The basic need that provoked the idea of doing a comprehensive community based health survey began with several questions that are normally asked by the Navajo people and uranium workers. 1) Is there a relationship between radioactive contamination and the increased health problems facing Navajo people living in the Eastern Navajo Agency? 2) Are these increased health problems due to the fact that they live in close proximity to 166 uranium mines and 5 mills located in this area? 3) Why are the sheep herders dying from cancer much the same as uranium workers – could it be because they drank rain water, ate wild berries and roots, lived off their cornfields, ate mutton and rabbits 30 to 40 years ago? 4) Health officials tell us that cancer is the number three (3) killer of our Navajo people – some of the causes of deaths are not recorded, because our people would rather go to the medicine man for healing. Why is death from cancer on the rise among our Navajo people? 5) We ask why the prevalent kidney disease Ig A nephrophty has not been investigated for possible relationship to radiation contamination. This disease, said to affect only Navajos, has been found in 27% of all biopsies performed on deceased Navajo people.
The questions asked are derived from our experience with and from the history of radiation contamination on the Navajo Nation for the past seven long decades.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
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