Merrimack
Valley People for Peace
Serving the communities of the Merrimack Valley
- Depleted Uranium-
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Helen Caldicott to
speak in Newburyport September 23, 2006, at 7 pm,
Sponsored by MVPP.
see flier, poster
Action soon:
Massachusetts is among several states with bills addressing the
use of depleted uranium (DU) by our military. Bill
#4591, introduced by State Rep. Matthew Patrick, calls for the study
of DU exposure, the cleanup of DU sites in the U.S. The bill gives special
attention to "uranium exposed veterans."
Also, our Representatives in the US Congress, Martin Meehan and
John Tierney have signed
on to HR
2410.
DU Committee
This newly formed committee has met twice (as of 4/30) to view documentaries
on depleted uranium, a radioactive heavy metal used in Gulf War I and
currently being used in Iraq. Its primary use is to penetrate armor. As
it penetrates, the uranium burns and fragments into microscopic, radioactive
dust which is easily absorbed into the body. It also mixes with, thus
contaminating, the surrounding areas of the explosion: Depleted uranium
is hazardous to people and to the environment.
Documentaries viewed by the committee were: "Poison Dust", "Axis
of Whose Evil", "Invisible War" and "Deadly Fire."
The goal of the committee is to educate ourselves and to inform others
about the horrific effects of depleted uranium. Ultimately, we want DU
to be outlawed by all nations.
Some committee members recently heard Dr. Doug Rokke, an expert on DU
and a victim of DU poisoning, recount his experiences of combat and as
the Director of the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project. Dr. Rokke states
that weapons such as depleted uranium have rendered war "obsolete."
------------------------------------------------------------
May 13, 2006, MVPP's Mary Todd spoke on a radio show you may be able
to listen to on the web at:
http://www.gendertalk.com/real/550/gt559.shtml
The radio station's site (WMBR at MIT) also listed these links:
Group: traprockpeace.org
Group: merrimackvalleypeopleforpeace.org
Story: A
Radioactive Nightmare In Concord, Massachusetts
Movie: Poison
Dust (and
here)
Movie: Axis
of Whose Evil
(and here)
International
Depleted Uranium Study Team (idust.net)
Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (UK)
How Dangerous
is Depleted Uranium? by Helen Thomas
See other MVPP links to sites about DU
------------------------------------------------------------
>From Anne Miller anne@nhpeaceaction.org:
Breaking the Silence:
A Survivor of Depleted Uranium Poisoning Tells
His Story
April 20-24, 2006
Depleted Unanium (DU)
is an extremely dense metal used as a coating to
improve the performance of shells and armor. However, it is also
poisonous and radioactive.
Dr. Doug Rokke, an
expert on DU and a victim of DU poisoning, will
speak around the state about the Army's use of DU in Iraq, its harmful
effects, and what we can do to raise awareness in our communities about
this danergous weapon and its effects on our troops and Iraqi
civilians.
Dr. Rokke's forty
year military career included combat duty during the
Vietman War and Gulf War I. He is a former director of the US Army
Depleted Uranium Project (see his more extensive biography below).
Here are Dr. Rokke's tour dates:
Thursday, April 20,
7pm. MILFORD. Boys and Girls Club at the Amato
Center, 56 Mount Vernon Street, Milford.
Friday, April 21 at
7pm. CONCORD. Wesley United Methodist Church,
Clinton Street. For more information, call 228-0559.
Saturday, April 22,
2 pm. DOVER. Dover Friends Meeting House. 141
Central Ave., Dover, NH. For more information call 498-3580.
Sunday, April 23,
4 pm. ROCHESTER The Cafe at the Governor's Inn. 76
Wakefield Street, Rochester. For more information, call 228-0559.
Monday, April 24,
6:30 pm. MANCHESTER. Manchester City Library. 405
Pine Street, Manchester. For more information call 228-0559.
Sponsored by Women
Making a Difference, Milford Unitarian-Universalist
(UU) Church's Social Responsibility Committee Committee, NH Veterans
for Peace, NH Peace Action, Nashua UU Church's Social Responsibility
Committee Committee, Peterborough UU Church's Social Responsibility
Committee Committee. This tour would not be possible without the
exceptional organizing and energy of Nancy Iannuzzelli.
Biography of Dr. Doug Rokke
Doug Rokke earned
his Ph.D. in physics and technology education at the
University of Illinois. His miltary career has spanned 4 decades to
include combat duty during the Vietnam War and Gulf War 1. Doug served
as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Command's Nuclear, Biological, and
Chemical (NBC) teaching, medical response, and special operations team
and with the Depleted Uranium Assessment team during the Gulf War. He
was the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project director from 1994 - 1995.
He developed the congressionally mandated education and training
materials and wrote U.S. Army Regulation 700-48 and the U.S. Army's
common task for DU incidents. Doug has taught nuclear, biological and
chemical warfare and emergency medicine for over 20 years to both
civilian and military personnel. He was one of the original authors of
the EDRAT (Emergency Disaster Response Assistance Team) proposal which
formed the foundation for the National Guard CSD teams and the Illinois
CERT Teams. In preparation for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he wrote and
taught the original Chemical / Biological Counter-terrorism Course for
civilian emergency responders that is now the federal 120 city and
Department of Justice course.
Dr. Rokke serves or
has served as an
advisor with the Centers of Disease Control, Department of Defense,
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, U.S Senate, U.S.
House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Transportation, FAA, U.S.
Department of Defense. U.S. General Accounting Office, Department of
Veterans Affairs, British Royal Society, British House of Lords and
House of Commons, United Nations, and Presidential Special Oversight
Board. He has been an advisor for numerous television documentaries on
effects of nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare and depleted
uranium with CBS; ABC; NBC, History Channel; A & E; PBS; BBC; CBC;
and German, French, Japanese, Australian, Italian, and Greek TV. Dr. Rokke
has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental science,
environmental engineering, nuclear physics, and emergency management
and was a staff physicist at the UIUC for 19 years.
___________________________________________________
Merrimack
Valley People for Peace meets monthly, on the fourth Tuesday,
at 7:30 pm,
Meeting at the First United Methodist Church,
N Andover Sept, 2006 - Feb, 2007
(NOT DECEMBER)
Contact
Merrimack Valley People for Peace
Call (978) 661-9009