2006 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 29 Jan 2006 08:11:59 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Wisconsin Greens support DU testing
 
Press Release
Green Party

Greens Support AB832 - Depleted Uranium Testing and Treatment for
National Guard and Veterans

Wisconsin Green Party
wisconsingreenparty.org

January 25, 2006 


Today the Wisconsin Green Party announced its support for AB832 - whose
purpose is to inform National Guard members and military veterans of the
dangers and available tests and treatments for depleted uranium (DU)
exposure.  

"A basic element of supporting the troops is ensuring that we give them
adequate care when they get home," said Bob Poeschl, Wisconsin Green
Party Co-chair. "There are no cures for DU exposure, but tests will help
to document exposure for compensation and treatment."  

DU is a highly toxic heavy metal which, when burnt, creates radioactive
dust that can cause kidney problems, cancers, and birth defects. Despite
its known toxicity, the Pentagon uses depleted uranium widely - in
projectiles on ammunition, casings for bombs, shielding on tanks, and in
airplane wings and for ballast in ships. Depleted uranium's half-life is
4.5 billion years.  

Depleted uranium is forbidden under several agreements signed by the
United States. The Hague Regulations of War on Land (1899 & 1901) forbid
the use of poison weapons. Depleted uranium fits the U.S. military's own
definition of poison. The Toronto, Ontario epidemiologist Rosalie
Bertell -- a well-known expert on DU -- has called the DU dust that
results from is pulverization upon impact with hard targets "metal
fumes." As such, the use of DU is a violation of the 1925 Geneva Gas
Protocol to which the U.S. is a Signatory Party, which prohibits the use
of gas "and all analogous liquids, materials or devices". In addition,
Protocol One to the Geneva Conventions 1977 forbid the use of weapons
that do "severe, long-term damage to the environment" and as such can be
said to outlaw the use of depleted uranium.  

In addition, the use of depleted uranium in military weapons goes
against established principles of humanitarian law. Under these
principles, weapons used in armed conflict must meet four criteria: 1)
they must be able to be limited in effect to the field of battle, 2)
they must be limited in effect to the time period of the armed conflict,
3) they must not be unduly inhumane, and 4) they must not unduly damage
the environment.  

Studies of civilians and soldiers with exposure to DU conducted in Iraq
after the Gulf War found that cancers and birth defects were ten times
higher than before the war. Studies done by the UN Environment Program
(Unep) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the U.S. used DU, found proof of
groundwater contamination seven years after the conflict, and
recommended that residents use alternative water sources. In addition,
they found air contamination, and recommended decontamination of the
surrounding buildings.  

"Testing of our Wisconsin National Guard members who were exposed to DU
will not only help strengthen the case that DU use is illegal under
international law, more importantly, it will help to ensure that our
servicemen and women in future conflicts will not be poisoned by their
own government," said Ruth Weill, Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Green
Party.  

Wisconsin veterans of the Gulf War (1990/1991), Bosnia (1994/1995), and
the Balkan region (1999), have potentially been contaminated by depleted
uranium.  

The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the
United States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic
Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom. For
more information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org. ; 

The Green Party of the United States' website is http://www.gp.org. ;

MORE INFORMATION

International Depleted Uranium Study Team
http://www.idust.net/ ;
Urgent Steps Needed to Protect US Troops, Iraqis from the Effects of
Depleted Uranium 
http://gp.org/press/pr_05_02_03.html ;
Depleted Uranium
http://www.snowshoefilms.com/depleteduranium.html ;


For the full, original press release go to
http://www.gp.org/press/states/wi_2006_01_25.shtml



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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