Canada's Role in Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons worldwide

by Dr. Alfred Lambremont Webre

Global Research, April 3, 2007

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Depleted Uranium (DU) Victim Afghanistan "CANADIAN URANIUM IS BASICALLY PROVIDING THE MATERIAL FOR THESE [DU] WEAPONS And I really would ask you to make this an issue in the front / centre and STOP IT NOW AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN !! -- Dr. Rosalie Bertell, authority on Depleted Uranium (DU). http://www.peace.ca/depleteduranium.htm Photos of Babies Deformed at Birth as a Result of Depleted Uranium (DU) 2003 photos: Dr. Jenan Hassan WARNING: Extremely Graphic Images! http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Baby2003.htm Let's Follow the Example of Belgium and Make Abolishing the Use of Canadian Uranium in any Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons world-wide a Priority Issue Now! DU & Public Health: The public health effects of the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons are such that their use can be considered per se violations of the war crime of Genocide under the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The documented devastating effects of DU weapons on public health include: 3.0 Findings: The negative impacts of radiation from nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power and nuclear reactors, and depleted uranium weaponry, include but are not limited to the following. 3.1 Cancer 3.2 Birth defects 3.3 Chronic diseases caused by neurological and neuromuscular radiation damage 3.4 Mitochondrial diseases (Chronic fatigue syndrome, Lou Gehrig's, Parkinsons nad Alzheimer's; Heart and brain disorders) 3.5 Global DNA damage in men's sperm; Infertility in women. 3.6 Learning disabilities 3.7 Mental illness 3.8 Birth rates & death rates 3.9 Diabetes 3.10 Infant mortality and low birth weights 3.11 Atmospheric testing impact on Environment 3.12 It is hereby found that the only feasible remedy to cease the damage to the environment and public health caused by ionizing radiation, and to safeguard the future of humanity and all living things, is to permanently abolish all nuclear technologies. http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2007/03/nuclear_free_zo.html See also: International Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan at Tokyo - Final Written Opinion of Judge Niloufer Bhagwat 10mar04 http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm Uranium & The War http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=474 Nothing Depleted About Depleted Uranium http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BUL20060122&articleId=1777 "Occupational Hazards of War: All the Questions About DU (Depleted Uranium) and Gulf War Syndrome Are Not Yet Answered." Dr. Rosalie Bertell http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/campaign_for_a_positive_f/2007/03/occupational_ha.html DU & International Law: Depleted Uranium and DU weapons are already prohibited as Weapons of Mass Destruction under existing international conventions and treaties. "According to a August 2002 report by the UN subcommission, laws which are breached by the use of DU shells include: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which expressly forbid employing 'poison or poisoned weapons' and 'arms, projectiles or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering'. All of these laws are designed to spare civilians from unwarranted suffering in armed conflicts." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm What is lacking in the enforcement of this existing international law prohibition. CANADIAN DU ABOLITION: As of March 2007, Belgium has become the first nation to adopt legislation specifically abolishing the use of Depleted Uranium in weapons. http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/118.html Canada - One of the world's top exporters of Uranium used for U.S. and other DU weapons - must now adopt legislation abolishing the use of Depleted Uranium in weapons and abolishing the use of Canadian Uranium in Depleted Uranium (DU) in weapons. The use of Canadian Uranium in any DU weapon - whether Canadian Uranium is enriched and manufactured into DU weapons in the USA or elsewhere, or whether DU weapons are manufactured in Canada - is against existing Canadian policy. There is considerable evidence that Canada is not enforcing its declared policy against the use by the U.S. Government and others of Canadian Uranium for DU weapons purposes. http://temagami.carleton.ca/jmc/cnews/19012001/n1.htm CANADIAN LEGISLATION: The legislation we are seeking in Canada, like Belgium's recent legislation prohibiting DU weapons, is Canadian-enforceable legislation "to permanently prohibit the Canadian use, sale, development, production, testing, storage, transportation and export of depleted uranium munitions, depleted uranium weapons, or any manufactured parts or other object containing depleted uranium." Moreover, the legislation would prohibit the use or export of Canadian Uranium where such Uranium will be processed into a depleted uranium munition, weapon, or manufactured depleted uranium part. WRITE YOUR PARTY LEADER & WRITE YOUR M.P. GO TO: http://www.canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html Please contact your local M.P. (Member of Parliament), and ask for legislation to enforce Canada's policy against the use of Canadian Uranium in any DU weapons, anywhere. Alert your MP of the devastating public health hazards of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons. Public health is severely endangered by atmospheric DU nanoparticles. Canadian soldiers, as well as the Canadian population, are now at risk, as Depleted Uranium (DU) nanoparticles are carried by the jetstream and westerlies to the atmosphere over North America. Canadian Uranium is literally poisoning the world. By specifically focusing in this way on enforcement of Canadian policy against the use of Canadian Uranium in DU weapons, we can shut off a significant supply of depleted uranium for the USA and the other 17 or so nations that now use or store DU weapons. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT -[prepared by Janet M. Eaton] of remarks by: DR. ROSALIE BERTELL speaking on DEPLETED URANIUM [DU] WEAPONS and CANADA'S central ROLE in the PRODUCTION of these weapons. http://www.interlog.com/~nealm/index.ht m Dr. Bertell was one of nine prominent Canadians speaking at: An Unjust and Illegal WAR: Leading opponents of the War against Yugoslavia speak out: A public meeting held at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto May 6 1999. Dr. Rosalie Bertell is one of the world's leading authorities on health effects of low level radiation. For a decade she worked for the US National Cancer Institute and for 30 years has been in the forefront of research on the effects of low level radiation on human health. In 1984 she founded the International Institute of Concern for Public Health in Toronto. For further background on Dr. Bertell see : "Dr. Rosalie Bertell - A Great Humanitarian & Scientist" http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11275