Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

[1938 Observer]

This seemed the most appropriate place to place this thread as it covers everything from Politics,Army matters, current affairs,health wellbeing and green issues (and probably more as well)

NOTE.....there is an enormous coverage of Depleted Uranium issues on the Web....just take your pick.



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October 20, 2009

Dead Babies in Iraq and Afghanistan are No Joke


Depleted Uranium Weapons
By DAVE LINDORFF

The horrors of the US Agent Orange campaign in Vietnam, about which I wrote on Oct. 15, could ultimately be dwarfed by the horrors of the depleted uranium weapons which the US began using in the 1991 Gulf War (300 tons), and which it used much more extensively, and in more urban, populated areas, in the Iraq War and the now intensifying Afghanistan War.

Depleted uranium, despite it’s rather benign sounding name, is not depleted of radioactivity or toxicity. The term depleted refers to its being depleted of the U-235 isotope needed for fission reactions in nuclear reactors. The nuclear waster material from nuclear power plants, DU as it is known, is essentially composed of the uranium isotope U-238 as well as U-236 (a product of nuclear reactor fission, not found in nature), as well as other trace radioactive elements. It turns out to be an ideal metal for a number of weapons uses, and has been capitalized on by the Pentagon. 1.7 times heavier than lead, and much harder than steel, and with the added property of burning at a super-hot temperature, DU has proven to be an ideal penetrator for warheads that need to pierce thick armor or dense concrete bunkers made of reinforced concrete and steel. Accordingly it has found its way into 30 mm machine gun ammunition, especially that used by the A-10 Warthog ground-attack fighter planes used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as Kosovo). It is also the warhead of choice for Abrams tanks and is also reportedly used in GBU-28 and the later GBU-37 bunker buster bombs. DU is also used as ballast in cruise missiles, and thus burns up when they detonate their conventional explosives. Some cruise missiles are also designed to hit hardened targets and reportedly feature DU warheads, as does the AGM-130 air-to-ground missile, which carries a one-ton penetrating warhead.

balance of article at the link http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10202009.html

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??


Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'


By Patrick Cockburn
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 ..Belfast Telegraph


Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents.



full story/photographs at the link

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-14889476.html



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US war machine using depleted uranium
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:08:22 GMT


Iraqi baby born deformed from depleted uranium
A report shows that US and British forces used depleted uranium (DU) ammunitions during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

An official inquiry has found more than 40 sights across the war-torn country that is contaminated with high levels of radiation and dioxins.

A joint study by the environmental health and science ministry in Iraq says there are communities near the cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years.

It is reported that the US and Britain used up to 2,000 tons of these ammunitions during the Iraq war.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135908

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness - US Army Training Video

From Information Clearinghouse:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.i...
The training materials were intended to instruct servicemen and women about the use and hazards of depleted uranium munitions. In addition, the training regimen included instructions for soldiers who repair and recover vehicles contaminated by depleted uranium.

Throughout 1996, these videos sat on a shelf, while U.S. soldiers continued to use and work with depleted uranium munitions. In June 1997, Bernard Rostker, The Department of Defense (DoD) principle spokesperson for their investigation of Gulf War hazardous exposures, stated that the depleted uranium safety training program would begin to be shared by a limited number of servicemen and women in July 1997.

STILL TODAY the vast majority of servicemen and women in the U.S. military, and likely in the armed forces of other countries which are developing or have obtained depleted uranium munitions, are unaware of the use and dangers of depleted uranium munitions, or of the protective clothing and procedures which can minimize or prevent serious short-term exposures.

