To the editor:
Both disabled veteran Pascal Lacoste and Veteran Affairs Minister Steven Blaney are to be commended - Pascal for putting his life on the line and Blaney for investigating every means of determining the root cause of the suffering of our veterans.
Blaney agreed to investigate the contention of veterans that illnesses they have are the result of coming into contact with depleted uranium while serving overseas.
"It's a committee that will have a broad mandate," Blaney has promised.
The expectation is the committee will investigate each and every means of determining which view is correct: that of the Veterans Affairs Department: "it’s unlikely any Canadian troops were contaminated by the substance," or that of Lacoste and other veterans, stating they continue to suffer from the effects of depleted uranium particles entering their bodies and negatively affecting them.
That you are receiving this post would have been in the realm of science fiction only a few years ago.
Dr. Rosalie Bertell states in her presentation "Gulf War Veterans and Depleted Uranium": "Ingesting and inhaling some uranium, usually from food, is inescapable, however, in the normal Earth environment" and "Presence of depleted uranium in urine seven or eight years after exposure is sufficient evidence to substantiate long-term internal contamination and tissue storage of this radioactive substance."
Advances have been made which can scientifically diagnose the degree and the nature of radioactive isotopes in our veterans be they at a level indicating "normal Earth environment" or indicating "long-term internal contamination and tissue storage of this radioactive substance."
Advances have been made in removing the toxins from the bodies of those contaminated.
As it investigates, the Blaney Committee will determine the relationship between our veterans’ current illnesses and contact with depleted uranium in weaponry.
Joe Hueglin
Niagra Falls, Ont.