[Green-global] Marshall Island survivor declaration at 20th anniversay of Chernobly

[Raulmax at aol.com]

April 27, 2006
Honolulu, Hawaii;  Ms. Lemeyo Abon, a young girl  in March 1, 1954 when the 
strongest hydrogen bomb code named 'BRAVO' was  detonated on Bikini Atoll and 
radioactive fallout exposed her people living  downwind from the test site, 
returned today from participating at the Forum  on the 20th anniversary of 
the Chernobyl accident.  Ms. Abon was  saddened to learn how many lives the 
accident had ruined, especially the  young ones.

Twenty years ago, April 26, 1986, just a bit after midnight,  the accident at 
the nuclear reactor number 4 exploded and caught unaware  thousands of 
people, many of them children who were exposed to  radiation.  Many of the 
children then are of child-bearing age now, but  some are reluctant to start 
any family for fear of the  uncertainties.

The experts in the radiation exposure field attended the  Forum and presented 
their progress reports on Chernobyl and plans for the  future.  Ms Abon from 
the Marshall Islands traveled the farthest to be  in solidarity with the 
Children of Chernobyl. She represented ERUB, the  organization of survivors 
of 67 nuclear and  atomic tests -  1946-1958.





Ms.  Lemeyo Abon’s Testimony
20th Anniversary  of Chernobyl
April 24 – 25,  2006


Today, I stand before you as a survivor of nuclear fallout from  the Marshall 
Islands.  I am honored to be here in solidarity with the  people and Children 
of Chernobyl as we observe the 20th anniversary of the  catastrophic accident 
that touched and altered hundreds and thousands of  lives forever.

My name is Lemeyo Abon .  I come from Rongelap atoll  in the Marshall 
Islands.  The Marshall Islands are located in the  middle of the Pacific 
Ocean - thousands of miles away from the United  States.  But, the United 
States chose these tiny atolls for its Nuclear  Testing Program.  A total of 
67 atomic and nuclear tests were exploded  between 1946 to 1958.

When the military official asked the Bikini people  to use their land for the 
good of mankind – he did not tell the truth that  he did not know what the 
effects of such tests would bring, and that he did  not know when the people 
would return to their homeland. He misled them to  believe that the 
relocation was temporary and the people could return home  after a week or a 
few months.  That was not true.  It is now 60  years since the Bikini people 
were relocated away from their homeland and 52  years for the Rongelap 
people.  We can not go back home because the  United States has not allocated 
enough funds to clean the contaminated  lands.

On March 1, 1954, the United States military exploded the  strongest hydrogen 
bomb called 'BRAVO' on Bikini atoll.  'BRAVO' was  1,000 times stronger than 
the A-bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.  I  don't know if there ever was a 
stronger bomb than Bravo!

What  happened to Chernobyl 20 years ago is similar to what happened to us.   
As information of the accident at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl was kept  
secret from the people and the world, so was information about nuclear  
fallout from ‘BRAVO’ kept secret from us living downwind from the test site. 
 
So when the radioactive powder descended from the sky we children  began to 
play with it.  We rubbed it on our bodies and in our  hair.  Hours later, 
everyone was sick with the typical symptoms of  nuclear exposure.

See, the U.S. military officials knew 72 hours before  that the wind 
direction had sifted toward our islands, but they did not warn  us.  No body 
told us about what to do in case of an accident.  We  were not evacuated 
until 2 days later.

We are convinced that we were  used as guinea pigs to study the effects of 
radiation in human bodies.   Now it is not only us who are sick with cancer, 
but our children and  grandchildren have inherited our cancer diseases.  Many 
of our people  are sick with all type of cancer disease, most commonly 
thyroid  cancer.  Younger mothers continue to give birth to severely deformed 
 
babies as you see in these photos from last year (hold up photo).  Yet  the 
United States Department of Energy who monitors the health of survivors  from 
‘BRAVO’ insists that these cases are NOT related to nuclear  exposure.

We say, they are.

We say, treat our children until there  is proof that they are not sick from 
radiation.

We do not care about  ourselves as we are already sick, but we care about our 
children and their  future generations.

We do not want them to suffer as we have.

We  say, United States, do not turn your back on the great injustice that our 
 
people have endured as result of the nuclear tests.  Do not count how  much 
money it will cost to treat the survivors in the Marshall  Islands.

Stop the war in Iraq and divert the funds to treat our  children.

I stand before you today to ask for your support for the  survivors in the 
Marshall Islands in pushing the United States to bring  justice to the people 
by making sure that funding to treat their cancer  diseases, for cleaning the 
contaminated land and bring it to its natural  state continues.

I ask all of you who believe in solidarity to help shame  the United States 
of America to admit the injustice that they have  done.  HELP US ACHIEVE 
JUSTICE.  Justice means 1) provide the  medical treatment needed, 2) include 
the children and grandchildren, 3)  clean-up the contaminated land, and 4) 
compensate those who have lost their  homeland forever!

I have with me the Survivors in the Marshall Islands  Petition;  if you 
believe in Justice, please come forward and sign  it.

This year is especially special as survivors, supporters and  concerned 
groups come together to observe these nuclear milestones:  Chernobyl’s 20th 
anniversary, Bikini & Bravo’s 52nd, Hiroshima &  Nagasaki’s 60th anniversary 
late last year, Moruroa, Tahiti's 40th and the  Marshall Islands 60th 
anniversary since the U.S. started its testing  program.

For the sake of our children of Chernobyl, the children of  Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki, the children of Tahiti, the children of the Marshall  Islands and 
children everywhere where there’s the past and present history  of nuclear 
test and contamination - let us renew our pledge to work toward a  nuclear 
free and safe world for them.

God bless everyone.
Thank  you for this opportunity to be part of this  Forum.



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