depleted uranium concerns

[tooker gomberg]

from Lyn Adamson

3 e-mails included below:
1) Dr. Chris Busby re weapons to be used in first 48 hours
2) Reference to studies on radiation effects
3) Depleted uranium - dirty and deadly - by Guy Dauncey
'There has been a 10-fold increase in such birth defects in the Basra region
since 1988. I have seen the photos of these children. You can see them for
yourself at http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html. But be
warned - these photos are not for the squeamish, and may give some people
nightmares. They are also at http://www.ngwrc.org/Dulink/du_link.htm.
There has also been a 17-fold increase in cancer in southern Iraq since
1988, and a sudden increase in childhood leukemia.'


From: Dr Chris Busby <Christo at cato5.demon.co.uk
  Date: Mon Mar 17, 2003  3:42:28 PM US/Eastern
  To: Janette Sherman <toxdoc.js at verizon.net
  Subject: Re: Comment

  Dear Janette
  I have forwarded your requests to Dai Willaims.
  However, here is the outline of the  details he gave me which he based
  on his analysis of the shock and awe inventory.

  Weapons being used in first 48 hrs
  1. 6000 JDAMs (Joint direct attack munitions) 2000lb GBU-31, used in
  Afghanistan, one of two warhead options contains hi-density special
  heavy metal penetrator.
  2. 2700 laser guided bombs e.g. Raytheon Paveway GBU-15, GBU-24 and
  GBU-
  27; all 2000lbs LGMs include hard target warhead options
  3. 700 cruise missiles air to ground AGM 86-D
  + 100 tomahawks
  AGM-130C 2000lb stand off bombs
  4. Some of the bunker buster bombs contain 7 tons of DU

  In all, Dai Williams calculates on the basis of 30% hard target
  breakdown fraction that the total DU or Uranium used will be
  1900tonnes.
  My calculations are based on this figure and you should contact Dai for
  more details.

  After talking with Dai, I presented a formal motion to the UK Ministry
  of Defence Depleted Uranium Oversight Board on 11th March the motion
  was
  seconded by Malcolm Hooper (also a member with me).
   The motion stated:

  Whereas the DUOB was set up primarily to oversee the measurement of
  Depleted Uranium in the veterans of the Persian Gulf War and operations
  in the Balkans, it is nevertheless the case that it has within its
  remit
  the consideration of and discussion of the evidence that exposure to DU
  formed in battlefield conditions is harmful to health.

  With regard to a new war in Iraq,
  # and with particular concern from British soldiers engaged in such
  operations
  # and on the basis of the evidence considered by the DUOB
  # and taking a precautionary position:
  The DUOB recommends:
  1. That British soldiers engaged in any operations whatever in the area
  of southern Iraq where previous use of DU has caused widespread
  contamination and any theatres in Iraq where new DU munitions are
  likely
  to be used (e.g. bunkers) should use adequate respirators or masks
  capable of intercepting particulate DU down to particles sizes of 0.1
  microns
  2. That British soldiers are adequately and fully warned of the dangers
  from DU particles along the lines of the warnings made to German forces
  serving with KFOR in Kosovo in areas where DU was used.
  3. That British forces are made aware that following any conflict they
  may ask for urine tests and be included in the study being carried out
  by the DUOB for the UK Ministry of Defence.

  This proposal was defeated; four members of the 13 or so voted for it,
  the two veterans on the committee, Malcolm and myself, others opposed
  it
  on thge basis that they disagreed with it or did not believe it was our
  position to make such a recommendation.

  The failed proposal should nevertheless appear on the MoD DUOB website.

  I think this was a disgraceful outcome, a failure of members of the
  committee to agree to advise the military to adequately warn the
  soldiers of the dangers is a failure of our duty of care.

  Best wishes
  Chris

   Dr Chris Busby




From: Janette Sherman <toxdoc.js at verizon.net>
Date: Fri Mar 14, 2003  6:59:39 PM US/Eastern

IF YOU THINK CANCER IS A PROBLEM NOW
WAIT UNTIL MORE  DEPLETED URANIUM IS RELEASED INTO
THE WORLD

This document reports known links between exposure to
low-level nuclear radiation and cancer.
   Concerning the impending US war against Iraq, Dr.
Busby writes:

"If Dai Williams' analysis is correct the SHOCK and AWE missile and
bomb inventory (which I can send anyone interested) is accurate we are
talking about 1900 tons of DU (or perhaps U) which is equivalent to
60TBq of alpha and beta particulate activity equivalent to the amount
of alpha emitting radioactive material Sellafield put into the Irish
Sea each year at the peak of its releases and about 50 times the
present amount released annually to the Irish Sea.  This DU will
become widely dispersed and re: Israel I would not want to be living
within 1000 miles of Baghdad. As a crime against humanity and a weapon
of mass destruction this will be in a class of its own."   (C. Busby:
christo at cato5.demon.co.uk)

o- The European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR)
concludes: "the present cancer epidemic is a consequence of exposure
to global atmospheric weapons fallout in the periods 1959-1963 and
that more recent releases of radioisotopes to the environment from the
operation of nuclear fuel cycle will result in significant increases
in cancer and other types of ill health."  (ISBN# 1-897761-24-4) (C.
Busby:  christo at cato5.demon.co.uk)

