Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

An Ethical Call from Health Workers Opposing Unjust US Immigration Policies: From the US/Mexico Border to the Muslim Travel Ban

Statement from Oregon PSR (June 29th, 2018)

“It ultimately became clear to me that, unless I made a stand and did something about the plight of the detainees, I would be compromising my moral beliefs and my perception of my professional responsibility. My conscience told me that I could no longer stand by and do nothing…. I respectfully submit that this application is very urgent. The police are apparently engaged in a pattern of daily assaults upon detainees. For every day that goes by those apparently unrestrained assaults continue.” Dr Wendy Orr, (on her responsibility to testify against torture in Apartheid South Africa)

In spite of Trump and Scott Pruitt's rollbacks of critical environmental protections, we the people still have the power to take action and protect the health of our climate. Oregon PSR is hard at work on the Steering Committee of the Portland Clean Energy Fund campaign, alongside the NAACP Portland Branch, 350PDX, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), the Native American Youth and Family Center, the Coalition of Communities of Color, Verde, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society of Portland, and Columbia Riverkeeper. Over 175 other community organizations, businesses, labor groups, and city leaders are behind us. Join us in this important work today.

UPDATE: The CGS is now back online after remaining closed for seven days following a scram on May 18th, 2018. See below for the original story. The exact cause of the outage still has not been released by the plant's operator, Energy Northwest.

The Columbia Generating Station, the Pacific Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, experienced an unplanned shutdown early Friday morning, May 18th. The latest outage is the third unplanned shutdown in the past two years (occurring in December 2016 and August 2017), and the plant remains on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s heightened scrutiny list. Health professionals are concerned about the safety implications of the 35-year-old reactor, formerly known as Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) plant #2, which was originally designed to operate for only 40 years.

Click here to find upcoming opportunities to get trained to gather signatures to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

Last week, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Benjamin Souede ruled that the Portland Clean Energy Fund city ballot initiative is constitutional, clearing Oregon PSR and our partners to gather signatures for this exciting and historic campaign. We now have until July 6th to gather 43,000 signatures to qualify the Portland Clean Energy Fund for the November 2018 ballot. Our community can take proactive steps to fight climate change while addressing social and economic inequity by providing major new economic opportunities for low-income Portlanders, including women and communities of color. 

In advance of May Day 2018, Oregon PSR released our new fact sheet on deportation and public health. In the past several years, we have become more engaged in supporting immigrant rights from a health perspective, and we offer this factsheet as a resource for health professionals and others to understand the public health implications of deportation on families, children, and the wider community.

PGE wants the Oregon DEQ to approve an eight-fold increase in smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and a three-fold increase in carbon monoxide. If PGE’s gets its way, Carty 1—a two-year-old gas plant—would produce more than twice as much smog-forming VOC pollution as the soon-to-be-retired Boardman coal plant.

Tell DEQ that PGE should fix their pollution problem and limit emissions to protect our health and our climate. Sign the petition before the comment period closes on April 30th, 2018.

Read more about the health impacts of fracked gas.

We are thrilled to announce that 15 year-old Mustafa Abed, accompanied by his mother, Nidhal, has returned from Iraq to Portland for a several month stay to obtain urgently needed medical care. Oregon PSR has been been collecting funds to support Mustafa's health needs, and we are now working with the non-profit group Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which is officially sponsoring Mustafa’s medical care visit to Portland.

Update 5/16: Oregon PSR is now accepting donations for an adaptive bike and medical supplies for Mustafa to take home to Iraq. Visit our donation page and write "Mustafa" in the special designations field. 

Read the Oregonian story on Mustafa's return.

Portland voters will decide whether to pass the Portland Clean Energy Fund this November 2018. This measure will raise $30 million per year to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, home weatherization, living-wage job training, local sustainable food production, and more. Low-income residents and communities of color will be the first to receive projects funded by the Portland Clean Energy Fund. Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility sits on the steering committee of this community-led vision that builds resilience and wealth in the face of climate change and federal inaction. 

The Nuclear-Free Northwest Program of Oregon and Washington PSR strives to protect human and environmental health from the inherent threats posed by nuclear power. Due to the negative impacts on human health caused by uranium mining and processing, working with nuclear fuel, radioactive waste transport and storage, and risk of meltdowns and proliferation, nuclear power presents a public health risk that is far too great to justify its use. Additionally, the high cost of nuclear energy puts an undue burden on ratepayers, particularly those in low-income communities. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can fulfill our electricity needs and mitigate climate change while protecting healthy air, water, and communities.

Grounded in our founding as an organization of health professionals concerned about the health implications of nuclear war, Oregon PSR’s Peace Program addresses the spectrum of war, militarism, and violence as threats to human health. From mass shootings and anti-immigrant hate groups to nuclear weapons, our society’s reliance on violence and militarism to solve problems is not, as the saying goes, “healthy for children and other living things.”

Thankfully, our volunteer Peace Work Group has grown substantially over the past year, and we are actively bringing the public health voice to a variety of intersecting issues that fall under our broad peace umbrella.