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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (10198)	4/14/2004 12:47:46 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

You can be sure THIS WON'T HAPPEN! Gulf War Vets: DoD and VA Must Test Iraq Veterans for Depleted Uranium Contamination Steve Robinson National Gulf War Resource Center ngwrc.org Posted 4/6/2004 9:57:00 PM Several recent news reports detailed how veterans who served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 are testing positive for depleted uranium contamination. This is raising significant alarm bells among veterans who served in Iraq and Kuwait betwee 1990 and 1991 who forced the Pentagon to confirm widespread exposure to DU. After years of delay, new scientific research links DU with cancer in lab animals. Depleted uranium contamination remains a very serious issue that won't go away until veterans have answers. NATIONAL GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER Press Release: April 6, 2004 Contact: Steve Robinson (301) 585-4000, Ext. 162 Department of Defense must begin testing soldiers for Depleted Uranium exposure (Washington, DC) The National Gulf War Resource Center is very concerned that veterans returning from combat in Iraq are being denied testing for exposure to depleted uranium and potentially other hazards. "This is an example how little has been learned about the exposures of the modern battlefield, it's an insult to 1991 Gulf War veterans who's lives were forever changed by DoD's failures in 1991. The time has come for holding Dr William Winkenwerder personally responsible for not following public laws and directives designed to protect soldiers." said Steve Robinson, executive director of National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC). "This action represents a clear-cut case of misplaced priorities. Winkenwerder presides over the same office which asserts DU is not harmful under any circumstance. This callous view towards DU and soldier's exposures ignores the real needs of those who return from the war zone, and will impose undue hardship on them later when attempting to gain treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). "We do not accept or comprehend the logic behind DoD's refusal to learn from the mistakes of the past," Robinson said. "We have had 13 years of Congressional hearings related to the first Gulf War and identified numerous failures to monitor troops while on the battlefield. It has cost the taxpayer billions of dollars to research, care for and compensate veterans from the last Gulf War. In the wait for science to catch up it has cost many Gulf War veterans their health, their homes and their livelihood, all while fighting a bureaucratic VA healthcare system that asks the soldier to provide the evidence to prove battlefield exposure . DoD's effort to deny soldiers DU surveillance is a gamble not worth taking. It is intentionally rolling the dice and hoping no one was exposed. Congress must act now to hold accountable anyone who would take such risks with our fighting men and women. Reckless is the only way to describe it," Robinson said. The family members of the 442nd are right to be concerned about proper DU screening. Both the DoD and the VA have done a poor job of testing and evaluating veterans in the past, and it is hard to ignore the withholding of information and manipulation of study findings from the DoD DU Surveillance Program. The NGWRC is seeking the truth and the science behind the hazards of DU. No one can say with confidence that there is no health problems related to DU exposures. We are calling for large scale scientific studies in Iraq and on our soldiers. Now is the time for real science to take the place of spin. We are in Iraq; we believe that certain DU exposures can cause health effects. What excuse for not conducting the science could be worth even one soldier's life? The National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) is leading the way in understanding the exposures from DU, and a host of other chemical weapons of the first Gulf War and ensuring Lessons Learned are implemented for soldiers of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The NGWRC will discuss many of the things we know about these weapons when they hold there 8th annual conference in Washington DC April 30th through May 2nd. For details go to ngwrc.org and click on conference agenda.