by –

http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/edit/index.php?op=edit&itemid=1220

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. (March 15, 2004) — Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich held a press conference about US munitions made from radioactive materials (depleted uranium, or DU) manufactured in sites across the US and used in US-led wars beginning with the Gulf War in 1991.

Kucinich was joined by Dr. Doug Rokke, a retired US Army Reserve health physicist, is one of the word’s leading experts on the use of DU munitions.

Kucinich discussed the devastating health consequences suffered by American servicemen and women and their families and by innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Serbia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere because of US use of DU munitions.

Kucinich demanded that the US cease manufacturing and using DU munitions; that it provide all necessary medical care to all persons who have been exposed to US munitions, military and civilian alike; and that the US take full responsibility for performing complete environmental remediation wherever our military has used DU munitions.

“Depleted uranium weapons are an unacceptable threat to life, a violation of international law, and an assault on human dignity,” says Kucinich.

“We have an obligation to do what is right for our servicemen and women, for our children and our grandchildren and our grandchildren’s children, and for all citizens of the world. We must ban the use of depleted uranium in our military and worldwide; we must provide medical care to all DU casualties; and we must clean up all the places where we’ve used this poison that has the power to kill for countless generations into the future.”

Dr. Doug Rokke earned his Ph.D. in Physics and Technology Education at the University of Illinois, and served as a member of the US Army Medical Command’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) special operations and teaching team during the Gulf War.

Dr. Rokke, a confirmed DU poisoning casualty, has taught hazardous materials; field emergency medicine; nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare; education and training, counter-terrorism, and military operations courses for more than 20 years.

Recently Dr. Rokke has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental science and engineering, nuclear physics, and emergency management.

For more information contct:http://www.kucinich.us