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For Immediate Release
February, 02 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Barbara Gottlieb, Environment and Health Program Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility, (202) 587-5225
"A Nationwide Fracking Ban Would Be Invaluable for Human Health": Physicians for Social Responsibility Applauds First Proposed Nationwide Ban on Fracking
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) applauded the first legislative proposal for a nationwide ban on fracking for natural gas and related operations, including extraction, processing, transport and export. The proposed bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), would greatly benefit health and the climate, the national physician-led organization stated.
In light of the bill's announcement, PSR released the following comment:
WASHINGTON
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) applauded the first legislative proposal for a nationwide ban on fracking for natural gas and related operations, including extraction, processing, transport and export. The proposed bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), would greatly benefit health and the climate, the national physician-led organization stated.
In light of the bill's announcement, PSR released the following comment:
"Physicians for Social Responsibility applauds the introduction of legislation for a comprehensive fracking ban. A nationwide fracking ban would be invaluable for human health," said Barbara Gottlieb, Environment and Health Program Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility.
"Fracking harms human health, contaminates huge amounts of water, and pollutes the air. It exposes local communities to chemicals known to be toxic to humans and animals.
"Scientific studies have documented high levels of serious health impacts among people who live near active fracking sites. Studies have found that living near active fracking wells is associated with increased rates of hospitalization for cardiac, neurological, urological and cancer-related issues. Studies have also linked proximity to active fracking to premature birth, low birth weight and congenital heart defects.
"Recent investigations have even documented that fracking wastewater can be radioactive, especially in the Marcellus Shale. Yet we have seen fracking wastewater trucked through communities, used as irrigation water, and even spread as a de-icer on roads.
"It's not only local communities who are at risk. All of us are endangered, because when fracked gas leaks into the atmosphere, it accelerates climate change. And gas leaks into the atmosphere at every step of the way, from the well sites to the processing equipment to the pipelines to the distribution lines that carry gas to our homes. Fracking is speeding up the climate change juggernaut even as we hurtle towards the cliff.
"PSR and our colleagues in Concerned Health Professionals of New York have highlighted the scientific evidence of fracking's harm to health in the encyclopedic fracking science Compendium. Based on the evidence, PSR has supported a total ban on fracking for years and would welcome making that ban nationwide."
Physicians for Social Responsibility mobilizes physicians and health professionals to advocate for climate solutions and a nuclear weapons-free world. PSR's health advocates contribute a health voice to energy, environmental health and nuclear weapons policy at the local, federal and international level.
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"The Biden administration seems to be ready and willing to keep piling more and more, despite Gaza descending into what President Biden just yesterday described as 'hell,'" said Amnesty International USA.
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Just hours after a
cease-fire between the Israeli government and Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect, the Financial Times revealed that "U.S. President Joe Biden has provisionally approved a $680 million weapons sale to Israel," which has also spent the past nearly 14 months decimating the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the British newspaper reported that "U.S. officials recently briefed Congress on the plan to provide thousands of additional joint direct attack munition kits to Israel, known as JDAMS, as well as hundreds of small-diameter bombs."
The Biden administration's decision to advance the sale was subsequently confirmed by Reuters, which reported that "the package has been in the works for several months. It was first brought to the congressional committees in September then submitted for review in October."
Human rights advocates critical of Israel's assaults on Lebanon and Gaza—which has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—responded with alarm to the new reporting.
"If these reports are true, it's heartbreakingly devastating news," said Amnesty International USA. "These are the weapons that our research has shown were used to wipe out entire families, without any discernable military objective."
Amnesty highlighted a trio of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have halted some arms sales to Israel. Although they failed to pass the Senate last week, the group was among several that noted over the course of three votes, 17, 18, and 19 senators supported halting weapons sales, "sending a clear signal that U.S. policy must change."
