Uranium Free BC, Kootenay, Boundary - Remarks of Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd - Canada’s Role in Depleted Uranium Weapons Worldwide

Uranium Free BC Coalition & Uranium Free Kootenay;Boundary
Public Awareness Forum
May 12, 2007, from 9:30am to 4:00pm,
Brilliant Cultural Center, Castlegar, BC.
http://uraniumfreekootenayboundary.ca/
http://www.uraniumfreebc.org/

Remarks of Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd
Campaign for Cooperation in Space
www.peaceinspace.org
Member, Pro Tem Committee, Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal
www.perdana4peace.org
Nuclear Free Zone
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/nuclear_free_zone/

Canada’s Role in Depleted Uranium Weapons Worldwide

Members of the Organizing Committee, Distinguished Speakers and Fellow Participants

Thank you for allowing me to speaking here at the request of independent Scientist Leuren Moret, Expert witness at the Tokyo International Tribunal for War Crimes in Afghanistan.  Leuren could not be here because she is at the Hawaii Legislature working to funding a bill requiring soil testing for Depleted Uranium (DU).

The Depleted Uranium that has contaminated the Hawaian Islands with deadly radiation most probably has a Canadian Uranium source.  It is highly probably that the Depleted Uranium in those DU weapons tested on the Big Island and at military bases on Oahu, and in the nuclear weapons on board ships at Pearl Harbour is all derived from Canadian Uranium, exported to the U.S. and processed into enriched Uranium and DU.

It is highly probable, according to Experts, that predominance of the Depleted Uranium in the DU weapons used by the U.S and the U.K. in Afghanistan and found by Judge Niloufer Bhagwat of the Tokyo International Tribunal for War Crimes in Afghanistan to have constituted “genocide, ecocide, and omnicide” came from Canadian Uranium.  In Iraq, where the British medical journal Lancet estimates that one million civilians have died, it is also likely that Depleted Uranium in the DU weapons used by the U.S and the U.K. there comes from Canadian Uranium exported to the US and processed there into Depleted Uranium and subsequently manufactured into DU weapons.

URL of this article:

http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/nuclear_free_zone/2007/05/uranium_free_bc.html

The public health and environmental consequences to Afghanistan and Iraq of this illegal use of Canadian Uranium are the most serious of war crimes imaginable. The public health effects of the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons are such that their use can be considered per se violations of the war crime of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes under the Statute of the International Criminal Court. 

The documented devastating effects of DU weapons on public health include:

3.0 Findings:  The negative impacts of radiation from nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power and nuclear reactors, and depleted uranium weaponry, include but are not limited to the following.

3.1    Cancer
3.2    Birth defects
3.3    Chronic diseases caused by neurological and neuromuscular radiation damage
3.4    Mitochondrial diseases (Chronic fatigue syndrome, Lou Gehrig's, Parkinsons nad Alzheimer's; Heart and brain disorders)
3.5    Global DNA damage in men's sperm; Infertility in women.
3.6    Learning disabilities
3.7    Mental illness
3.8    Birth rates & death rates
3.9    Diabetes
3.10    Infant mortality and low birth weights
3.11    Atmospheric testing impact on Environment

The Conservative Government of Canada is systematically refusing to enforce the statutes and regulations of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission which prohibit the use Canadian Uranium at any stage of the enrichment process, including Depleted Uranium, in weapons, including DU weapons. Canada has a bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement with the U.S. that states uranium exports to the U.S. can be used only for peaceful purposes.

This includes "control over the high enrichment of Canadian uranium and subsequent storage and use of the highly enriched uranium," a Foreign Affairs document states. The same rules that apply to uranium apply to depleted uranium, according to the CNSC.

According to an estimate by the Kansas-based group Nukewatch, “the United States has over a billion pounds of DU in its stockpile.” Canada, the world’s largest Uranium producer, exports 30 percent of the world’s Uranium and 60% of Canada’s Uranium is exported to the U.S.  It is highly likely that a substantial majority of this DU stockpile is of Canadian origin.  By law and by the Canada-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, this DU cannot be used in US DU weapons, and yet it has been since 1991 in Iraq War I, 1998 in the Balkan Wars War; 2001 in the Afghan Wars and since 2003 in Iraq War II.

According to Gordon Edwards, president of the Montreal-based Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, “Canada may have the policy, but it's not enforced.  ‘The Canadian government is taking directions and orders from the nuclear industry.’"

“The uranium industry has a vested interest in ensuring its depleted uranium waste makes a profit and is not just left in storage. That's why some of Canada's depleted uranium is ending up in weapons, Edwards says. "’The Canadian government can't even think for themselves.’"

