Standing before one of the major production facilities for depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the U.S., 15 CPT delegates released over 400 helium balloons into the air with a message inside:
“…If you received this balloon, you may have breathed pollutants emitted by Aerojet Ordnance in Jonesborough, TN, a company that makes weapons from nuclear waste left over from the uranium enrichment process. These munitions are used in Afghanistan and Iraq where our troops breathe their poisonous radioactive dust. America’s soldiers and their families, along with Iraqi and Afghani families, are suffering from above normal incidences of birth defects, cancers, and symptoms of heavy metal and radiation poisoning. Please help us learn the reach of Aerojet’s air emissions by mailing this balloon back to us…”
Delegates joined 60 other participants in a “Stop DU” conference held May 19 at East Tennessee State University. “We are all downwind,” said CPTer Cliff Kindy, considering that the toxic dust from exploded weaponized uranium doesn’t just stay in the war zones but circles the globe.
ACTION: Please express your concern about the continued use of radioactive, toxic weapons of mass destruction by the Pentagon to Aerojet and its parent company, GenCorp of California.
- Charles Pepper McCary, AOT-Jonesborough, charles.mccary@aerojet.com;
- Linda Cutler, GenCorp-California, lcutler@gencorp.com;
- Claudia Smith, GenCorp-California, claudia.smith@gencorp.com