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Hazards of Depleted Uranium Contamination Training Video; Between October and December 1995, the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium (DU) Project completed a series of training videos and manuals about depleted uranium munitions. This training regimen was developed as the result of recommendations made in the January 1993 General Accounting Office (GAO) report, Army Not Adequately Prepared to Deal with Depleted Uranium Contamination. The training materials were intended to instruct servicemen and women about the use and hazards of depleted uranium munitions. In addition, the training regimen included instructions for soldiers who repair and recover vehicles contaminated by depleted uranium. Metallic uranium (U) is a silver-white, lustrous, dense, weakly radioactive element. It is ubiquitous throughout the natural environment, and is found in varying but small amounts in rocks, soils, water, air, plants, animals and in all human beings. Natural uranium consists of a mixture of three radioactive isotopes which are identified by the mass numbers 238U (99.27% by mass), 235U (0.72%) and 234U (0.0054%). On average, approximately 90 µg (micrograms) of uranium exists in the human body from normal intakes of water, food and air. About 66% is found in the skeleton, 16% in the liver, 8% in the kidneys and 10% in other tissues. Uranium is used primarily in nuclear power plants. However, most reactors require uranium in which the 235U content is enriched from 0.72% to about 1.5-3%. Depleted uranium: The uranium remaining after removal of the enriched fraction contains about 99.8% 238U, 0.2% 235U and 0.001% 234U by mass; this is referred to as depleted uranium or DU. The main difference between DU and natural uranium is that the former contains at least three times less 235U than the latter. DU, consequently, is weakly radioactive and a radiation dose from it would be about 60% of that from purified natural uranium with the same mass. The behaviour of DU in the body is identical to that of natural uranium. Spent uranium fuel from nuclear reactors is sometimes reprocessed in plants for natural uranium enrichment. Some reactor-created radioisotopes can consequently contaminate the reprocessing equipment and the DU. Under these conditions another uranium isotope, 236U, may be present in the DU together with very small amounts of the transuranic elements plutonium, americium and neptunium and the fission product technetium-99. However, the additional radiation dose following intake of DU into the human body from these isotopes would be less than 1%. Applications of depleted uranium: Due to its high density, about twice that of lead, the main civilian uses of DU include counterweights in aircraft, radiation shields in medical radiation therapy machines and containers for the transport of radioactive materials. The military uses DU for defensive armour plate. DU is used in armour penetrating military ordnance because of its high density, and also because DU can ignite on impact if the temperature exceeds 600°C. Public Domain video.

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

DEPLETED URANIUM IN THE HUMAN BODY: Sr Rosalie Bertell, PhD

Epidemiologist Rosalie Bertell (PhD, biometrics)explains the effects of the weaponized DU on the people of Iraq and the planet. In subsequent parts of this series, Dr. Bertell offers readily-accessible ways to detox some heavy metals and poisons from the body.

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

Use of Depleted Uranium Is a Form of Radiologic Warfare

Helen Caldicott, MD Posted: 05/25/2007



A relatively new weapon has entered the armory of the US arsenal. Anti-tank shells made of 10 pounds of solid uranium-238 -- commonly called depleted uranium (DU) are very effective weapons to use against tank armaments because they slice through the steel armor like a hot knife through butter. Despite the apparent effectiveness of DU, there are grave dangers.

Uranium-238 is pyrophoric, bursting into flame on impact, and when it burns 70% of the shell aerosolizes into particles less than 5 microns in diameter, which are respirable in size. Uranium-238 is an alpha radioactive emitter which is both chemically toxic and mutagenic.

Basically, there are 5 mechanisms by which uranium can induce mutations and cell damage:

1.Direct damage to DNA molecules from alpha radiation hits[1]


2.Genomic instability as genetic and chromosomal damage are passed through succeeding generations of damaged cells[2]


3.Bystander effect where adjacent cells that are not directly hit by alpha radiation incur DNA genetic damage[3,4]


4.Chemical toxicity from uranyl ions that bind avidly to DNA-clumped chromatin -- hence their mutagenic capability; uranyl acetate stains are used extensively in electron microscopy[5]


5.Excretion of uranium through the kidney in high doses causing acute nephritis
Uranium induces lung, bone, and hematological cancers and it infiltrates the CNS.[6] It is excreted in the urine and semen, and uranyl ions infiltrate the testes, ovaries, placenta, embryo, and fetus.[5]