The Prime Minister’s Office refers all callers to Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn.  So far Minister Lunn has not responded to inquiries on this issue referred to him by the PMO. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission refers all callers to Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter McKay as being ultimately responsible for enforcement.

WHAT CAN WE AS CANADIANS, U.S. & CITIZENS OF THE WORLD DO?

I. PUBLIC INTEREST LAW ENFORCEMENT – We call on all individuals and groups here to make it part of your mission and agenda to lobby the Government of Canada and the Parliament of Canada, as well as the Government and Congress of the US to immediately enforce the Canada-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement existing laws, regulations and international to cease and desist the use of Canadian Uranium in DU weapons. 

I am happy to report that in the short time this issue has been unearthed, groups have come forward from New York, Hawaii, parts of Canada to pressure the Government of Canada to enforce its regulations and the US-Canada nuclear cooperation agreement prohibiting Canadian Uranium from being used in US DU weapons.

II. ABOLITION OF DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) IN WEAPONS

CANADIAN LEGISLATION: The legislation we are seeking in Canada, like Belgium's recent legislation prohibiting DU weapons, is Canadian-enforceable legislation "to permanently prohibit the Canadian use, sale, development, production, testing, storage, transportation and export of depleted uranium munitions, depleted uranium weapons, or any manufactured parts or other object containing depleted uranium." Moreover, the legislation would prohibit the use or export of Canadian Uranium where such Uranium will be processed into a depleted uranium munition, weapon, or manufactured depleted uranium part.

III. ABOLITION OF ALL NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES– The terms of a Nuclear Free Zone Resolution developed together with Peace organizations in the Spring of 2007 in Okinawa and Japan can be summarized very simply:

No Nuclear Weapons
No Genpatsu – No Nuclear Power Plants – which are a slow nuclear war against the population
No Depleted Uranium (DU)
Now we can add:
No Uranium Exploration and Mining

Model Nuclear Free Zone Resolution: “3.12   It is hereby found that the only feasible remedy to cease the damage to the environment and public health caused by ionizing radiation, and to safeguard the future of humanity and all living things, is to permanently abolish all nuclear technologies.”

Uranium is basically good for three things: To Make nuclear bombs, which are not usable; to make nuclear power, which is not usable; and to make depleted uranium, which is not usable.

It is time to make Nuclear Technologies unlawful, under standards designed to protect the public health and environment of Canada and the world.

FOOTNOTES/REFERENCES

UPDATE FROM HAWAII: Kona DU Reading – Letter to the Editor
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/campaign_for_a_positive_f/2007/05/update_from_haw.html ;
Depleted uranium munitions cause concern near Oahu military base
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2007/04/26/local/local03.txt
  Dr. Rosalie Bertell, an authority on Depleted Uranium, states: ""CANADIAN URANIUM IS BASICALLY PROVIDING THE MATERIAL FOR THESE [DU] WEAPONS And I really would ask you to make this an  issue in the front / centre and STOP IT NOW AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN !!
http://www.peace.ca/depleteduranium.htm
  International Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan at Tokyo - Final Written Opinion of Judge Niloufer Bhagwat 10mar04

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm
A Million Deaths in Iraq "Post-invasion Occupied Iraqi excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) now total ONE MILLION as of March 2007, after 4 years of war and as estimated from data from the top US medical epidemiology group in the World's top Public Health School (the Nobel Laureate-containing Bloomberg School of Public Health) at the top US Johns Hopkins University, published peer-reviewed in the top UK medical journal The Lancet and endorsed by 27 top Australian medical experts. [1-3]"
URL: http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2007/03/million-deaths-in-iraq.html

Depleted Uranium and DU weapons are already prohibited as Weapons of Mass Destruction under existing international conventions and treaties.  "According to a August 2002 report by the UN subcommission, laws which are breached by the use of DU shells include: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which expressly forbid employing 'poison or poisoned weapons' and 'arms, projectiles or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering'.  All of these laws are designed to spare civilians from unwarranted suffering in armed conflicts."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
"Occupational Hazards of War: All the Questions About DU (Depleted Uranium) and Gulf War Syndrome Are Not Yet Answered." by  Dr. Rosalie Bertell, International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 503-520 (2006).
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/files/occupational_hazards133319.pdf

