[CPEO-MEF] Vieques health letter

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Puerto Rico Updates & News
Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA
August 10, 2005

Humanitarian Organizations Urge Attention to Health Needs in Vieques

Leaders of 23 humanitarian and faith-based organizations in the United 
States concerned about environment and social justice in Vieques, Puerto 
Rico, requested that the Governor of Puerto Rico act affirmatively to 
improve the environmental and health condition of the people of Vieques. 
The groups called "intolerable" the fact that the local hospital in 
Vieques does not offer cancer treatment, forcing Viequenses who are 
cancer survivors to travel by ferry to Fajardo, PR, and then for another 
hour by car to the San Juan area for treatment.

Viequenses continue to be subjected to the open detonation of 
explosives. The Navy is removing unexploded ordnance (UXOs) by what it 
claims is the fastest and cheapest method, the detonation of the UXOs 
where they are found (Blow in Place, BIP). But the process releases many 
toxins into the air, water and eventually into the soil.

"The Navy's plan totally disregards its obligation to protect public 
health and the commitment to mitigate further contamination of the air 
and soil," the groups said in a statement. The signers include directors 
of the National Council of La Raza, the National Puerto Rico Coalition, 
the Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA, and Pax Christi USA.

The letter was delivered only a few days after Vieques residents defied 
restrictions imposed by federal agencies, camping on the island's former 
bombing range and calling for an end to the open detonation of 
explosives. This week, Vieques community leaders will raise the issue in 
meetings with Puerto Rico and the Navy.

The groups urged the Governor to require that the cleanup standard on 
Vieques make the lands and waters suitable for human use, and that the 
Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board be vigilant and assertive 
participants in all agreements that will govern the island's cleanup. 
They encouraged the Governor to persist with demand that the Navy find 
ecological alternatives to Blow in Place (BIP) for the removal of UXOs 
from the island, recognize the human health and environmental risk in 
Vieques, and make it a high priority for funding cleanup.

For background on Vieques environmental and health issues: 
http://www.forusa.org/programs/puertorico/default.html

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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