Helen Caldicott & Beyond Nuclear Join Forces!

NEWS FROM BEYOND NUCLEAR

Contact:
Linda Gunter, Beyond Nuclear
301.455.5655

Beyond Nuclear and Nuclear Policy Research Institute Combine to Challenge Nuclear Power and Weapons

TAKOMA PARK, MD - The incoming board and staff of Beyond Nuclear are extremely pleased to announce that Beyond Nuclear will now pursue its mission under the auspices of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute (NPRI).

NPRI was established by Dr. Helen Caldicott, a renowned physician who has devoted the last 35 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. NPRI is a tax-exempt and tax-deductible organization.

Beyond Nuclear is a new initiative that aims to educate wider audiences about the connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear works to promote positive, solutions-focused messages and to provide guides to safer alternatives to these dangerous technologies. Beyond Nuclear was previously undertaken through Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

Beyond Nuclear and NPRI share a synergistic vision: to communicate the grave threats to health, environment and safety implicit in the complexities of the nuclear industry. To that end, Beyond Nuclear will focus its work on the public and the media using dynamic campaigns and its cadre of expert spokespeople to create a consistent high-profile presence for these issues. It will also serve as a resource with which to build and expand the movement for a world beyond nuclear.

Our staff - Paul Gunter, Kevin Kamps, Cindy Folkers and Linda Gunter - has comprehensive expertise in all aspects of nuclear power. In addition, Beyond Nuclear will partner with national and international specialists who can offer information and insight on nuclear weapons and sustainable energy. These specialists will be listed on our Web site (www.beyondnuclear.org).

In announcing the incorporation of Beyond Nuclear into NPRI, Dr. Caldicott said: "I am confident that the distinguished new staff and new board of the Institute will be effective stewards of NPRI. I will continue to be a keen supporter of NPRI for long into the future. Above all, I look forward to the day when we can all celebrate the termination of both the nuclear power and nuclear weapons industries." Dr. Caldicott will not be involved in the daily operation of NPRI although she will remain its founding president.

Collectively, the Beyond Nuclear Board and Staff have all been actively involved in the anti-nuclear movement for many decades.

The founding Board of Beyond Nuclear at NPRI Robert Backus, Esq: Manchester, NH Kay Drey: St. Louis, MO; anti-nuclear activist Lou Friedman: Canton, CT; international consultant; environment and peace Karl Grossman: Sag Harbor, NY; professor and journalist Judith Johnsrud, Ph.D.: State College, PA; radiation and nuclear power specialist

The staff of Beyond Nuclear at NPRI Cindy Folkers; Linda Gunter; Paul Gunter; Kevin Kamps.

The Beyond Nuclear Launch Partners Ed Asner (Honorary Chairman), Ed Begley, Christie Brinkley, Helen Caldicott, Susan Clark, David Cortright, James Cromwell and Joan MacIntosh, Julie Enszer, Judi and Lou Friedman, Keith Gunter, Friedrike Merck, John McEnroe, Susan Sarandon, Marilyn and Steven Strong, Jessica Wilbanks, Gretchen Wyler (1932-2007).

Beyond Nuclear is in transition and will shortly have new offices. In the meantime, if you wish to reach us please call: 301.455.5655 or email: beyondnuclear@gmail.com. We will forward our permanent contact information shortly. The temporary Beyond Nuclear Web site can be found at www.beyondnuclear.org, soon to be replaced by a comprehensive permanent Web site. Please check back often.

Helen Caldicott-Nuclear Not So Green

I know that nuclear is not green, have been trying to make people aware of that with this blog. For my efforts, I have been ridiculed, had hate blogs launched against me, and even received a few well intentioned death threats...how quaint. If there is good news in that, I am in good company, as Helen Caldicott has endured much the same, and yet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I had to laugh when reading the article below when Helen Caldicott quipped after being questioned about the lack of recent death threats that she just was not talking loud enough.

She has a new book out, "Nuclear Is Not The Answer" that every citizen within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor needs to read. Actually, with the Bush administrations plans to put a nuclear reactor on every street corner, every American Should read this story.

Nuke power not so clean or green

By Elsa Wenzel

Jun 11 2007

Cold War-era nuclear fears have eased in recent decades, replaced by anxieties over global warming. Lately, in some circles, nuclear power has gained a new reputation as a pollution-free cure-all for a world starved for clean energy.

But the nuclear industry hasn't cleaned up its act, according to Helen Caldicott, who spearheaded the nuclear disarmament movement in the 1980s. (Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling nominated Caldicott for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.) Caldicott, a pediatrician by training, has devoted 35 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the health hazards of nuclear power.

Not only is atomic energy inefficient, but it adds to greenhouse gas emissions while releasing deadly radiation for countless generations, argues Caldicott. Her recent work is summed up by the title of her book Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer.

She is working with the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, which she founded, to convince Congress that solar and wind power instead can mitigate global warming.

Caldicott is known for courting controversy, whether by debating with world leaders, marching naked in the streets of San Francisco, or implying that Hershey sold radioactive chocolates containing milk produced near the Three Mile Island disaster. While she no longer receives death threats as she did in the 1980s, Caldicott told CNET that just proves that her voice hasn't been loud enough lately.