"Yet, the Biden administration seems to be ready and willing to keep piling more and more, despite Gaza descending into what President Biden just yesterday described as 'hell,'" Amnesty added Wednesday. "Sending more weapons that have been used to maim and kill with impunity doesn't just put in jeopardy Palestinian lives and the elusive cease-fire the president is seeking, but also President Biden's own legacy."
The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project declared Wednesday that "President Biden is spending the final days of his presidency going against the will of most Americans, U.S. law, and international law."
"The weapons included in this package have been used by Israel in numerous apparent war crimes," the organization noted. "On July 13, 2024, Israel attacked a so-called 'safe zone' in al-Mawasi, in which internally displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more. A
CNN investigation found that Israel carried out this attack with at least one JDAM."
John Ramming Chappell, an adviser on legal and policy issues at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, similarly
stressed that "these are the very same weapons that for months Israeli forces have used to kill Palestinian civilians and violate international humanitarian law."
"Continuing arms transfers risks making the United States and US officials complicit in war crimes," he said. "These arms sales are unlawful as a matter of both U.S. and international law. They are immoral. The congressional committees of jurisdiction can and must place a hold on the sales."
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, pointed out that "aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity is itself a crime for which U.S. officials may (and should) face prosecution at the ICC."
Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, though Palestine is. Both the Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser have attacked the warrants for Israeli leaders.
In a speech to Israelis on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that one of the reasons for the cease-fire in Lebanon "is to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks. And I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries. These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission."
According to the Financial Times:
U.S. officials have denied there is any explicit link between the cease-fire deal and approval for the latest weapons delivery. While the cease-fire deal includes a so-called side letter from the U.S. to Israel, setting out Washington's support for a certain freedom of Israeli action, people familiar with the text said it included no guarantees of weapon sales.
U.S. officials also deny that there have been deliberate delays to weapons shipments, aside from shipments of 2,000-pound bombs, which Biden paused earlier this year over concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza.
The Times of Israelreported that Biden's State Department declined to confirm the advancement of the package but said that U.S. support for Israel in the face of Iran-backed threats is "unwavering" and all weapon transfers are carried out in line with federal law.
"We have made clear that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law, has a moral obligation and strategic imperative to protect civilians, investigate allegations of any wrongdoing, and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law," the State Department said.
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As millions prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States on Wednesday, human rights advocates provided dispatches from nearly 6,000 miles away in Gaza, where the Biden administration has continued to provide political and military support for Israel's onslaught despite public disapproval for the war among Americans.
Palestinians in Gaza are now facing their second winter amid Israel's bombardment and near-total blockade on humanitarian aid, which began in October 2023.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement that Israel's blocking of deliveries including blankets, shoes, and clothing has left Gaza's 2.3 million—nearly half of whom are children—vulnerable to the elements, especially since at least 70% of homes in the enclave have been destroyed in the last 13 months.
"Euro-Med Monitor notes that Israel restricts the entry of such items as part of its efforts to impose harsh living conditions on the Palestinian people that will ultimately lead to their actual destruction, as part of the comprehensive crime of genocide it is committing in the Gaza Strip," said the group. "There is no military necessity or justification under international law that permits the prevention of basic necessities from reaching a civilian population."
At least 1.9 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, and as Euro-Med Monitor said, "the vast majority of displaced people in the Gaza Strip continue to live in tents that do not provide adequate protection from the cold and rain."
"The war in Gaza is a war on children. There is no plainer way to illustrate this than to look at the people who make up the death figures—over 4 in every 10 people verified killed in Gaza are children."
Hundreds of thousands of people, including women, children, and elderly people, have been left without appropriate clothing for harsh weather—and at greater risk of contracting respiratory infections and other illnesses, which health authorities in the enclave are poorly equipped to treat due to Israel's blockade.
A woman named Ruba told the humanitarian group Save the Children that in northern Gaza, where Israel began an offensive in early October, she has been "trapped with [her] children under relentless bombs, rockets, and bullets, with nowhere to run."
"My mother is paralyzed, and I cannot leave her behind. My brother has been killed, my husband was taken, and I don't know if he's alive. Our home was destroyed over our heads, and we survived by a miracle," Ruba said.
