[CPEO-MEF] (repost)Science Pledge Campaign Launched/article

[marylia@earthlink.net]

Dear Peace and Enviro colleagues:

Here is an article I believe will be of great interest. The article, below,
describes the lauch of an international "Pledge Campaign" -- which touches
the confluence where true science, disarmament and democracy meet.
or a copy of the Scientists' and Engineers'  Pledge form and other
background materials discussed in the article, check out the web sites of
the four sponsoring organizations -- www.igc.org/tvc for Tri-Valley CAREs
(includes a downloadable pdf pledge form), www.lasg.org for the Los Alamos
Study Group (includes an electronic pledge form), www.wslfweb.org for
Western States Legal Foundation (pdf pledge form) and www.nrdc.org for
Natural Resources Defense Council.

Here is the article. Happy reading...

Scientists urged to renounce arms work

February 20, 2001
By Glenn Roberts Jr.
STAFF WRITER,
Tri-Valley Herald/Alameda Newspapers Group

Three anti-nuclear groups and a national environmental organization have
begun an international campaign asking scientists and engineers to pledge
not to perform work relevant to weapons of mass destruction.


Launched in San Francisco during this weekend's annual meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the campaign asks
researchers to pledge never to participate in "the design, development,
testing, production, maintenance, targeting, or use" of weapons of mass
destruction.

Those who take the pledge are asked to renounce "research or engineering
that... (will likely) be used by others" to study weapons of mass
destruction.

Joseph Rotblat, a physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in 1995 for his
nuclear nonproliferation work, has endorsed the pledge campaign.

In a written statement, Rotblat said, "At a time when science plays such a
powerful role in the life of society, when the whole destiny of mankind may
hinge on the results of scientific research, it is incumbent on all
scientists to be fully conscious of that role and conduct themselves
accordingly."

                                        Responsibility

He added, "I appeal to my fellow scientists to remember their
responsibility to humanity."

The campaign was organized by Livermore-based Tri-Valley Communities
Against a Radioactive Environment, Oakland-based Western States Legal
Foundation, New Mexico's Los Alamos Study Group, and the national Natural
Resources Defense Council.

Andreas Toupadakis, 46, a former Lawrence Livermore Laboratory chemist who
quit his job Jan. 31, 2000, because he said he could no longer justify his
weapons-related work, supports the pledge.

Toupadakis, who spoke at the Saturday event launching the pledge, said he
hopes that graduate students will consider committing to the pledge before
they embark on their career paths.

"This pledge is trying to bring awareness to graduate students, to make
sure that they don't join places where they will regret it afterward," he
said Monday.

By studying what agencies are paying for research, scientists and engineers
can try to determine whether the work will likely benefit weapons of mass
destruction, Toupadakis said. Scientists must realize that there is an
important link between weapons work and the foreign policy of the United
States.

Toupadakis said that since he left the lab, "I do what I like now -- I
don't do what I don't believe in."

Marylia Kelley, executive director for Tri-Valley Communities Against a
Radioactive Environment said the campaign collected about 18 signatures on
Saturday, and scientists attending the conference were encouraged to take
time to mail in their pledges after the event.

Michio Kaku, a theoretical physics professor at City University in New
York; Charles Schwartz, emeritus physics professor at University of
California, Berkeley; Pervez Hodbhoy, a visiting physics professor from
Pakistan; and Zia Mian, a research scientist at Princeton University, are
also among the pledge's supporters.

"This is an international drive," Kelley said. "Our goal is an education
campaign -- (to make researchers) aware of the different guises under which
nuclear weapons research and development hides."

She added, "If scientists and engineers refuse to do (weapons) work, then
no matter how much money governments are willing to put into it, it won't
happen."

                                                 ------------------------
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Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
Abolition 2000 global network for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the
U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back From the Brink
campaign to get nuclear weapons taken off hair-trigger alert.



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