[ RadSafe ] State of Washington Passes DU Bill for National Guard

[John Jacobus]

Roger,
Politics will always trump science.

--- Roger Helbig <rhelbig at california.com> wrote:

> Here is part of the Washington State Senate report
> in which it describes the testimony and who
> testified for this bill .. note that there were no
> opponents so fact was not well represented at the
> hearings.  This is the third state to pass a similar
> bill, with the others being Connecticut and
> Louisiana.  There is a concerted effort to get all
> states to require un-needed testing for their
> National Guard.  This bill will cost the taxpayers
> of Washington money that they could better spend
> elsewhere and sets up a task force that could be
> heavily weighted towards the anti-DU crusaders'
> input.
> 
> SENATE BILL REPORT
> SB 6732
> As Reported By Senate Committee On:
> Health & Long-Term Care, February 2, 2006
> 
> Staff: Sharon Swanson (786-7447)
> 
> Background: Depleted uranium is what is left over
> when most of the highly radioactive
> isotopes of uranium are removed for use as nuclear
> fuel or nuclear fuel weapons. The depleted
> uranium is used in armor-piercing munitions and in
> enhanced armor protection for some
> Abrams tanks.
> Heavy metals such as uranium, tungsten, and lead
> have chemical toxicity properties that, in
> high doses, can cause adverse health effects.
> Depleted uranium was used extensively in place of
> tungsten for ammunition by the United
> States and United Kingdom in the first Gulf War. A
> report issued by the Hague Peace
> Conference, dated May, 1999, states that at least
> 320 tons of depleted uranium was "lost"
> during the first Gulf War and that much of that was
> converted at high temperature into an
> aerosol, creating a mist or fog.
> Once inhaled, very small particles of depleted
> uranium can reside in the lungs for years,
> slowly passing through the lung tissue into the
> blood. Uranium can be stored in bone, lymph,
> liver, kidney, or other tissues. Eventually, all
> uranium that gets into the bloodstream ends up
> in the kidneys prior to expulsion through urine.
> 
> Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of
> session in which bill is passed.
> Testimony For: The United States government and
> military has a history of lying to its
> veterans. In Vietnam, it was agent orange. Many
> veterans returned home to a life of cancer,
> children with birth defects, and eventually death.
> The military claimed to not know about
> agent orange. Our new veterans returning home from
> Iraq face similar challenges. We need
> to force the military to perform the proper tests to
> determine uranium poisoning. The current
> test only looks for uranium in urine. That test is
> only good for thirty days. The conclusive
> testing must look at blood results, tissue testing,
> and must be able to detect microscopic
> particles. Depleted uranium becomes microscopic.
> Troops breath it in and it settles in the
> lungs. In Mississippi, returning Persian Gulf male
> veterans are 1.7 times more likely to father
> children with birth defects. Female Persian Gulf
> veterans are 2.4 times more likely to give
> birth to a child with birth defects. This is only
> the beginning. England and Germany are
> conducting the proper tests. The United States needs
> to do the same for their veterans.
> Testimony Against: None.
> Who Testified: PRO: Terrence Zander, Veterans for
> Peace; Jerry Muchmore, Veteran;
> George Hill, M.D.; Peter Von Christierson, Depleted
> Uranium Study Team; Col. Ron
> Weaver, Washington Military Department; Harvey
> Brooks, National Association of Black
> Veterans.
> 
> The entire 2 page Acrobat file, the bill, the
> corresponding Assembly bill, and corresponding
> report are all readily available from the following
> web page
>
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=3107&year=2006
> 
> 
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+++++++++++++++++++
"Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse."
Adlai Stevenson

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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