75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
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 LC 135
 
                     House Joint Memorial 1
 
Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5).
  Presession filed (at the request of House Interim Committee on
  Veterans' Affairs for Mac MacDonald, United Veterans' Group of
  Oregon)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges Congress to enact legislation concerning health effects
caused by exposure to depleted uranium.
 
                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the
  House of Representatives of the United States of America, in
  Congress assembled:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas the United States routinely uses depleted uranium in
its armaments; and
  Whereas depleted uranium is primarily composed of the isotope
uranium-238, a radioactive material; and
  Whereas when used in defensive armor plating and armor piercing
projectiles, depleted uranium emits alpha, beta and gamma
radiation; and
  Whereas United States service members have been exposed to
depleted uranium on battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan; and
  Whereas a tribunal in the United Kingdom has attributed birth
defects to depleted uranium exposure and studies indicate the
potential for leukemia and other serious health effects caused by
exposure to depleted uranium; and
  Whereas the United States government has not acknowledged the
health effects on United States service members caused by
exposure to depleted uranium; and
  Whereas in the past the United States government did not
recognize the health effects of Agent Orange and other defoliants
until sufficient studies were completed; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  (1) The Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly respectfully urges
the Congress of the United States to enact legislation that:
  (a) Implements a long term study of the health effects on
service members caused by exposure to depleted uranium; and
  (b) Specifies that if a correlation exists between depleted
uranium and health conditions, those conditions become
 
presumptive conditions for disability compensation through the
Veterans Benefits Administration.
  (2) A copy of this memorial shall be sent to the President of
the United States, to the Senate Majority Leader, to the Speaker
of the House of Representatives and to each member of the Oregon
Congressional Delegation.
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