This is a radiological and dangerous element which can cause generations of damage to human beings. Yet hundreds of tons of uranium-238 munitions were used in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq in 1991, in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s, and in the current Iraq war.[7]

Children, of course, are more susceptible to radiation-induced cancer than adults. Pediatricians report a marked increased in childhood cancer and severe congenital anomalies in Basra, which was polluted in 1991 with hundreds of tons of aerosolized uranium-238.[5]

Uranium-238, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years, will contaminate water, food chains, and the ambient air in these countries forever. The use of radiological weapons, including depleted uranium, should be banned by international treaties, and all countries should refrain from using them for the health and safety of all.

That's my opinion. I'm Dr. Helen Caldicott, MD, pediatrician and President of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute.


to listen/watch video..just go to the link

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/556376

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About Helen Caldicott..................................

Helen Caldicott, MD PHYSICIAN - AUTHOR - SPEAKER

Biography
The single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises, Dr Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1938, Dr Caldicott received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1961. She founded the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at the Adelaide Children's Hospital in 1975 and subsequently was an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and on the staff of the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Mass., until 1980 when she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war.

In 1971, Dr Caldicott played a major role in Australia's opposition to French atmospheric nuclear testing in the Pacific; in 1975 she worked with the Australian trade unions to educate their members about the medical dangers of the nuclear fuel cycle, with particular reference to uranium mining.

While living in the United States from 1977 to 1986, she co-founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. On trips abroad she helped start similar medical organizations in many other countries. The international umbrella group (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. She also founded the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) in the US in 1980.

Plus more at the website link http://www.helencaldicott.com/about.htm

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

We urgently need transparency over depleted uranium use
Humanitarian concerns over health problems in Fallujah have renewed calls for full disclosure from depleted uranium users.
26 July 2010 - ICBUW
Recent research and a tide of media coverage are indicating that something is very wrong in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The rates of certain cancers and birth malformations seem to be far higher than those of other countries in the region. Such is the level of concern, that the World Health Organisation is currently undertaking research in the city, elsewhere experts are trying to gauge whether environmental factors may be responsible. One such risk factor could be the possible use of uranium weapons in the US Marine-led assault on Fallujah in 2004.
Unfortunately, one major obstacle is standing in the way of these assessments – the refusal by the US to release data on exactly where the weapons have been used and in what quantities.

At present, states that use uranium weapons do not have to disclose quantitative or geographical data about their use – no where, no how much, nothing. There are no norms governing the recording of data and nothing to say that it should be transferred between states. Indeed states are currently under no obligation to assist either each other - or the United Nations’ agencies for that matter - in identifying, marking, assessing, monitoring or clearing sites contaminated by uranium weapons. This is completely unacceptable.

That exposure to uranium weapons has the potential to cause ill health is generally accepted. The main question remaining is how that risk is influenced by military, geographical, social and other factors. More research is urgently needed into civilian populations living in contaminated areas and right now the single biggest obstacle researchers face continues to be the lack of transparency from users.

Transparency was identified as a priority by the UK Royal Society’s Depleted Uranium Working Group as far back as 2003: “The coalition needs to make clear where and how much depleted uranium was used in the recent conflict in Iraq. We need this information to identify civilians and soldiers who should be monitored for depleted uranium exposure and to begin a clean-up of the environment,” said Prof. Brian Spratt in 2003.

What steps have been taken since then to release this data? In Iraq, we know that at least 440,000kg of DU was used by the US and UK in 1991 and 2003. Of this, only the firing coordinates of 1.9 tonnes are known, after the British cooperated with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in a 2007 study in Iraq. However this data from the UK has never been released into the public domain.

In Bosnia, it took six years for NATO to confirm that it had used depleted uranium in its interventions in 1994 and 1995. In the case of Serbia and Kosovo, it took two direct interventions by the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on behalf of UNEP to persuade NATO to release its data.

