May 14, 2022 email sent to Hilo High School
Aloha High High School officials,
Principal Jasmine Urasaki, and Vice principals Heidi Pana and Jason Trimble
I read in the May 13, 2022 Hawaii Tribune-Herald and West Hawaii Today that about 40 Hilo High School students visited the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) “Experience Pohakuloa Day” on May 12th. Below is a letter to the editor I sent to both papers. I would also ask that the letter below and this email be shared with the students, and parents of the students, who visited Pohakuloa. Our organization’s recommendation that children especially not enter PTA is based on our research and the advice a medical doctor with 24 years experience in the Army Medical Corps and a retired PhD nuclear geologist. Mahalo for your assistance in this matter for the health and safety of our children.
Jim Albertini
Jim Albertini, President of Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
Letter to the editor:
Dangers of Experience
Pohakuloa Day!
The May 13, 2022 article on “Experience Pohakuloa Day” was completely one sided. All who visit the Pohakuloa TOXIC Area (PTA) need to be aware of the dangers of war dust. See https://www.cnn.com/…/military-exposure-burn…/index.html PTA has many war toxins blowing in the wind from more than 70 years of weapons training in the center of Hawaii Island. A very dangerous one is Depleted Uranium (DU) oxide particles. DU oxide involves alpha radiation and can be deadly when small particles are inhaled. It can enter the lymph system and lodge in various organs causing cancer. DU has a half-life of 4.5 Billion years. Our organization especially recommends that children NOT enter PTA.
Millions of live rounds are fired annually at PTA. PTA is a training ground for conventional and nuclear war. B-52 and B-2 strategic nuclear bombers fly from Louisiana, Missouri, and Guam to bomb PTA. DU oxide dust particles can be re-suspended in the air by ongoing live-fire training explosions at PTA, strong winds that are frequent in the Saddle region, and any kind of movement (disturbances) in the area.
Our organization first picked up high radiation readings on 2 monitors at Mauna Kea park on May 29, 2007, the day of the New Saddle Rd. dedication with strong winds coming off PTA from the south blowing toward the park. This was before the military officially acknowledged DU had been used at PTA after years of repeatedly denying its use.
Remember that the US Military is the greatest polluter on the planet. It is the largest consumer of oil and the largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). For the PTA website to claim that the Army provides “environmental and cultural stewardship” reminds me of Nazis during the Nuremberg trials claiming “Auschwitz was a family camp.”
Jim Albertini
-- Jim Albertini, President of Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
