The scandal of the “banished babies” in Ireland
30 April 2021 By Asymmetrical Haircuts, for JusticeInfo.net
Over several decades and into the 1970’s, thousands of unmarried women were forced into mother and baby homes run by the church or the state in Ireland. 50,000 babies were taken away from their mothers. Women from 12-years old and into their forties were “paying for their sins”. For six years, a government commission has investigated the matter. A 3,000-page report came out last January. It was a secret inquiry. It concluded that there was no abuse. Individual victims are still stripped of their identities and still have no access to their birth records. They enjoy no compensation. Our partners from Asymmetrical Haircut, Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, talked to Mary Harney, a victim and now a tutor at the Human Rights Law clinic at the National University in Galway, and Maeve O’Rourke, a lecturer in Human Rights Law at Galway. “We have a mess on o
Study Identifies Ways to Limit Arsenic Contamination From Mines by Emma Venarde |December 10, 2020
Study co-author Joshua Fisher (lower right) collecting water samples from treated mine tailings. Photo courtesy Joshua Fisher
A new study examines how acidity and climate impact arsenic removal strategies downstream of the Porgera Joint Venture gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
Published November 11 in Applied Geochemistry, the study focuses specifically on arsenic capture and storage by soil and sediments a process called sequestration. Mine waste contains arsenic, and if that arsenic is not captured by the soil, it remains dissolved in water, where it poses health risks to people and ecosystems. The study investigated the mechanisms through which sediments in the mine-impacted area are able to sequester arsenic, and how mine wastes should be handled in order to prevent arsenic from being transported downstream.