Given that the main factor in reducing the risk to civilians following the use of uranium weapons is the swift identification and marking of contaminated sites, the current situation seems particularly perverse.

ICBUW has approached the US State Department and Department of Defence requesting the full disclosure of data about all contaminated sites in Iraq. If it is possible for the UK to disclose where it has used uranium weapons then there is no reason why the same should not go for the US. However, if the example of our request to reveal whether uranium were used in Fallujah is anything to go by – nine months and counting – we may be waiting some time; just as the people of Iraq have been.

There are also long-standing questions over the use of depleted uranium in other conflicts. For example, Russia and the US may have both used it in Afghanistan while the US is alleged to have used it during interventions in Somalia in the 1990s.
If states are unwilling to voluntarily release data on the use of uranium weapons, it is beholden on the international community to agree to take whatever steps necessary to develop binding rules governing what happens to these weapons once they are fired.

ICBUW is calling for a resolution on this issue at the UN First Committee this autumn. We hope that states that have pushed for transparency in other areas of arms control such as the Netherlands, and those that have cooperated with UNEP on the issue of uranium weapons, such as the UK, will lend their support because without transparency, civilians will continue to be exposed to the harmful residue of these weapons.


Notes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10721562

http://www.nonuclear.se/files/busby-...q2005-2009.pdf

[1938 Observer]

Re: Depleted Uranium Munitions-------Are They Really Necessary??

Where is dirty bomb depeleted uranium toxicity 'Blowin' in the Wind' in U.S.? Human Rights info 101

October 31st, 2009 1:51 pm ET
Deborah Dupré
Human Rights Examiner



Bullets made from depleted uranium burn when they hit something hard and their smoke is unsafe to breathe. Depleted uranium is now globally Blowin' in the Wind, the name of two-time Academy Award nominee, David Bradbury's award winning documentary on DU. (Trailer and full feature below)

Blowin' in the Wind film examines the secret treaty that is allowing the US Military to train and test its weaponry in Australia, one of the most important films of our time. This Frontline Film movie breaks denial that needs to happen for people to become empowered to co-create a more humane world.

David Stratton of Australia's At The Movies reviewed Blowin' in the Wind stating:

It suggests that the American armed forces are using uranium waste,
radio-active material, in their weapons; that shells and bullets coated with depleted uranium are being used as armour-piercing devices and that, as a result, wherever these weapons are used there is wide-scale radioactive contamination.

In BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND his concern for the environment has resulted in a deeply disturbing film about the worst kind of radioactive pollution imaginable... should set alarm bells ringing the world over. (emphasis added)

There is no medical care or treatment for DU injury.

The military has released 4.1 million Nagasaki bombs worth of radiation in bullets with depleted uranium into the environment.

Among U.S. sites identified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as being contaminated with DU are:

Ft. Hood, TX

Ft. Benning, GA

Ft. Campbell, KY

Ft. Knox, KY

Ft. Lewis, WA

Ft. Riley, KS

Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD

Ft. Dix, NJ

Makua Military Reservation, HI

Other locations identified as having DU weapons contamination are:

China Lake Air Warfare Center, CA

Eglin AFB, Florida,

Nellis AFB, NV

Davis-Monthan AFB

Kirtland AFB, NM

White Sands Missile Range, NM

Ethan Allen Firing Range, VT

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

"An application for a 99-year permit to test DU weapons at the NM Inst. Of Mining and Technology claimed that that site’s test area was 'so contaminated with DU…as to preclude any other use'!" (Lindorff)


Australia sits on 40% of the worlds' uranium. America wants the waste for weapons and to test them on our soil. Bliss & Eso provides a telling track to set off something nuclear in this trailer. David Bradbury's Blowin' in the Wind trailer and the 53 minute version of the Bradbury and Scott film is below.


These videos are worth watching.just go to the link below.

http://www.examiner.com/human-rights...ights-info-101


or


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...8239136&hl=en#