FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Bruce Gagnon, Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice (fcpj@afn.org), (352) 468-3295

NASA PLUTONIUM LAUNCH CRITICS HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON

On MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1997, beginning at 11:00 am, opponents of NASA's Cassini space probe to Saturn, which will carry 72.3 pounds of highly toxic plutonium on-board, will hold a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

The news conference will take place on the 13th Floor, in the Lisagor Room, at the National Press Club (14th and F Streets, NW).

Among those apprearing at the press briefing will be Dr. Michi Kaku (Professor of Theoretical Physics at the CUNY); Karl Grossman (Professor of Journalism at SUNY and the author of the recently published book "The Wrong Stuff); Alan Kohn (former NASA emergency preparedness operations officer for the plutonium laden Galileo (1989) and Ulysses (1990) launches; and Bruce Gagnon (State Coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice, who is now organizing the international campaign to Cancel Cassini).

The news briefing will deal with the political and science questions surrounding the launch as well as report on the growing national and international effort to Cancel Cassini. In addition,Cassini critics wil detail plans for the October 4 effort to begin non-violent attempts to sit on the launch pad in order to block the launch.

During the next 12 years NASA plans to launch at least a dozen more plutonium projects into space from Cape Canaveral.

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