than was previously realized. SwapR.“Saharan Dust in the Amazon Basin.”Tellus Series B Chemical and Physical Meteorology. Copenhagen V. 44 N 2. April 1992: 133–149. Additional information supplied to the authors by Prof. Michael Garstang in December 1992.
6.
Unemployment is estimated to be in the 30 percent range and contributes to poverty-related health problems, crime, and other social difficulties. The independence settlement added some 50,000 demobilized soldiers and more than 40,000 returned exiles to the rolls of those needing employment.
7.
World Bank.
8.
Some environmental issues, such as wildlife and tourism, desertification, fish stock conservation, and overgrazing, have received considerable government attention. Reginald Herbold Green, “Structural Adjustment and National Environmental Strategies: What Interactions? Notes from Namibia” in Institute for Development StudiesIDS Bulletin (1991).
9.
The Namibian government wishes to leave behind the past conflicts through following their policy of reconciliation among formerly rival interests in society.
10.
World Bank, Namibia: Poverty Alleviation with Sustainable Growth. Industry and Energy Operations Division, Southern Africa Department. Report No. 9510-NAM. October 29, 1991: 9.
11.
Many of the families will lose their claim to communal land on the death of the male head of household. Wives do not automatically inherit claims, which revert back to the clan or tribe leader. Thus, the death of a miner or former miner may result in the complete destitution of the entire family, which may be 10 or more people. Average household cash income in the North is under US $100 per year, according to World Bank figures.
12.
From the early days of colonialism, Namibia experienced a contract labor system. Workers were recruited (forced) from the ethnic homelands (later more firmly established by the apartheid system) to work in the mines, factories, and farms that were owned by white settlers. To its credit, Rössing was one of the first companies to break from the contract system and hire black workers on a permanent basis (rather than yearly contracts) and create a community (Arandis) to encourage the families of the workers to settle permanently and receive various fringe benefits such as housing, health care, and education at company expense. These benefits only came after a series of worker strikes against the former practices during the 1970s. Some companies still had not adopted such practices by the time of independence.
13.
Plunder of Namibian Uranium. New York: UN, 1982. Office of the Commissioner for Namibia, “Efforts to Implement Decree No. 1 For The Protection Of The Natural Resources of Namibia.”New York: UN. nd. mimeo.
14.
Rössing Social and Economic Report1993: 9.
15.
Plunder. Op. Cit.
16.
DropkinGreg and ClarkDavid, Past Exposure. London: Namibian Support Committee, 1992: 82.
17.
Rössing Social and Economic Report1993: 6.
18.
Ibid. Percentages calculated by the authors.
19.
“Bye Bye to the Nuclear Age.” South. Sept/Oct 1991: 9–11. “Uranium Price May Recover,”African Business, June 1993: 41–2. Prices have dropped from $40/lb. to barely $7.
20.
Dropkin1993: 34.
21.
“Past Exposure Exposed”: 11.
22.
Dropkin and Clark: 23.
23.
Dropkin and Clark: 22.
24.
Accident rates, for example, have diminished greatly, TB incidence among workers declined, health monitoring greatly improved, as did health care coverage for workers. Safety training increased. All of these accomplishments were justified as reducing insurance costs and improving productivity. See Rössing Social and Economic Report 1993. [25] Dropkin 1993.
25.
Rössing1993. On the low level debate, see Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. September 1990 for several excellent articles.
26.
Rössing 1993: 9; Dropkin and Clark: 82ff.
27.
For literature on the low level dosage controversy, see note 21 above and Doll. Nature, February 1994; GofmanJohn, “Beware the Data Diddlers,”The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. May 1993: 40–44; MarplesDavid, “Chernobyl's Lengthening Shadow,”The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. September 1993: 38–43. The US Congress finally passed a compensation law for uranium miners and so-called “downwinders” in 1990. By the beginning of 1994, some 1,549 victims had received compensation, according to The Boston Globe, January 9, 1994: 18.
28.
“MUN Questions Rössing Health Record.”New Era. (Windhoek) October 1–7, 1992: 8.