"With no food, no clean water, and constant fear, both my children have developed rashes, and my daughter is passing blood, but there is no medicine, no help, and absolutely nothing I can do," she continued. "They cry and ask me why we can't just leave, why their father isn't with us, why we can't go back to a normal life.”
Humanitarian workers with the group have observed children barefoot in streets littered with sewage and debris from Israeli attacks, sometimes walking "in the rain while wearing only light, shabby clothing."
"Children who lack shoes are more likely to sustain wounds and injuries, leaving them susceptible to infection in an environment devoid of medical supplies and medications because of the strict blockade," said Euro-Med Monitor.
"Israel's continuous and severe deprivation of the fundamental necessities of life is an act of genocide, as it seeks to strip the Palestinian population of the most basic means of protection, with the aim of physically erasing their existence," said the group. "Children and other vulnerable groups are specifically targeted by Israel as they are more affected by this deprivation, which exacerbates their suffering and raises the death rates among them; due to the lack of refuge from winter weather, these rates will undoubtedly spike without international intervention."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned Wednesday that severe food shortages are also set to worsen without immediate international intervention and a cease-fire.
The groups' warnings come two weeks after the passing of a U.S.-imposed deadline for Israel to significantly ramp up humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. The Biden administration in October ordered Israel to allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza per day, or else it would invoke U.S. laws that prohibit the government from providing military aid to countries that block U.S. humanitarian relief.
But even as experts said Israel was continuing its blockade and failing to meet the Biden administration's terms, the U.S. took no action to end its support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces.
"The war in Gaza is a war on children," said Jeremy Stoner, regional director of Save the Children. "There is no plainer way to illustrate this than to look at the people who make up the death figures—over 4 in every 10 people verified killed in Gaza are children."
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"We made it clear to Gov. DeWine and Ohio legislators that S.B. 104 does nothing to make trans students safer in schools, and in fact makes life more dangerous for trans kids in Ohio," said Equality Ohio executive director Dwayne Steward in a statement.
"We are deeply disappointed that Gov.DeWine has allowed this dangerous bill to become law that puts vulnerable trans youth at risk for abuse and harassment. Equality Ohio will continue to stand in solidarity with our transgender communities and their families, and we will always fight for fairness in Ohio," Steward added.
The ACLU of Ohio said on social media that "transgender people are part of the fabric of Ohio; our families, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and are closely considering next steps."
In a statement published after the legislation passed in the Ohio Senate, Jocelyn Rosnick, policy director for the ACLU of Ohio, said that "this bill ignores the material reality that transgender people endure higher rates of sexual violence and assaults, particularly while using public restrooms, than people who are not transgender."
According to Mother Jones, Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-23), the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the Ohio Legislature, said during a floor debate on the bill: "It's really not about the bathrooms. It's about demonizing and frightening people."
The law applies to K-12 and higher education institutions and schools are not allowed to offer gender-neutral multi-stall facilities; however, the bill doesn't prevent schools from establishing "a policy providing accommodation such as single-occupancy facilities or controlled use of faculty facilities at the request of a student due to special circumstances."
But Mallory Golski, civic engagement and advocacy manager at the queer youth support organization Kaleidoscope Youth Center, expressed skepticism that providing access through single-occupancy facilities would really help gender expansive students in an interview with Mother Jones. "I just don't foresee a scenario in which schools that are already historically underfunded are going to be able to drop everything and build new bathrooms," she said. "It's just not possible."
The signing of the anti-trans legislation Wednesday runs counter to a move by DeWine last year. The governor chose to veto a bill that blocked gender-affirming care for trans youth and prevented transgender athletes from playing women's sports (lawmakers later overrode his veto).
Ohio is one of 14 states that have implemented some sort of restriction on transgender people's use of bathroom or facilities consistent with their gender identity, according to the think tank the Movement Advancement Project. Some of those states also have restrictions in place on some government buildings.
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