Clean Up, Don't Build Up! Nuclear Weapons Days of Action

Attached are a News Release and Statements to be used by media for publications.

For Immediate Release: Contacts:
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 See information below

National Media Statements

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability: "Nearly 60 years into the nuclear age, Americans' health and safety are in acute and growing danger from the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex. The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and its 33 member groups will join hundreds of other community groups in the BE SAFE network in opposing current nuclear weapons policies. These policies violate US laws and threaten our health, the environment and our national security. We oppose the US government's violation of international treaties to pursue a destabilizing buildup of nuclear weapons, and its refusal to clean up deadly radioactive waste from the nuclear weapons complex, which violates federal law."
Susan Gordon, Director. Media contact: Stephen Kent, Kent Communications, 845-758-0097 skent [at] kentcom.com

Center for Health, Environment & Justice: "Under tremendous international pressure, the U.S. agreed to take precautionary action on nuclear weapons with a cessation of the nuclear arms race and disarmament at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2000. Now, the Bush Administration has reversed these disarmament plans with alarming proposals to develop new nuclear weapons. While funding for nuclear arms increases, environmental cleanups are being jeopardized. The BE SAFE Network calls on national leaders to halt the weapons build up, reinstate precautionary disarmament plans and establish nuclear waste cleanup policies that are protective of our children. As we commemorate the anniversaries of the Trinity atomic detonation and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing, we call on our policymakers to heed the lessons learned from these tragedies." Lois Marie Gibbs, Executive Director, Falls Church, VA, 703-237-2249 or 703-627-9483 (Cell).

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety: "New Mexicans must never forget that we were the first state against which a nuclear weapon was used and we struggle with the consequences of that environmentally, politically and socially. We must prevent any further harm from nuclear weapons in New Mexico by holding our Department of Energy facilities strictly accountable, whether it be by demanding thorough cleanup of weapons waste and contamination, or demanding that dangerous weapons production facilities are closed immediately. Considering that a potential accident at one of the five nuclear reactors at Los Alamos National Laboratory present the second largest risk on LANL property, we have a valuable opportunity to be proactive in the protection of our health and safety, which is supportive of a precautionary approach to nuclear weapons production. Operations at these reactors must cease until they can be guaranteed to be safe and secure." Amy Williams, Media Coordinator, 505-986-1973, Santa Fe, NM.
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) "In the 60 years since the devastating bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US has spent over five trillion dollars on nuclear weapons, created more than 4,500 contaminated sites covering tens of thousands of acres, secretly tested radiation on 23,000 American civilians in about 1,400 projects over 30 years, including mentally disabled children, mental patients, poor women and US soldiers. More than 200,000 US troops were ordered to observe nuclear test detonations and were exposed to radiation. Nuclear waste remains lethal toxic for more than 250,000 years-a virtually eternity, when we know that all of recorded history spans only 5,000 years. We need to stop producing any more nuclear materials-military and civilian-and devote our precious intellectual and financial resources to containing and safeguarding the toxic legacy of the nuclear age." Alice Slater, President, New York, 212-7261-9161

Greenpeace International: "At this time when we are all concerned about security and proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials, there is no more urgent time for citizen activism to confront this danger. The BE SAFE Campaign's opposition to the Bush Administration plans to usher in a new generation of nuclear weapons is essential if we are to turn back those plans and to step closer to the dream of a nuclear-free world. Recalling the words of Frederick Douglass - 'Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.' - I support the noble demands of the Clean Up, Don't Build Up campaign." Tom Clements, Senior Adviser, Nuclear Campaign, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 31 20 523 6222.

Indigenous Environmental Network: "For more that 50 years, the legacy of the U.S. nuclear chain, from exploration and processing of uranium, to weapons production and testing, to nuclear power and disposal of radioactive spent fuel rods has had devastating health and ecological affects on American Indian, Alaska Natives, Pacific Islanders and their traditional lands and waters. As communities that have experienced first hand exposures-we support the BE SAFE campaign that would move America beyond uncertainty in decision-making to a precautionary approach that would take protective measures when there is scientific evidence that an activity threatens wildlife, the environment, or human health-even in the absence of full scientific certainty. The future of America and Mother Earth depends on it." Tom B.K. Goldtooth, Director, Bemidji, Minnesota, 218-751-4967.

Military Toxics Project: "Depleted uranium (DU) weapons are a perfect example of why the precautionary principle is critical for the protection of the environment and our health. DU is a by-product of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons and power plants. Since we cannot safely dispose of nuclear waste, the Departments of Energy and Defense creatively chose to use this nuclear waste in weapons. However, the neighboring communities of DU weapons manufacturers, enrichment facilities and testing grounds have all become contaminated. There are high rates of illness and cancer among workers and neighbors of those facilities. Where the U.S. has used DU weapons in war, there are reports of increased cancer, birth defects and other illnesses among U.S. soldiers and civilians. However, no conclusive health or environmental studies have been done. While the Pentagon and Congress battle it out-people are dying. We know DU is radioactive and toxic-we know radiation and toxics kill. The precautionary principle means simply-better safe than sorry. Therefore, until the Pentagon can prove DU is harmless, we must stop producing, manufacturing, testing and using DU weapons." Tara Thornton, Executive Director, Lewiston, ME, 207-783-5091.

Physicians for Social Responsibility: PSR, representing 30,000 health care professionals and concerned citizens, joins BE SAFE in supporting Precautionary Actions around the country. PSR is concerned by the trend towards increasing U.S. nuclear capabilities with the development of smaller, more-usable nukes, preparations for nuclear weapons testing and, most recently, a move to lessen the standards for how we store the most dangerous types of nuclear waste. These initiatives are being pursued at the expense of essential efforts to clean up U.S. nuclear weapons facilities and protect the communities living in the surrounding areas. As physicians, nurses and health professionals with an abiding commitment to protecting public health, we call on our elected officials to adopt the tenets of the BE SAFE Blueprint for Precautionary Action and implement policies that protect everyone from the serious environmental and public health threats that face us as a result of our reliance on nuclear weapons. Martin Butcher, Nuclear & Securities Prog., PSR, Washington, DC, 202-667-4260, X212.

United for Peace & Justice: "Nuclear weapons threaten everyone's security. They are the most dangerous of all weapons, the only ones that can destroy civilization in a day. We believe that security must be redefined in human and ecological, rather than military terms: food, shelter, clean air and water, jobs, healthcare and education - for everyone everywhere. In the interests of promoting human security, United for Peace and Justice calls on the U.S. government to reaffirm and make good on its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty disarmament obligations and commitments, by renouncing its nuclear "first use" policy, ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and closing the Nevada Test Site, taking all nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, halting nuclear weapons research, development, and production, and negotiating in good faith the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide." Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, 510-839-5877, (Convener, UFPJ Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining Security Working Group) or Leslie Cagan, UFPJ National Coordinator, 212-868-5545.