These issues involve the death of whales and the high incidence of cancer in Andros.
In this regard, today we call on the government to be up and doing concerning persistent reports that Bahamians living and working in the vicinity of the AUTEC base on Andros Island are contracting cancer.
Like other right-thinking Bahamians, we know that the Government of The Bahamas has the best interests of all Bahamians at heart. So once a credible alarm is sounded something should be done.
Some Bahamians and a small number of residents are convinced that The Bahamas is under deadly attack. They are saying that whales and human beings are being damaged and that some of them are dying.
One observer, Mark Balcomb concludes that “In retrospect, it is probable that all Cuviers beaked whales in the region when the naval exercise commenced were killed by the sonar, whether or not they were returned to sea by well-wishers pushing them off the shore.
“Considering the observed damage to the whales that stranded and died, and the short time period between stranding and death, the NMFS statement that the whales died from stranding is patently absurd.
His powerfully compelling conclusion is that “the whales that we observed swimming toward shore and stranding were only temporary survivors of an acoustic holocaust that can be likened to fishing with dynamite.”
Today we sound a similar alarm concerning certain persistent reports suggesting that there is something dreadfully amiss at the Andros Underwater, Testing and Evaluation Center. It is being rumored and whispered around that cancer is rampant and that more and more Bahamians are dying.
There aresome particularly credible reports suggesting that the Americans know why any number of whales are dying.
March 2000, Ken Balcomb discovered a whale dying in the water at his back doorstep. He soon discovered other whales dying in the area as well. He, along with the help of Diane Claridge and others, attempted to rescue several species of cetacean as they stranded in the Bahamas. Simultaneously, he recorded these events on video and created documentation that has helped to support the evidence that whales are dying in direct coincidence to the use of Navy sonars.
In this regard, Sir Arthur Foulkes puts his finger on this matter that continues to cause us and a number of other right-thinking Bahamians no end of distress.
He notes, “Bahamians are concerned that the activities of our American friends at the AUTEC base may be contributing to a rise in the incidence of cancer in Andros.
“We also have good reason to believe that their underwater testing is doing serious injury to marine life.”
Sir Arthur warns, “But do not count on them for a full disclosure-Up to this day we still do not know how the dumping of nerve gas in the Bahamas in 1967 and other chemical and biological experiments in the Caribbean have affected our marine resources and the health of our people.”
When he says, “but do not count on them for a full disclosure-” we presume that he is referencing our great neighbour to the north, the United States of America.
Today we want to believe that Sir Arthur is dead wrong.
Put otherwise, we want to believe that once The Bahamas makes a request to know what the United States knows about the causes of the high and rising incidence of cancer in Andros, that such a response will be forthcoming.
And for sure, we want to believe that the United States of America will address the fears that many have concerning why so many whales are dying in and around The Bahamas.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that, “According to Ocean Defense International, the Natural Resources Defense Council, SeaFlow and dozens of other worldwide environmental organizations, the United States Navy is poised to wipe out many species, if not all marine life as it deploys its infamous and powerful new sonar system.”
In the ultimate analysis, the Government owes the Bahamian people some plausible explanation concerning these issues. At this juncture, it would be a blunder of the first order was these issues allowed to continue their toxic half-life on the margins of legitimate public discourse.
Editorial from The Bahama Journal
