Let's reach our youth BEFORE they're contaminated!

Don't let our kids
be guinea pigs!

POISON DUst EDUCATORS' PACKET

Three years ago, The Daily News ran a story about reservists returning from Iraq in 2004 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.

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 -