Speaking about the activities at the Navy’s underwater testing facility, Dr Hardt said that he has spoken with a responsible Bahamian government official on this matter, and the official himself has said that he has seen no evidence of AUTEC’s culpability.
Not naming the official, Dr Hardt did say that this individual’s conclusion was based on his own scientific and medical knowledge, as well as information thus far provided to relevant Ministries about the cancer incident.
Dr Hardt said because there is no serious study of these claims, he would like to see what are the real medical facts.
“This rumour exists that there is high incidents of cancer in Andros, but what is the scientific evidence to support a claim that there is some sort of higher incidents of cancer for people who maybe live in some sort of proximity to the base? Maybe people are not drinking water that is very good, or maybe there is something else about the lifestyle there that is giving rise to cancer; or maybe it is just a small sample of people,” Dr Hardt speculated.
In July 2005, Lt. William Marks, a Pentagon Press Liaison Officer at the time, said they had “looked everywhere and used everything we had, but couldn’t find anything.”
When questioned about the vagueness of Lt. Mark’s statement, Dr Hardt said that they looked into the matter in terms of Americans who had served at AUTEC, the people who theoretically, he said, would have been at greatest risk. However, AUTEC never conducted an inquest among the Andros natives in the base’s area, despite the claims.
He admits that there were three cases of cancer among American workers, but cautioned that these were individuals who were heavy smokers, inferring that those cases were most likely caused by the more obvious factor.
Therefore to conclude that, because it is the United States, it is a base, and it is mysterious therefore it must be the cause of these anecdotal reports is unmerited, said Dr Hardt.
As the base is in the middle of nowhere and very little human habitation is in any proximity to the base, more energies should be focused on discovering what more obvious causes could be attributed to these purported cases, Dr Hardt suggested.
He does not deny that the base could be part of that, but he said: “I am pretty sceptical about claims of cancer and so forth.”
Dr Hardt said that a trip to the AUTEC facility has been arranged for next week, and at the time, he thinks that Minister Leslie Miller and all concerned individuals travelling to the base can ask for and expect to receive whatever documentation that is not classified concerning hazardous material disposal and other testing activities at the base.
He said he wants AUTEC’s activities to be very open.
Dr Hardt also addressed the recent whale beachings in the northern Bahamas. “You can speculate in many ways, but the point is that whales beach all over the world where they live, whether there is sonar testing or not.”
He pointed out that the AUTEC base has implemented measures to prevent damage to mammals.
“They have a room where they monitor listening devices at the bottom of the sea pick up the sounds of mammals. So when there are mammals in the area they do not test.”
“The equipment is very sensitive,” he said, “so they have a reasonable degree of confidence that there are no mammals in the testing range before they conduct the test.”
However, “because testing is so active,” he continues, “you cannot draw a conclusion as to cause and effect, and pin-point any testing day or date to whale beaching here in the Bahamas.”
“There is a possibility, but it is still being investigated scientifically. However, because of that possibility, our base has taken extensive measures to try to make sure that when tests are done, that no mammals are in the area.
“We have the ability to run mammals out of the area by raising the sonar level
uncomfortable for the mammals in the area.
“We raise the levels bit by bit so that, the mammals will move-away from the sound source,” Dr Hardt said.
And though even these measures are questionable, Dr Hardt said that “in the United States we have the highest environmental standards in the world, and we apply those to our base and the work it does here.”
As far as AUTEC halting its testing until it can be determined that it is not the cause of the beaching, Dr Hardt added, “This is an ongoing scientific matter that scientists the world over are studying and have been studying without any definitive conclusion; so to halt testing because of a possibility that naturally occurring whale beaching may be resulting from this … when will start again? What proof, can you use to start again.”
By MARK HUMES, The Tribune
