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Let’s reach our youth BEFORE they’re contaminated!
Don’t let our kids be guinea pigs!
POISON DUst EDUCATORS' PACKET
Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet and /or donate to this urgent project at
http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html
Packet contains 2 different length film versions of Poison DUst, lesson plans,
photos, bibliography, class projects, reprints and more.
Three years ago, The Daily News ran a story about
reservists returning from Iraq in2004 from the same unit who were suffering
from what euphemistically has been called “Gulf War Syndrome.” It
turned out that they all had been exposed to radioactive dust during their tour
of duty in Iraq. The short term and long term effects of this exposure are
slowly emerging into public consciousness.*
The military has yet to acknowledge the severity and the extent of the damage
to our young men and women and to their offspring.
Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991
war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth
defects among their newborn children.
The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater.**
Many other countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing
facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive
material which has a half-life of 4.4 billions years.
This issue is of particular importance to high school students who are
considering joining the military after they graduate. In addition to all the
obvious dangers, entering the military today puts them at risk for cancer and
all the symptoms associated with radiation and heavy metal
poisoning—fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches, to name a few. There is
now also ample documentation that exposure to the dust can cause birth defects
in their children, the same birth defects that are showing up in Iraqi
children.****
What’s in the dust? Depleted Uranium
The military says depleted uranium emits low-level-radiation, and is therefore
harmless, but for decades scientists have demonstrated the lethal effects of
low level radiation on human beings and their offspring.***
DU is a central component of the U.S. military arsenal.
It is in the tanks, the shells, the bombs. It is used in training as well as in
battle. It is almost everywhere the U.S. military stations its troops. Our
youth and their loved ones need to know what they face when they go into the
military.
Poison DUst is a film that pulls together the crucial information about DU. It
includes interviews with veterans contaminated by DU; simple, scientific
explanations about the nature of DU and radiation by noted authorities such as
nuclear physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, epidemiologist Dr., Sr. Rosalie Bertell and
Dr. Helen Caldicott, supplemented by clear, uncomplicated graphics; a visual
history of military use of toxic substances affecting troops and target
populations; and information about the proliferation of DU. It also discusses
what we can do about this crisis.
The full length dvd, released by Lightyear Entertainment in 2006, is available
commercially through, Netflix, Amazon.com, Border Books and Leftbooks.com.
Now the producers have compiled a comprehensive Educators Packet of Poison DUst
for teachers, parents, veterans, community and anti-war groups, and for use by
the youth themselves.
“Students should watch this video because it’s good
people know so they can tell their families and let it spread.”
-Shuhana, NYC 12th grader
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Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet at http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html
The Poison DUst Educators Packet includes:
• A 30 minute educators' version of the DVD Poison DUst
suitable for classroom viewing
• An 84 minute, full-length Version of Poison DUst, with additional
interviews and information.
• Short “primers” and articles with background information
and resources
• An online bibliography, with links to a multitude of resources for
class projects and research papers through the Poison DUst website, http://www.poisondust.com. Also on the website is a
link to the Depleted Uranium Education Project (http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm ), and full
chapters from the book, Metal of Dishonor (http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/mettoc.htm ).
• A set of detailed lesson plans for use with a range of audiences and
presentation lengths. Some of the lesson plans were developed by NYC teachers
and 12th grade students. Not only were the lessons integrated into their high
school curriculum, the students themselves then enthusiastically and creatively
brought their new knowledge into their communities.
• The students’ DU Outreach Project is also documented in the
packet.
• A Photo Gallery of pictures for mounting on chart paper on walls around
a room. Students can look at the pictures and captions and write their
reactions as part of an introduction before viewing Poison DUst.
• Brainstorming ideas by students and teachers for other possible uses of
Poison DUst, as well as student questions and comments.
Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet at http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html
Footnotes:
* Vet's Ills Mounting Fast, by Juan Gonzales, Published on Tuesday,
February 7, 2006 by the New York Daily News - "Nearly 120,000 veterans -
more than one of every four who served in Iraq and Afghanistan - have already
sought treatment at Veterans Health Administration hospitals for a wide range
of illnesses, according to an internal study the VHA completed late last
year." http://www.democracynow.org/static/Vets.shtml
**Flounders, Sara, "Another War Crime? Iraqi Cities 'Hot' with
Depleted Uranium", 2003 http://www.PoisonDUst.org
*** Nichols, Bob, ‘Depleted, it ain’t! So-called depleted uranium,
that is!’, 5/31/2005, Project Censored Award Winner & Online Journal
Contributing Writer http//www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/053105Nichols/
053105nichols.html
****Iraqi cancers, birth defects blamed on U.S. depleted uranium. By LARRY
JOHNSON SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER FOREIGN DESK EDITOR ...seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml
- 44k - May 26, 2007 -
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