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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW White City house fire snuffed quickly ... Talent to break ground on new plaza Monday ... Fire caused by unattended fire pit torches east Medford attic ... White City house fire snuffed quickly ... Talent to break ground on new plaza Monday ... Fire caused by unattended fire pit torches east Medford attic ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Proposed nickel mines will leave a toxic legacy MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Aug. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> There are three proposed industrial nickel mines on the edges of our Kalmiopsis Wilderness. All three are open for public comment to the BLM in September, and I want to make sure our community knows about the proposals and carefully weighs their consequences. These industrial strip mines threaten to introduce toxic heavy metal pollution into some of the cleanest and wildest rivers on the west coast. The proposed nickel mines in the Kalmiopsis region would drain into the watersheds of the North Fork Smith River, the Illinois River, and Hunter Creek and the Pistol River near Gold Beach. This is drinking water for Crescent City and Gold Beach, as well as world-class salmon, cutthroat and steelhead habitat. Mines pose significant health concerns. Every day, working as a nurse at Providence Medford Medical Center, I see illness tear families and lives apart. Despite medical heroics, by the time people with the problems caused by a lifetime of damage wind up in my hospital, it is rare to fully recover. Prevention and healthy living makes more difference to lasting health than anything I can do as a nurse with needles or pills. Health is determined by how clean our air is, how many hours we work, whether we are relaxed with friends or stressed in traffic, and our daily decisions at the grocery store. Health is the water we drink and the food we eat. There are some factors we control, but many we don’t. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent report, metal mining is the most toxic industry in America. Mining for metal was responsible for 47 percent of all toxic pollution in the United States. Mining pollution could be more harmful to the health of our communities than building chemical plants in our backyards. The toxic potential of hard-rock mines like these three local proposals is well documented. Three things make mines famously toxic. Mines expose rocks that are rich in heavy metal to air and water, where the metals leach into nearby watersheds even decades after mining stops. Many mines extract metals from ore using acids and toxic solvents, which are held in ponds that often flood or leak into nearby water sources. Finally, and worst, is bioaccumulation. Heavy metals such as  mercury, or the nickel, chromium and manganese that would come from the Kalmiopsis mines, will accumulate slowly in the bodies of organisms exposed to them. Nearly the full amount of toxin in each prey animal stays in the predator and accumulates through its life. Persistent toxins such as these concentrate quickly through the food chain. A predator such as a salmon downstream of a mine could have thousands of times the toxic metal load as the water. The fish become poisonous. When you eat toxic fish you accumulate the same toxins in your body. Some of them stay in your body through your whole life. Heavy metal poisoning can cause a variety of ailments. Manganese at poisonous levels is a neurotoxin, which slowly causes neurological breakdown. It starts with weakness, fatigue and impotence, then progresses to symptoms like Parkinson’s, sometimes with aggression and psychosis. Chromium poisoning disrupts cellular processes and in some forms can alter DNA. Nickel itself is one of the most carcinogenic of the heavy metals. According to the CDC, toxic level nickel exposure is linked to lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological deficits and developmental deficits in children. Children are most in danger from toxins. Their small bodies and developing nervous systems are damaged by much lower levels of heavy metals in their drinking water or foods. Human health is precious. It is the water we drink and the food we eat. The mountain top is connected to the hospital bed. Heavy metals from mines do not simply disappear, even after a mine closes. If we allow these mines, we will never fully know their human cost. We will pay for mining pollution with one cancer diagnosis and one child with developmental disabilities at a time. As for me, I want my future to be catching clean fish and swimming on the river with my children. I don’t want to track the health risk of local fish and I don’t want to see metal poisonings in the hospital. I hope you will join me in calling for a stop to these proposals. Sign on to the public comment letter and get involved at KalmiopsisWildRivers.org. The Smith, Illinois and Pistol rivers are a place for clean water, swimming, and fishing, not industrial mines. Jessica Thompson is a registered nurse in Medford. She has a BA in biology and worked for two freshwater ecology laboratories before going into medicine.   MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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