WHEREAS depleted Uranium (DU) is radioactive and toxic and may cause cancer and genetic damage;

WHEREAS DU is a by-product of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and energy production and is used militarily in armor-piercing munitions, bombs, and missiles because its density gives it great armor penetrating power;

WHEREAS DU explodes on impact to form shrapnel and fine, inhalable dust;

WHEREAS about 300 metric tons of DU munitions were used in Gulf War I, and an estimated 1,000 metric tons were used in Gulf War II, where it remains in the environment with a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years;

WHEREAS our Gulf War veterans and many residents of Iraq have reported health-related problems, including increased rates of cancers and birth deformities in their children;

WHEREAS DU exposures have occurred in United States factories producing DU munitions, in the communities surrounding them, and at firing ranges where DU weapons are tested;

WHEREAS no comprehensive studies of the deleterious health effects of DU on veterans and other affected groups have yet been carried out; and

WHEREAS United States Representative Jim McDermott, a physician, has recently introduced H.R. 1483, the Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act of 2003, which if passed by Congress, would mandate studies of health effects and of environmental contamination and cleanup;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2003 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association endorses the Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act and urges all member congregations to do likewise.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2003 General Assembly requests that the Unitarian Universalist Association communicate the Assembly’s endorsement of the bill to the media and to all members of the United States Congress and that member congregations that endorse the bill communicate their support to their Congressional representatives.