[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         LANDMINES: A DEADLY PERIL TO ALL THE WORLD'S CREATURES

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have often spoken of the danger 
landmines pose to civilians and combatants around the world. There are 
an estimated 100 million of these hidden killers in over 60 countries, 
each one waiting to explode from the pressure of a footstep.
  The State Department estimates that 26,000 people are killed or 
maimed by landmines annually. That is 72 people each day, or one every 
22 minutes. The overwhelming majority are innocent civilians, who if 
they are lucky enough to survive face a lifetime of physical and 
psychological trauma. American service men and women are also the 
victims of these indiscriminate killers. It is no surprise that the 
first American casualty in Bosnia was from a landmine. There are 3 to 5 
million landmines there, hidden under snow and mud. After our troops 
leave, millions will remain for years, taking their toll among the 
civilian population. Few people know that landmines caused a third of 
the American deaths in Vietnam, a quarter of the American deaths in the 
Persian Gulf war, and over a quarter of American deaths in Somalia.
  Landmines are a global humanitarian catastrophe, but humans are not 
the only victims. Any living creature, wild or domestic, that weighs as 
much as a small dog, is a potential landmine victim. There have been 
many instances when a family lost its only means of livelihood when a 
cow or water buffalo stepped on a landmine, but there are undoubtedly 
countless other instances of wild animals that have died from mines. 
Virtually any animal that triggers a mine suffers terrible injuries and 
dies from loss of blood.
  Mr. President, this may seem unimportant, but it is not. Landmines 
are insidious because they indiscriminately kill and maim the innocent, 
and that includes animals as well as people. There have even been 
reports that the Pentagon is considering using sheep to clear mines, by 
sending them into minefields to trigger the mines. Not only would this 
fail to detonate all the mines, but anyone who has seen the horrifying 
injuries landmines cause would be repulsed by the sacrifice of 
defenseless animals that way.
  Mr. President, landmines are causing a humanitarian catastrophe. Even 
if not a single new mine were laid the 100 million unexploded mines in 
the ground would go on killing for decades. We must do all we can to 
locate and remove them. I have sponsored legislation to appropriate 
funds to improve the technology for doing that, and to help support 
mine clearing efforts around the world. Those funds are being used. It 
is not enough, not nearly enough, but it is a start.
  To those who care about innocent life, whether human or non-human, 
landmines are a scourge that must be rid from the world. Ultimately, 
the only way to do that is to ban them altogether.

                          ____________________