[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] EU calls for ban on depleted uranium weapons (UK Green MEP Caroline Lucas)

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/
>
>NEWS RELEASE
>>From the office of the South-East England’s Green
>MEP Caroline Lucas
>
>June 21st, 2005
>
>EU CALL FOR BAN ON DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS MEPs
>AND EXPERTS GATHER FOR BRUSSELS TALKS ON DU
>
>SCIENTISTS and Euro-MPs gathering in Brussels
>this week have called for a global ban on the use
>of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons, which they warn
>are responsible for thousands of civilian deaths,
>and breach international humanitarian law.
>
>British and US troops in Iraq and elsewhere
>routinely use DU weapons causing a significant
>rise in birth malformations, leukaemia and other
>cancers and fertility problems in post-conflict
>zones.
>
>Caroline Lucas, who is Co-President of the
>European Parliament’s cross-party group on Peace
>Initiatives which organised this week’s talks,
>said: “The pollution from DU weaponry causes
>widespread death and suffering amongst civilian
>populations for years after their initial use.
>
>“Independent research into DU weapons has
>confirmed that radioactive particles are carried
>by the wind and find their way into the human
>food chain. The use of such an indiscriminate
>weapon – which is killing civilian bystanders in
>their thousands – is contrary to international
>law.
>
>“Their use must be banned immediately –
>especially in those countries such as the UK and
>USA which use DU weapons regularly on so-called
>‘humanitarian’ missions.”
>
>Dr Lucas, who is a Green Party MEP for South-East
>England and a member of the Campaign for Nuclear
>Disarmament’s national council, made her comments
>ahead of a two-day  conference on banning uranium
>weapons taking place at the European Parliament
>in Brussels this week (June 23-24).
>
>MEPs and scientists from as far afield as Iraq,
>Japan and the US will discuss the funding,
>manufacture, legal status – and devastating human
>costs – of DU weapons, at the International
>Conference to Ban Uranium Weapons.
>
>The talks hope to make the case for more research
>into the medical and environmental impact of DU -
>and to persuade EU countries to adopt immediate
>moratoria on its use.
>
>Dr Lucas added: “During a visit to Iraq in the
>weeks before the latest war I saw for myself the
>terrible human price being paid for allied use of
>DU weapons in the last Gulf war more than a
>decade earlier.
>
>“Nothing could have prepared me for the extent of
>birth malformations and the seven-fold increase
>in childhood cancers I encountered during a
>routine visit to a hospital in Basra.”
>
>The European Parliament adopted a resolution
>calling for an EU-wide moratorium on their use in
>2003, based partly on evidence gathered during Dr
>Lucas’s fact-finding mission to Iraq, but the ban
>has not been implemented by member states.
>
>ENDS
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand