PRESS RELEASE:

On Tuesday, May 3rd, The Louisiana State House of Representatives passed a bill to give the right to all Louisiana Servicemen and women returning from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom for testing for depleted uranium contamination. Louisiana is the first state in the nation to have their House pass the bill. The vote was 101 to 0 in favor. The bill has been sent to the Louisiana Senate for their decision pending review. Sponsor of the bill is Rep. Juan La Fonta of District 96 and co-sponsor is Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock of District 91. The legislative session will continue through May 25th. Two veteran’s advocates brought the necessity of the bill forward, Viet Nam Green Beret Bob Smith who is a retired Command Sergeant Major from New Orleans, and former infantryman Ward Reilly of Baton Rouge.

The independent testing will be a best practices health-screening test for exposure to depleted uranium. The test will use a bioassay procedure involving sensitive methods capable of detecting depleted uranium at low levels and the use of equipment with the capacity to discriminate between different radioisotopes in naturally occurring levels of uranium and the characteristic ratio and marker for depleted uranium. Depleted uranium (DU) was used extensively by the military as a hardener for ammunition in Afghanistan and Iraq. DU is radioactive and can cause leukemia, DNA breakdown, other cancers, and birth defects in offspring of soldiers who have come into contact with it.

Several other states are expected to follow Louisiana’s lead in this important bill to support their troops after they return home to protect the health of servicemen and their offspring. The VA and the DOD have been conducting ineffective testing. The Louisiana Brigade, with approximately 4,500 National Guardsmen, is expected to return home from Iraq between October and December, 2005.