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Finns on baby strike to protest nuclear power |
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| FINLAND: April 5, 2002 | ||
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HELSINKI - Hundreds of Finnish women are protesting with their wombs, vowing they will not give birth for the next four years unless parliament scraps plans to another nuclear power station.
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Some 700 Finns, mainly women, have so far signed an Internet petition started a year ago against the contruction of a fifth nuclear reactor in Finland in a move that separates it from the rest of Western Europe. "This form of protest is logical because this issue doesn't concern just our generation," said Elina Venesmaki, 25, who was one of the founders of the petition (www.valvomo.org/lakko). "We want to remind everyone that this is an issue that concerns people, not just industry," she said, adding she eventually wanted children. Finnish industry says more nuclear capacity is a must to meet growing electricity demands and enable cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, but opponents say the risks involved are too high and the question of nuclear waste disposal still unanswered. Venesmaki said she hoped the petition would sway members of parliament to reject the government proposal, which is due to be voted on in late May at the earliest. In 1986 some 4,000 Finns signed a similar appeal against a new reactor in Finland following the catastrophe at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. Finland's parliament finally voted down the plan in 1993.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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