Your action is needed for uranium testing in Hawaii!
Iraq Records Huge Rise in Birth
Defects
The U.S. has used tons of Depleted Uranium (DU) in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, etc. Depleted Uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years. Its use is possibly the worst war crime ever committed, causing terrible birth defects and cancers and other health problems for a very long time, including with U.S. veterans.
[…] The new findings, published in the Environmental Contamination and Toxicology bulletin, will bolster claims that US and Nato munitions used in the conflict led to a widespread health crisis in Iraq. They are the latest in a series of studies that have suggested a link between bombardment and a rise in birth defects. Their preliminary findings, in 2010, prompted a World Health Organisation inquiry into the prevalence of birth defects in the area. The WHO’s report, out next month, is widely expected to show an increase in birth defects after the conflict. It has looked at nine “high-risk” areas in Iraq, including Fallujah and Basra. Where high prevalence is found, the WHO is expected to call for additional studies to pinpoint precise causes.
The latest study found that in Fallujah, more than half of all babies surveyed were born with a birth defect between 2007 and 2010… Prior to the turn of the millennium, fewer than 2 per cent of babies were born with a defect. More than 45 per cent of all pregnancies surveyed ended in miscarriage in the two years after 2004…
In Basrah in the south of Iraq, researchers found more than 20 babies out of 1,000 were born with defects in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital in 2003, a number that is 17 times higher than recorded a decade previously. In the past seven years, the number of malformed babies born increased by more than 60 per cent; 37 out of every 1,000 are now born with defects. See full article by Sarah Morrison in Independent.co.uk Oct. 14, 2012
DU Used in Hawaii!
DU has also been used here in Hawaii in military training at Pohakuloa, Schofield Barracks,and possibly other sites on various islands. Recently, several Big island residents – patients of 3 Medical Doctors and a Naturopathic doctor – have tested high for uranium in urine, including levels exceeding three times the upper expected limit. The Hawaii Department of Health, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission need to conduct further investigation on this matter. Let your voice be heard! Email Gary.Gill@doh.hawaii.gov and tamara.powell@nrc.gov and your local elected officials and candidates running for office.
Protect the People & the Land! Test for DU!
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Emailja@malu-aina.org http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (Oct. 19, 2012 – 578th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
