Iraqi children pay price of war Green tells Commons
12 May 2004
Iraqi women are 'afraid to get pregnant' due to a massive increase in birth malformations and infant cancers blamed on allied forces' depleted uranium weaponry, a meeting in the House of Commons has heard.
Reporting on her official visit to Basra in the weeks before the US invaded Iraq last year, and describing the legacy of the previous UK/US war on Iraq, Euro-MP Caroline Lucas said: "Doctors told me women in Basra are afraid to become pregnant because so many babies are born with severe malformations.
"The incidence of these malformations - and a reported seven-fold incidence of childhood leukaemia - has been blamed on the allied use of DU in the last Gulf War: we are leaving a deadly legacy for years to come."
Dr Lucas, Green Party MEP for South-East England, visited Baghdad and Basra as a member of a cross-party European Parliamentary delegation. She is vice-president of the Parliament's cross-party group on peace issues.
"We hear about abuse of Iraqis, and the murder of Iraqi civilians at the hands of allied forces on an almost daily basis now," she added.
Allied Responsibility
"What we don't hear about are the child victims of leukaemia, brain tumours and congenital malformations - whose injuries and conditions are equally the responsibility of allied military commanders."
Her comments were made as she spoke at the launch of a new charity, Child Victims of War (CVW), which aims to help Iraqi youngsters suffering innocently from malnutrition, disease, disability and psychological trauma, at the House of Commons.
Other speakers included CVW's Joanne Baker and barrister Dr Abdul-Haq Al-Ani, who have just returned from a separate mission to Iraq, where they have been collecting evidence of the effects on children of allied use of DUmunitions and cluster bombs in the current conflict, and radiation pollution expert Dr Hari Sharma. The launch meeting was chaired by Harry Cohen MP.
ENDS
Notes to Editors: For more information on Child Victims of War, visit www.childvictimsofwar.org
For more information please contact Ben or Katy on 0207 407 6280, 07973 823358 or at press@greenmeps.org.ukwww.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
