This is a sample letter that can be used to urgently request BOTH our State Representatives and Senators and our Congress members to support legislation for notifying military personnel and testing them when they have been exposed to DU as well as funding health and environmental mitigation measures where radioactive weapons have been used in Hawaii, elsewhere in the USA, and in the theaters of war.

Sample letter: Please support any bills in (Congress) (Hawaii’s State Legislature) that are responses to the serious health hazards of depleted uranium. We must test our exposed service personnel and deal with the clean-up of contaminated sites at military firing ranges in Hawaii and elsewhere.

Depleted Uranium has been used in the manufacture of munitions for a variety of weapons in the U. S. These weapons were used extensively in the Gulf War, in Bosnia and Afghanistan, but much more in the 2003 Iraq invasion and continuing war against the insurgents.

Depleted Uranium, a by-product of uranium mining for nuclear energy production, is a very dense metal and pyrogenic; it pierces armor like "butter". DU ignites as soon as a round is fired, and when it burns, it leaves a layer of powder that is toxic and radioactive for billions of years. Depleted Uranium is a human contaminant that if inhaled or ingested may be stored in the kidneys, lungs, bones and testicles. Nearly 250,000 veterans of the Gulf War have reported chronic health issues: disabling neurologic and pulmonary symptoms, a high rate of cancers, and children born with birth defects. These same symptoms have been reported in the exposed Iraqi population over the past 12 years, including greatly increasing numbers of severe birth defects in the Iraqi newborn population.

The United States has thwarted research on the human and environmental effects of Depleted Uranium. Many civilian and professional groups have detailed the toxic and radioactive effects of this pyrogenic metal. There are compelling documents, reports, films and expert presentations available through these research groups but no up-to-date, thorough reports yet on the effects upon Iraqis and Coalition personnel.

Iraq is a dry area plagued by dust storms. Once the Depleted Uranium powder is blown around and deposited in the water and soil it is a radioactive contaminant for the people of the exposed area forever. It cannot be removed.

On several counts Depleted Uranium does not meet the four criteria that applies to weapons under existing international humanitarian and human rights law in armed conflict: 1) weapons must be limited in effect to the field of battle, 2) weapons must be limited in effect to the time period of the armed conflict, 3) weapons must not be unduly inhumane, and 4) weapons must not unduly damage the environment.

We ask you to do all in your power to expose this issue. As the U.S. military continues to use these weapons in Iraq, we need a bill in Congress to ban the use of DU. Depleted Uranium Weapons are WEAPONS OF INDISCRIMINATE DESTRUCTION and we must hold ourselves accountable for their use. It is just a matter of time before the world will judge us for our unconscionable behavior in using these weapons.

Respectfully,