May 24, 2001

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush,

The issue of radioactive pollution -- from nuclear testing fallout, from the routine emissions of nuclear (commercial or military) reactors, from the billions of tons of uranium tailings left exposed at sites around the globe, from the massive amounts of low-level and high-level radioactive waste generated every years for decades from hundreds of commercial, military and research reactors around the globe -- far from being the passé story the industry's PR hacks and media assets constantly present it as, is the number-one problem our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, ad infinitum, will have to deal with for at least the next 240,000 years. The damage to the integrity of the gene pool is still being assessed as well as increased. All of this has happened in less than the past fifty years! The challenge is paramount. Denial promises extinction of all our relations.

--David Thompson Ratcliffe

Now a push is being made to build new nuclear reactors in the United States. This idea is complete insanity! It has been proven by Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Dr. Jay M Gould, Dr. Joseph J. Mangano, Dr. Rosalie Bertell and others that nuclear power is slowly killing the people of the United States in increased infant mortality, childhood cancers, breast cancer, and other types of cancer. It is not even yet known what kind of damage is being done genetically, although the studies regarding the children of people that were exposed in Chernobyl show that mutations do occur. In light of all of this information all nuclear power plants in the United States should be shut down immediately!

It is time for the United States to move forward into the 21^st century. Advances in technology in renewable energy sources have made the use of oil, gas and uranium essentially obsolete. It is time for decisions about energy to be made based on the health, safety and welfare of the people of this country, especially the children and unborn generations, not on the bank accounts of the corporations.

We, the people, ask that the government of the United States adopt a program of converting this great nation into one using predominantly renewable energy sources. The time for change is now!

In the words of President John F. Kennedy:

[T]he number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood or with poison in their lungs might seem statistically small to some, in comparison with natural health hazards. But this is not a natural health hazard -- and it is not a statistical issue. The loss of even one human life, or the malformation of even one baby -- who may be born long after we are gone -- should be of concern to us all. Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics toward which we can be indifferent.

7pm radio & television address on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
delivered from the President's office, July 26, 1963

Sincerely,