[Peace-discuss] DU Weapons conference press release

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

PRESS RELEASE AND STATEMENT OF CONFERENCE CONCLUSIONS

WORLD URANIUM WEAPONS CONFERENCE
The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War

October 21, 2003 Hamburg, Germany

The World DU/Uranium Weapons Conference was held October 16-19, 2003, in 
Hamburg, Germany. More than 200 participants represented 20 nations from five 
continents, which included Iraq, Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, US, Canada, UK, 
Sweden, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, 
Denmark, Italy, Spain, Algeria, and Cuba. Over 35 speakers including scientists, 
medical professionals, Iraqi medical and environmental professionals, 
independent researchers, international legal experts, military professionals, a 
nuclear weapons lab whistleblower, a prosecutor for the International War Crimes 
Tribunal for Afghanistan, veterans and their families, civilians, NGO, and peace 
and anti-globalization activists presented their most recent findings and 
issues about the effects of these illegal weapons. Iraqi scientist, Dr. Souad 
Al-Azzawi, received the internationally recognized 
“Nuclear Free Future Award” and prize of 10,000 Euros on October 12, just 
prior to the Conference. She presented her findings on environmental studies of 
depleted uranium (DU) contamination of air, soil and water in southern Iraq 
from the 1991 Gulf War.

Two days of presentations during the Plenary Session were followed by two 
days of workshops which focused on key issues: science, international 
law/organizers, and affected veterans and civilians. The workshops were planned to 
identify consensus on the issues, and to discuss strategies to develop further 
united international action plans. The Plenary Session was in English with 
professional simultaneous interpretation into German and Japanese. 

Six independent filmmakers covered the conference and six photo exhibitions 
from four continents were presented. The exhibit included the latest 
photographs from Iraq presented by the renowned international Japanese photographer 
Takashi Morizumi. Videos and films on related topics were open to the public 
during the workshop sessions.

The Conference was streamed live to the internet but unexplained server 
problems at IndyMedia made access to the live-feed unavailable during the 
conference. The Conference will be streamed over the internet again when the server 
problems are resolved, and the schedule will be posted on the Conference website: 
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de 

A press conference held on Friday, October 17, was greatly under-attended by 
the mainstream media, which still seems to fail to grasp the significance of 
the issue. Stories on the Conference appeared in only a few media, mostly 
alternative or progressive. Conference coordinator Marion Kuepker stated “We 
believe this is part of the continuing cover-up on the issue of devastating health 
problems resulting from “depleted” uranium (DU) weaponry used by the U.S., 
U.K. and NATO forces in Iraq, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, and 
Afghanistan. Today nearly 7,000 German soldiers are serving in contaminated regions in 
Kosovo and Afghanistan.” 


Conference participants overwhelmingly agreed:

· the use of DU/Uranium weapons is, and has always been, illegal under 
existing laws (both international and U.S. military) and conventions

· future campaigns and treaties should replace “ban” with the term 
“abolition” of DU/Uranium weapons 

· to support the independent International War Crimes Tribunal for Iraq in 
2004

· environmental DU contamination and epidemiological evidence in southern 
Iraq presented by the Iraqi professionals established a direct link between DU 
and observed increases in radiation related diseases 

· the Conference rejects the ICRP model for internal exposure to small 
radioactive particles, like DU, and recommends that the European Committee on 
Radiation Risk (ECRR) extend the 2003 model on low-level radiation to the analysis 
of the health risk from DU

· there is an urgent need to establish an independent research and teaching 
institution, a “Free University,” to provide credible research results 
independent of the manipulations and funding pressures exerted by governments and 
institutions backing the nuclear lobby

· UNEP and WHO should be pressured to become independent from the IAEA, 
recognized as part of the nuclear lobby, in order to conduct comprehensive 
screening in contaminated areas including battlefields, testing grounds, manufacturing 
sites and military installations worldwide

· medical care should be provided immediately for effected military and 
civilians


Complete Conference resolutions and findings will be available soon at: 
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de