Resources on 'Depleted' Uranium
Summer, 2003 'Depleted' Uranium Speaking Tour with Doug Rokke
Gulf War veteran and former director of the US Army's Depleted Uranium
Project, Doug Rokke (rock-ee), PhD. Speaks on the Dangers of Uranium
Munitions, July 21-26 in New York and August 5-10 in Massachusetts, Vermont
and New York. His first stop on this tour in Buffalo was the top story on
Common Dreams.
Hyperlinks go to press releases, below.
Monday, July 21, Buffalo, NY -
Contact: Western New York Peace Center,
2123 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, NY 12241
Charles Cobb 716 894 2013. Story of Buffalo event..
Wednesday, July 23, Rochester, NY - .æ, 7 PM
Patchen Briggs VFW Post
54 South Union Street
Free, open to the public Æ disabled accessible
For Information, phone MetroJustice atæ585-325-2560 during office hrs.
hursday, July 24, Syracuse, NY - T, 7:30 pm
May Memorial Unitarian Society, 3800 E. Genesee St.
primary contact: Andy Mager andy@peacecouncil.net
At the Syracuse Peace Council
Saturday July 26th, ORANGE COUNTY PEACE, Munroe, NY -
7:00 pm At Central Valley Elementary School
(across from Woodbury Commons)
Tuesday, August 5, Turners Falls, (AKA Great falls) MA
At 5:00 Up to 20 teens are invited for pizza and a question and answer
session with Doug Rokke on uranium munitions. This will be taped. Bring
permission slips to the Montague TV studio, 34 2nd Street. Peace Vigil with
lanterns begins 6:45. r.s.v.p. Traprock Peace Center, 413 773-7427.
Wednesday, August 6, St Johnsbury, VT
7pm at SOUTH CHURCH (North Church is for the video only) Main St . St. J.
Sunny will drive Doug up from Deerfield, MA, in time for dinner, aiming for
5:30. Key contact: Laura Bellusci snowdanc@sover.net 802 748-5399
Thursday Aug 7, Arlington, MA - 7:30 PM, Calvary Church. 300 Mass. Ave, ,
(Flyer attached as a pdf.) Key contact: Thea Paneth, Arlington United for
Peace and Justice, $10 requested donation. For more information call
781-316-2018.
Saturday August 9, Springfield,
MA, 5:30-8:30 - Martin Luther King Jr. Center, . Arise for Social Justice and Traprock Peace Center are contacts. Both
the Arise Peace Group, key contact Michael Lindberg, 413 734-4948 and
Traprock are working on raising funds for this appearance. Doug Rokke's
comments begin at 7 pm. Thanks for your support! 413 773-7427
Sunday August 10, Chattam, NY, 4PM, , 77 Main Street, , at Tracy Memorial
Village Hall. Co-sponsors welcome, including thus far, Center for Community
Renaissance and Upper Hudson Peace Action. Key contact: Leslie Gabriel
laszlo@taconic.net
Syracuse
N E W S R E L E A S E
July 22, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andy Mager, 472-5478
US Army Expert on Uranium Munitions to Speak in Syracuse
ñPoisoning Soldiers and Civilians: The Health and Environmental Effects of
Uranium Munitionsî is the title of a speech by Major Doug Rokke on Thursday,
July 24, 7:30 pm, at May Memorial Unitarian Society, 3800 E. Genesee St. in
Syracuse.
Dr. Rokke is the former Director of the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium (DU)
Project where he worked as a health physicist on DU education and clean-up
during the Gulf War. He has a PhD in health physics and was originally
trained as a forensic scientist.
Dr. Rokke served in the US Air Force during the Viet Nam War and in the
National Guard since 1980. When the Gulf War started, he was assigned to
prepare soldiers to respond to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare,
and sent to the Gulf. What he experienced has made him a passionate voice
for peace, traveling the country to speak out.
He became a whistle-blower, explaining the policies of the US Army that
exposed troops and civilians to DU and other toxic compounds. He has spoken
and written extensively on this issue, appearing throughout the United
States, Europe and Australia. He has appeared on ñ60 Minutesî and
documentaries related to DU.
The US fired about 944,000 DU rounds in the Gulf War, contaminating the Gulf
region with 300-400 tones of DU in 1991. At the end of the Gulf War the
total US casualty count was 760: 294 dead, a little over 400 wounded or ill.
But the casualty rate now for Gulf War veterans is approximately 30 percent.
Of those stationed in the theater, including after the conflict, 221,000
have been awarded disability, according to a Veterans Affairs (VA) report
issued September 10, 2002. While there is no ñproofî that DU exposure caused
this health crisis, there are no other simple explanations either.
Exposure among Iraqi civilians is even greater. Dr. Harry Shalimer,
estimates that there have been 100,000 cancerns in Basra alone in the last
12 years. Depleted uranium munitions were used again in the recent war
against Iraq, including new ñbunker-busterî and ñearth-penetratorî bombs.
Dr. RokkeÍs talk is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by
Syracuse Peace Council, Peace Action, Citizens Awareness Network, Physicians
for Social Responsibility, Pax Christi, American Friends Service Committee,
Syracuse Cultural Workers and the Compassion and Advocacy Committee of the
Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery.
