Today we mailed out 400 DU packets to US groups asking them to participate in the Week of Actions!!  I hope we get a lot of activity around the US and hope groups in other countries can organize similar actions during the same week.  Please let me know what your group is planning, so we can begin posting activities to the Listserv and up on our Website.

Thanks,

Tara Thornton
Military Toxics Project

Dear Friends,

I am writing today in the hopes that your organization can participate in MTP's International Week of Actions calling for a BAN on Depleted Uranium Weapons, planned for the week of January 15th through 21st, 2001.  This week marks the tenth anniversary of the Persian Gulf War.  As many of you know, there are many veterans and civilians suffering from mysterious ailments, which have been dubbed "Gulf War Syndrome".  The Gulf War also marks the first time depleted uranium weapons, which are both radioactive and toxic, were used in warfare by the U.S. and the United Kingdom.  Most recently, NATO used depleted uranium munitions in Yugoslavia.  MTP believes depleted uranium may be one of the sources responsible for Gulf War Illnesses and the increased rates of cancers (especially in children) in southern Iraq and we are calling for an International Ban on DU weaponry.

The U.S. Department of Defense estimates approximately 315 tons (630,000 pounds) of DU were fired in the Gulf in 1991. This firing resulted in the release of large amounts of DU dust, which contaminated thousands of tanks, vehicles and land.  Depleted uranium dust can be transported by wind or water or can enter the body via wound contamination or injection (as in fragments), inhalation or ingestion.  Depleted uranium has a half-life of 4 ½ billion years.

Among the short and long term health effects of inhaled or ingested depleted uranium particles are kidney and liver problems, immune system dysfunction, reproductive problems, birth defects and cancer.

DU weapons may impose on a nation a burden of health care and environmental cleanup costs that is expensive to address.  In the United States, not only are veterans suffering from the impacts of DU weapons, but the health and environment of communities and workers are being compromised by exposure to uranium throughout the whole life cycle of DU weapons production.  The mining and milling of uranium, the enrichment of uranium, the production and manufacturing of DU weapons, and DU weapons testing are all activities which have caused widespread contamination and health problems.  The price of clean up of 152,000 pounds of depleted uranium fragments and dust on 500 acres at Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana (where DU rounds were tested) has been estimated at $4 to $5 billion dollars.  The costs to human health are incalculable.

Depleted Uranium weaponry should be an international concern as the proliferation of these weapons continues.  At least 16 countries including the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, and Taiwan now have depleted uranium penetrators in their arsenal.  Other sources assert that the weaponry has proliferated to Iraq, Oman, Jordan, Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has taken up the issue of depleted uranium weaponry through its Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.  The Sub-Commission adopted resolutions in 1996 and 1997 (resolution 1996/16 and 1997/36), which included depleted uranium weaponry among "weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction", incompatible with international humanitarian or human rights law.

MTP organized with two other groups, the LAKA Foundation of the Netherlands and the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium of England, a workshop on depleted uranium at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference in May of 1999.  It was there that the International Campaign to Ban Depleted Uranium Weaponry was launched.   One of the most important aspects of the international campaign was for each group to develop a national strategy to get their perspective governments to support the ban.  As we know with nuclear issues, the Campaign to Ban Landmines, and other very important issues, the United States is the most difficult government to get to do the right thing.  We need your help and the help of every major organization fighting for justice in the United States to be on board in support of the ban.

There are several ways your organization can get involved in the efforts to ban DU: Participate in and get the word out about the International Week of Actions from January 15 through January 21, 2001, marking the tenth anniversary of the Persian Gulf War.  We would greatly appreciate any support your organization can give us to make this week of actions a success. We would also like your organization to take a position in support of an international ban on depleted uranium weaponry.  Your organization can pass a resolution calling for a ban, participate in the petition drive to ban DU, and write letters to the editor and your members of Congress in support of the ban.

I am enclosing MTP's Call to Action packet, which includes; a flyer on the International Week of Actions, a blank petition, sample resolutions and a map of the US which highlights some of the most egregious examples of how DU adversely impacted the health and environment.

Please let us know if your organization supports the ban and if you will be participating in the International Week of Actions.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call toll free 1-877-783-5091 or visit MTP's Website at http://www.miltoxproj.org

Sincerely,

Tara Thornton
National Organizer