President Clinton
The White House
Washington, DC
president@whitehouse.gov


Dear President Clinton,

I am writing to ask you to help ban the use and export of remote-controlled
electro-shock stun belts intended for use on prisoners.  These belts appear
designed to degrade prisoners, not just restrain them, and could be used to
torture detainees at the push of a button.

The Remote Electronically Activated Control Technology (REACT) belt inflicts 
a powerful electric current through the wearer's left kidney which then passes
through the victim's blood and entire nervous system. The shock causes severe 
pain rising during the eight seconds and instant incapacitation in the first
few seconds.

The REACT belt has been proposed for use on prisoners working in chain gangs
in Wisconsin, and is now increasingly being used on prisoners during judicial
hearings.  Both of these uses are in direct contravention of international 
standards on the treatment of prisoners, according to the independent human
rights group Amnesty International.

So far, neither the manufacturers nor the users of the belts have conducted 
strictly independent medical studies of effects on humans of the belts. 
In fact, the company cites a doctor in Nebraska who stated that he tested the 
company's devices on anesthetized pigs and they are therefore safe to use on 
people under circumstances of "proper usage".

Data from other electro-shock weapons indicate that the high pulse 50,000 volt
shocks lasting eight seconds at a time could result in longer term physical 
and mental injuries.  Although the belt is described as non-lethal, other 
similar electro-shock weapons used by law enforcement officers in the USA, 
such as the "taser" gun, have contributed to deaths.

I join with Amnesty International in calling for your administration to
immediately establish a full, independent and impartial inquiry into the use
of stun belts other electro-shock weapons, and to immediately suspend their 
use until independent medical evidence can clearly demonstrate that their use
will not contribute to deaths in custody, torture or other cruel, inhuman or 
degrading treatment or punishment.
 
I also join with them in calling on your administration to halt the transfer
of electro-shock stun technology to governments where there is clear evidence
of electro-shock torture -- such as China, the Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela and Zaire.  

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,