ORANGE COUNTY PEACE AND JUSTICE COALITION
& Traprock Peace Center present
Veteran and Former Director of
the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project
Doug Rokke
to discuss
THE HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EFFECTS OF URANIUM MUNITIONS
Saturday July 26th
7:00 pm
At Central Valley Elementary School
(across from Woodbury Commons)
Doug Rokke PhD. is a Vietnam and Gulf War Veteran and an expert on
'depleted' uranium. He headed the U.S. Army's DU Project after the Gulf War,
and now advocates a ban on the manufacture and use of uranium munitions.
Rokke served in the military and the reserves for a total of 35 years.
Discussion will include topics such as the historic context of radioactive
munitions, dating from 1943, how DU weapons work, contaminated testing
grounds, and missing files. Doug Rokke will also discuss the current
unfolding tragedy, denial of care, and our personal responsibility to make a
difference. Congressman James McDermott's sponsored a bill, HR 1483, which
calls on the U.S. to study the effects of DU and how to mitigate it's
contamination.
Please join us to learn who is responsible for policies and protocols in the
Department of Defense and the Department of the Army, and how we can take
response-ABILITY to speak up at every level.
DIRECTIONS: from the New York Thruway, take Exit 16. After going through
the tollbooths take exit 131, turn right onto 32N.
(From Route 17, take exit 131 to 32N)
Go past the 1st light (Woodbury Commons on right) Make left at next light
into school parking area. Central Valley Elementary School is on Route 32
directly across the street from Woodbury Commons Shopping Center.
Co-Sponsors include:
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Democratic Alliance
Sullivan Peace
FOR- Fellowship for Reconciliation
Sara Morrison
Rose Garden Health Food Store Middletown, NY
Social Concerns Committee, Unitarian Universalist Society of Rock Tavern
For more information see Orange County Peace and Justice Coalition
http://www.orangepeace.org
and http://www.grassrootspeace.org
Tel: 845-986-1951 or 845-343-8125
OCPJ PO Box 998, Warwick, NY 10990
email: info@orangepeace.org
Arlington United for Justice with Peace
COS - 21 Marathon Street
Arlington, MA 02474
781-316-2018 See event Poster.
For Immediate Release: July 17, 2003 Contact: Thea Paneth, 781-648-6756
(Not for publication)
To Arrange An Interview:
Contact Sunny Miller, 413-773-7427
(Transcripts of Major Rokke's past media and public appearances can be
found at www.grassrootspeace.org.)
Former Army Physicist Blows Whistle on Depleted Uranium Use In Iraq
The former director of the Army's Depleted Uranium Project, Major Doug
Rokke, will discuss the consequences of U.S. depleted uranium use in Iraq at
Calvary Church (300 Massachusetts Avenue) in Arlington, Massachusetts on
August 7 at 7:30 PM.
Depleted uranium is a radioactive isotope widely used in combat
munitions used by U.S. forces. It has been linked to health effects and
birth defects in veterans, civilians, and their families.
Major Rokke, Ph.D., who headed the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project
after the 1991 Gulf War, and who now advocates a ban on the manufacture and
use of DU munitions is a veteran of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars and an expert
on depleted uranium. Rokke served in the military and the reserves for a
total of 35 years.
Major Rokke will describe the historic context of proposals to use
radioactive munitions, dating from 1943, how depleted-uranium weapons work,
the problem of contaminated US testing grounds, the current unfolding
tragedy, veterans' missing files, denial of care, and what concerned
citizens can do to make a difference. He is currently on a speaking tour of
New York State and New England to call attention to this timely issueÆas DU
ammunition was used extensively in April 2003 as well as during the Gulf War
of 1991.
Major Rokke was an Army health physicist assigned in 1991 to the command
staff of the 12th Preventive Medicine Command and 3rd U.S. Army Medical
Command headquarters. He was recalled to active duty 20 years after serving
in Vietnam and sent to the Gulf to take charge of the depleted-uranium
cleanup operation.
Major Rokke has become an outspoken opponent of the use of
depleted-uranium munitions. Depleted uranium ñis the stuff of nightmares,"
according to Rokke.
Rokke and his primary team of about 100 performed their cleanup task
without any specialized training or protective gear. Today, Rokke said most
have serious health problems.
"Verified adverse health effects include reactive airway disease,
neurological abnormalities, kidney stones and chronic kidney pain, rashes,
vision degradation and night vision losses, lymphoma, various forms of skin
and organ cancer, neuropsychological disorders, uranium in semen, sexual
dysfunction and birth defects in offspring,î Rokke says.
"This whole thing is a crime against God and humanity."
"Since 1991, numerous U.S. Department of Defense reports have said that
the consequences of DU were unknown," Rokke says. "That is a lie. We warned
them in 1991 after the Gulf War, but because of liability issues, they
continue to ignore the problem."
Rokke worked until 1996 for the military, developing depleted-uranium
training and management procedures. The procedures were ignored, he said.
"Their arrogance is beyond comprehension," he says. "We have spread
radioactive waste all over the place and refused medical treatment to people
. . . it's all arrogance."
` This event is sponsored by Arlington United for Justice with Peace,
American Friends Service Committee, and the North Shore Coalition for Peace
and Justice. Traprock Peace Center in Deerfield, Massachusetts is
coordinating an east coast speaking tour with Major Rokke; the Arlington
forum will serve the Boston-area. It is open to the public, with a $10
requested donation. For more information call: 781-316-2018 (for
publication).
A photo of Major Rokke (JPG) is available. Please email
tpaneth@earthlink.net for a copy. For many relevant resources see
www.grassrootspeace.org
Page created July 22, 2003 by Charlie Jenks
