DU Photo Show-WIB NP

[Ivo Skoric]

DU as WMD.

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[Links in brackets added by Shebar.]

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michele Riddell, 255-5482, Michelka52 at yahoo.com
              Angela Morano, 246-8952,  Sonia823 at hotmail.com
              Barbara Upton, 626-4488, AnahataSun at aol.com

Art Revealing Truth: The Scourge of Depleted Uranium

On Saturday, October 9, from 6 to 9 pm,  "Victims of a Different
Nuclear War: A Photo Exhibit of US and Iraqi Children" will open at
the Purple Lounge, on the second floor of the Student Union Building
at SUNY, New Paltz.

As well as showing beautiful children in everyday Iraqi life, the 
show also depicts the ravages of depleted uranium, a toxic nuclear 
waste, denser than lead, used by the Pentagon in armor piercing 
weaponry.Over 1,000 tons of radioactive DU have been deposited in 
Iraq from Desert Storm and  the current war.

A fired DU shell ignites on impact and vaporizes into a deadly dust
that when inhaled can result in cancers, leukemia, irreparable damage
to lungs, liver and kidneys and more according to idust.net
[http://www.idust.net/].

"We believe that when more Americans are aware that we are putting
civilians and our own troops at risk with the use of DU that they 
will rise up and demand that DU be banned and all returning soldiers 
get tested and treated. They deserve nothing less," said Barbara 
Upton of Women in Black, one of the co-sponsors of the show.

Michele Riddell, of SAFE Legacy, another sponsor added, "These photos
reveal what most mainstream media and the Pentagon have chosen to
ignore. For the sake of the world's children, this silence needs to 
be broken."

According to an article in the Daily News last April, troops now
coming home from Iraq are already testing positive for uranium
poisoning.  AmericanFreePress.org has also published findings that in
one unit in Iraq, eight out of  twenty returning US soldiers have
developed malignancies in the last 16 months, Riddell said.

Upton and Riddell said that what makes this contamination even more
tragic is that it affects unborn children. In a VA study, 251soldiers
of the first Gulf War all had normal babies before deployment. When
they returned, 67% of their babies were born with severe birth
defects, such as missing legs, arms, eyes, or they had immune system
or blood diseases. The same birth defects are seen in children in
Iraq. Life magazine did a story on this in 1995, called "Tiny Victims
of Desert Storm" 
[http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html].
The organizers are hoping to get those photos for the exhibit as 
well.

Takashi Morizumi [http://www.morizumi-pj.com/], the photographer of
the show, is with the Global Association for Banning Depleted Uranium
Weapons [http://www.transnet-jp.com/DUban/]. He has been documenting
the children of Iraq since 1998. He also wrote the text for "The
Children of the Gulf  War" [http://www.savewarchildren.org/]
catalogue, which will be available for purchase. In it, he says that
deaths from cancer in Basra, a city heavily contaminated with DU in
the first Gulf war have increased seventeen fold.

Angela Morano, of  Saugerties Committee for Peace and Justice, also
sponsoring the exhibit, said that over a quarter of a million 
veterans from Operation Desert Storm are currently on disability. 
Many believe that Gulf War Syndrome which is sickening veterans is 
related to DU poisoning. Even the website of the VA calls DU a 
"radiation hazard" and says "VA officials are worried about the long-
term health consequences of exposure to DU on veterans," according to 
Morano.
[See, e.g., http://www.vethealth.cio.med.va.gov/DUProgram.htm &
http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/Index.cfm]

In addition to opening night on October 9, the photography show will
be available for viewing at the Purple Lounge from October 5-13, each
day from 8:30am to 11:00pm. Literature on DU will be available,
including ways you can help to ban its use.

A second showing of "Victims of a Different Nuclear War; A Photo
Exhibit of US and Iraqi Children" will open October 22, from 6:30 to 
9 pm at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore in Saugerties. The film, "The
Invisible War" [http://webhome.primus.ca/gwishart/invisible.htm] that
documents the hazards of DU will be shown at 7 pm on October 22. The
photo exhibit will run at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore from October 
19 - 26, Monday through Friday, from 11:30am to 7:30 pm and Sunday, 
noon to 6pm.

To date, other sponsors of both shows are the Cancer Awareness
Coalition, Synthesis, Arts for Peace, the Students Activities and
Union Services of SUNY New Paltz and Iraq Humanitarian Travelers
Alliance. Donations at both shows are appreciated.

For further information for the New Paltz show contact 
WomeninBlackNP at aol.com, and for Saugerties, contact Angela Morano at
sonia823 at hotmail.com.




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