  Model Nuclear Free Zone Resolution.
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2007/03/nuclear_free_zo.html
"Occupational Hazards of War: All the Questions About DU (Depleted Uranium) and Gulf War Syndrome Are Not Yet Answered." by  Dr. Rosalie Bertell, International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 503-520 (2006).
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/files/occupational_hazards133319.pdf

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR AFGHANISTAN AT TOKYO - THE PEOPLE Versus GEORGE WALKER BUSH - Final Written Opinion of Judge Niloufer Bhagwat 10mar04
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5855.htm

Testimony on Depleted Uranium (DU) of Leuren Moret for the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/campaign_for_a_positive_f/2007/05/testimony_on_de.html

GLOBALRESEARCH: Canada's Role in Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons worldwide
by Dr. Alfred Lambremont Webre
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WEB20070403&articleId=5258

  Uranium and the War,The effects of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq By John Williams The City on a Hill Press Vol. 41 No. 20.
http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=474

  Shooting down Canada's peaceful image by Jennifer Kennedy
http://temagami.carleton.ca/jmc/cnews/19012001/n1.htm
  Id.
CFRO Vancouver Coop Radio Program, Bob Nichols, Investigative Reporter and Project Censored Award winning journalist, April 30, 2007
  CANADIAN DU ABOLITION: As of March 2007, Belgium has become the first nation to adopt legislation specifically abolishing the use of Depleted Uranium in weapons.
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/118.html

  Model Nuclear Free Zone Resolution.
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2007/03/nuclear_free_zo.html

URANIUM FREE BC COALITION HOSTS:

A PUBLIC INFORMATION FORUM

IN THE KOOTENAYS

     The Uranium Free Kootenay/Boundary invites all to attend a Public Awareness Forum, hosted by the Uranium Free BC Coalition, May 12, 2007, from 9:30am to 4:00pm, at the Brilliant Cultural Center, in Castlegar, BC.  This will be a highly informative and positively charged community event, featuring talks, visual presentations, entertainment, vegetarian potluck lunch and community involvement.

     Special guest Speakers will be sharing information, outlining ways Canadian uranium product is being processed and used along with the resulting health and environmental impacts. They will be updating the public to the potential hazards of exploration and mining of uranium in our regions, and will offer alternative more sustainable energy options, which support the health and well being of all living communities.

Speakers include:

Dr. Robert Woollard MD, CCFP, FCFP, Royal Canadian Legion Professor and Head of UBC Department of Family Practice, former Chairman of Environmental Health Committee, and Health Planning Council of BC Medical Association.

Peter Chataway- Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

John Suttie-BC Sustainable Energy Association, Joe Falkoski-Committee for a Clean Kettle Valley,

Rob Westie-BC Land Owner Rights Group, Scott Leyland Uranium Free BC Coalition, Laura Savinkoff Canadian Peace Alliance, and Alex Atamanenko, Member of Parliament BC Southern Interior.

Alfred Webre, JD, MEd - Institute for Cooperation in Space (ICIS); Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal

Topics to be covered include: Uranium 101, Health and Environmental Impacts, Existing Regulatory Framework, Commercial and Military Uses and Impacts, and Sustainable Energy Solutions.

     The Forum will be video taped, and the press will be present.  Invitations are being sent to all local organizations and businesses as well as MLA's, MP, City Councilors, Mayors, Regional District Boards, and members of Interior Health.

     The entire event will conclude with a Uranium Free BC Coalition general meeting, which will be open to the public, where coalition members will be discussing strategies and future action plans.

   

     The Uranium Free BC Coalition welcomes the energy and support of all people in their work to renew a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in BC until an all-party legislative ban is in place.

Donation requested

To register, volunteer, sponsor or billet contact:

Nadine Podmoroff  250-365-6722  nadia@netidea.com

Or Laura Savinkoff 250-442-0434 l4peace@telus.net

Or Scott Leyland 250-362-9436 sleyland@telus.net

Or Michael Gilfillan 250-399-0061  vro_mickyg@netidea.com

Sponsored by: Kootenay Region Branch of United Nations Assoc. of Canada, West Kootenay Boundary Green Party Constituency Assoc., W. Kootenay/Boundary NDP Constituency Association, Canadian Peace Alliance, Canadian Peace Alliance,  Alex Atamanenko MP NDP, BC S. Interior Green Party Electoral District Assoc., Katrine Conroy MLA NDP, Southern Interior Peace Coalition, Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ Working Groups for Peace and Justice, Kairos, Boundary Peace Initiative, Creston Green Party Constituency Assoc, Corky Evans MLA NDP, Lawyers Against the War, Nelson Creston NDP Constituency Assoc and Perry Ridge Water Users Assoc.