| PUBLIC MEETING | |
Background info.on DU Professor Doug Rokke will speak on the impact of
Rev Dr Ann Wansbrough on the Australian connection
Chair: Tina Bursill
 Professor Rokke |
Dr.
Rokke earned his Ph.D. in health physics from the University of Illinois
in 1992. He was originally trained as a forensic scientist. When the Gulf War started, he was assigned to prepare soldiers to respond to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare, and sent to the Gulf. In 1991 he served as a health physicist for the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Assessment team of roughly 100 primary members cleaning up Depleted Uranium (DU) in Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. He was the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project director from 1994 to 1995. Following this, in 1996 and 1997 he directed the development, instruction, and assessment of radiation safety education and field procedures for the U.S. Army at the Bradley Radiological Laboratories, Fort McClellan. Dr Rokke is one of the authors of the Pentagon's program for environmental remediation of formerly used defence sites. He wrote the Army's field manual for responding to chemical and biological warfare and has trained U.S. soldiers in radiation safety techniques. A former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and a veteran of both Vietnam and the Gulf War, Dr Rokke has been in and out of uniform since 1967 and now serves with the U.S. Army Reserves. Scientific training and first-hand experience with DU contamination lead Doug Rokke to speak out regarding the cover-up of Gulf War casualties and depleted uranium. He calls use of DU a 'war crime'. |
| American
and British forces have used depleted uranium (DU) shells in Iraq
in 1991 and in the current invasion. They have deliberately flouted
a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal
weapons of mass destruction. DU contaminates land and air, causes severe health effects, including death among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians. "DU is the stuff of nightmares," Doug Rokke says. "It is toxic, radioactive and pollutes for 4500 million years. It causes lymphoma, neuro-psychotic disorders and short-term memory damage. In semen, it causes birth defects and trashes the immune system.” Professor Rokke says: 'There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction -- yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves. Such double-standards are repellent.' DU has been blamed for the effects of Gulf War syndrome -- typified by chronic muscle and joint pain, fatigue and memory loss -- among 200,000 US soldiers after the 1991 conflict. It is also cited as the most likely cause of the 'increased number of birth deformities and cancer in Iraq' following the first Gulf War. 'Cancer appears to have increased between seven and 10 times and deformities between four and six times,' according to a UN subcommission. The Pentagon has admitted that 320 metric tons of DU were left on the battlefield after the first Gulf War, although Russian military experts say 1,000 metric tons is a more accurate figure. A UK Atomic Energy Authority report said that some 500,000 people would die before the end of this century, due to radioactive debris left in the desert. The use of DU has also led to birth defects in the children of Allied veterans and is believed to be the cause of the 'worrying number of anophthalmos cases -- babies born without eyes' in Iraq. Only one in 50 million births should be anophthalmic, yet one Baghdad hospital had eight cases in just two years. Seven of the fathers had been exposed to American DU anti-tank rounds in 1991. A study of Gulf War veterans showed that 67% had children with severe illnesses, missing eyes, blood infections, respiratory problems and fused fingers. |
Professor
Rokke calls on the US and UK to “recognise the immoral consequences of their actions” and recommends: |
|
| 1. | All individuals who may have inhaled, ingested, or had wound contamination must receive medical assessment and treatment for adverse health effects. | |
| 2. | All depleted uranium penetrator fragments, contaminated equipment, and oxide contamination must be removed and disposed of to prevent further adverse health and environmental effects. | |
| 3. | The use of depleted uranium munitions must be banned. | |
Further info. on dep. uranium here
Organised by Rokke Tour Committee,
c/o Rev Dr Ann Wansbrough, Uniting Care NSW. ACT, PO Box A2178, Sydney South, NSW 1235
Sponsors include: Economic Reform Australia, Greens NSW, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Search Foundation, Uniting Care NSW.ACT, Walk Against the War Coalition, Australian Democrats, CFMEU, IEU.
Anti-Bases......Walk Against the War Coalition
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