Se eu fosse deputado

Abstract

If I were a congressman, I would be feeling very anxious. And if I were a state legislator for Sao Paulo, my apprehension would border dread. That is because I have been sent a most terrible document, a document to make one lose sleep and put our awareness in a state of war. The document is signed by the Movimento em Defesa da Vida [Movement in Defense of Life], formed by men and women from all walks of life, under the guidance of reputable geneticists and no less authoritative nuclear physicists from the University of Sao Paulo. It is not, therefore, one of those numberless papers that circulate here and there, bearing no definite authorship and with a political agenda that is either highly conspicuous or a barely concealed. This document’s source is quite respectable and its background frightening. The document invites congressmen and legislators to reflect on the effects of nuclear radiation upon the community, that is, the people who elected them to represent and champion Brazilian social interests. The contents are made even more somber if we consider that it coincides with the shockingly unexpected news (for, until the last moment, nothing transpired of the negotiations that led to this decision of utmost importance for the fate of our people – a decision made by a small group of government men and technobureaucrats) that two nuclear power plants will be built on Sao Paulo’s seaboard – in an area that, ironically, houses a government ecological station. The Movimento em Defesa da Vida focuses on only one of the numerous lethal consequences of this kind of power plant. And, grounded on solid facts and reliable research on radioactive contamination of the human organism, it asks: “Does Your Excellency know that the composition of our children’s milk might be adversely affected by radiation The Testimony of the Poet-Citizen