Much can be learned from these indigenous people and their culture, as they have spent hundreds to thousands of years living in the environment. No one else can equal their intimate knowledge of how to survive in their own homeland, even though their attribution of such knowledge may be flawed. The simple fact that aboriginal people knew that they would get sick if they spent too much time in uranium-rich areas is fascinating, and it illustrates the value of their oral tradition and legend-oriented knowledge base.
From:
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_mythology1/index1.htmTaboo countries (or aversion countries) Some areas of Australia are taboo to the Australian Aborigines. One such is what is called 'the sickness country' in the Northern Territory, which was eventually mined for uranium, another is Wilson's Promontory, a peninsula jutting out into stormy Bass Strait. It was said to be presided over by the giant Lo-an and his wife Lo-an-tuka, who, according to the Koori Kulin people, became (respectively) the stars Sirius and star Canopus. Sometimes Lo-an descended from the sky onto a mountain peak which was sacred to him. If an unwary stranger entered the peninsula he would be attacked by the mysterious powers guarding it, so if a person wished to enter the land unharmed, he had to endure a number of rituals. First of all, he had to have all his hair shaved off. A streak of red ochre had to be painted down his chest and two white lines painted across his shoulders. He would then be fed on eels, once Lo-an's main food, then at dawn, if he heard the laughter of a kookaburra, he had to spit at the bird, for it was laughing at him for wishing to come into such a dangerous country. After the ceremony was over, he might venture onto the peninsula at his own risk.
I suspect that shaving one's head and eating eels provide protection. Not having hair would reduce the amount of radioactive dust in contact with the body. Eels probably provide a benefit in that
they're high in some antioxidant vitamins and phosphorous. Antioxidants would help to repair cellular damage from radiation and the toxic effects of uranium as a heavy metal. It seems that phosphorous-containing compounds would provide some chelation protection against uranium absorption because uranium bonds well with phosphates.
The following facts from the
Wikipedia article on uranium support this:
"Citrobactor species absorb uranyl ions when given glycerol phosphate (or other similar organic phosphates)."
"After entering the bloodstream, the absorbed uranium tends to bioaccumulate and stay for many years in bone tissue because of uranium's affinity for phosphates."
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