September 2004
CALL A HALT TO THE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS! SIGN THE JUST STOP NOW PETITION!
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An Open Letter to Teresa Heinz Kerry
Re: Depleted Uranium
Women for a Better World
P. O. Box 1113
Occidental, CA 95465
September 23, 2004
Dear Teresa,
I am writing to you with great respect for your outstanding record as an environmentalist and as a woman, on behalf of all women, to call your attention to an urgent threat to the environment and to the public health, and to beg you to ask your husband to take a stand, before it's too late.
Depleted uranium weapons, introduced by the first Bush Administration, are fast becoming standard in modern warfare. Under the present administration, countless tons of depleted uranium weaponry have been dropped on Afghanistan and Iraq, contaminating the region.
Depleted uranium is radioactive and toxic. When it explodes, it releases a noxious gas of radioactive alpha particles into the environment that are easily inhaled and ingested by everyone who comes into contact with the area -- including our own soldiers. The effects of this weapon have been downplayed by the Pentagon, which has refused to recognize that symptoms of so-called "Gulf War Syndrome" are in fact due to exposure to radiation.
In other words, our own soldiers are coming home contaminated by uranium, and they are getting sick. More than half the vets from Gulf War I are now on disability. In addition, vets are giving birth to more deformed babies. A study conducted in Mississippi by the Veterans Administration showed that 67% of the babies born to returning vets in Mississippi suffered some kind of malformation.
Workers who produce depleted uranium weapons, and residents who live in the neighborhood of testing ranges and weapons production factories, are also exposed. In fact, radiation exposure all over the United States is rising due to power plant failures, leaking radioactive waste, and the mounting pile of nuclear waste. This rising level of radiation represents an unparalleled health threat to our society, and to the poor beleaguered nations who have been visited with our weapons. The use of this indiscriminate weapon constitutes a war crime.
The Pentagon, the DOD and the DOE, and even the IAEA have understated the dangers of this radiation and have made every effort to obscure the issue and its consequences.
You must take action now! Please talk to John Kerry about this consummate and overarching danger to continued life on this planet.
Women for a Better World has just launched a petition to all the nations of the world to agree to JUST STOP NOW the sale, manufacture and use of radioactive weapons beginning with depleted uranium.
I look forward to hearing from you. I have posted this letter at my website, Awakened Woman, at <http://www.awakenedwoman.com/wbw_teresa.htm> where I will be more than happy to post your reply. Please contact me as soon as possible. I can be reached by phone at 707-874-1744.
We all look forward to the day when you will be installed as First Lady of the United States Government, where we believe you will use your considerable power for the common good in this critical time.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Hiller
Publisher, Awakened Woman and Founder, Women for a Better World
editor@awakenedwoman.com
CO-SIGNERS:
Mervis Reissig, Santa Rosa, CA
Alison Pryle, Cotati, CA
Karen LaVerne, Bellingham WA
Jan Jackson, Santa Rosa, CA
Diana Young, Oakland, CA