-o- The ECRR is based upon studies of chronic, internal exposure to
low-level nuclear isotopes in diverse populations:  leukemia in
children on the Irish Sea Cost (Sellafield); Chernobyl children; and
civilians and military exposed to Depleted Uranium (DU) armaments
resulting in systemic harm and genetic damage.  (see :
leurenmoret at yahoo.com)

-o- "Using both the ECRR's new model and that of the International
Committee for Radiation Protection (ICRP), the committee calculates
the total number of deaths resulting from the nuclear project since
1945.  The ICRP calculation, based on figures for doses to populations
up to 1989 given by the United Nations, results in 1,174,600 deaths
from cancer.  The ECRR model predicts 61,600,000 deaths from cancer,
1,600,000 infant deaths and 1,900,000 fetal deaths.  In addition the
ECRR predicts a 10% loss of life quality integrated over all diseases
and conditions in those who were exposed over the period of global
weapons fallout."

Radioactive releases did not stop with signing of the above-ground
test ban by the USA and USSR in 1963.  In addition to the known
releases from Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, every nuclear facility
and power reactor emits radioactive isotopes during "normal"
operations.

Continuing the landmark St. Louis radiation fallout study, the
Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP), has collected some 3500
baby teeth to measure Strontium-90 (Sr-90), a proxy for one of 200+
radioactive isotopes released during "normal" reactor operations.
(www.radiation.org)

RPHP Findings:
-o- After the 1963 above-ground nuclear test treaty, signed by the USA
and USSR, Sr-90 levels fell steadily until the late 1980s but then
rose 50% in all areas where teeth were collected.  (www.radiation.org)

-o- Breast cancer incidence is elevated in women living downwind
within 50 miles of an operating nuclear reactor.  This correlates with
higher levels of Sr-90 in teeth collected closest to operating nuclear
reactors.  (Gould, JM., The Enemy Within: The High Cost of Living Near
Nuclear Reactors, 1996. (ISBN# 1-56858-066-5),  Sherman, JD,
Life's Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast
Cancer. 2000, (ISBN# 1-56032-870-3)

-o- Sr-90 levels in teeth from southeast Florida children with cancer
are 55% above that of children without cancer.  (www.radiation.org)

-o- Two years after closure of 8 separate nuclear power plants, deaths
for children, newborn to 3 years old, dropped from 9 to 42% for those
within 50 miles.  For areas in which data were available, cancer
incidence in children younger than 5 fell significantly after
shutdown. Mangano, J., et al.  Arch. Environ. Health, 57(1): 23-31,
2002.  Arch. Environ. Health,  In press 2003

The seriousness of a large corroded hole in the Davis Besse Nuclear
reactor, situated on the shore of Lake Erie and its' potential to
contaminate the Great Lakes was emphasized by the recent study
commissioned by New York State, Review of Emergency
Preparedness at Indian Point and Millstone.  It lays to rest
the idea that a population in proximity to an accidental or terrorist
nuclear power plant release can be safely evacuated.
(www.wittassociates.com)

These objective reports do not reflect the moral and economic carnage
of cancer heaped upon children and their families.  Children may be
"cured" of cancer, but the treatments cause nearly all to have
physical and learning disabilities that they bear the rest of their
lives.  The unending harm to future generations that suffer genetic
damage cannot be calculated.

War is the worst assault on public health in every sense of the word.

The prevention of disease demands that we prevent war and all that is
associated with war:  armaments, toxic chemicals, and radioactive
munitions, and the associated conditions of  starvation, separation
from home and family, and destruction of property.  We must prevention
of harm to people of "fighting age,"  There is too much to be done in
the world to waste human and economic resources on killing our sisters
and brothers and destroying their homes and land.

The costs are armaments, and rebuilding countries is bankrupting
countries.  In the best tradition of public health
and the precautionary principle is that primary prevention of disease
means that release of  radioactive materials from all sources, military
and nonmilitary, must be stopped worldwide.  If the use of DU is not
stopped, a worldwide epidemic of cancer and damage to future generations
will be certain.

Contacts for information:
RPHP:
L. Moret, M. S. leuren at yahoo.com 510- 845-3139
JD Sherman, M. D. Toxdoc.js at verizon.net 703- 329-8223
>
>ECRR:

>. Yablakov Ph. D. yablakov at online.ru
>  C. Busby, Ph.D. christo at cato5.demon.co.uk)
>




'


Depleted uranium - dirty and deadly
Birth defects and Gulf War syndrome could be just the beginning if the US
bombs Iraq
Dateline: Monday, February 17, 2003
It's dirty, and it's deadly. When you coat a shell with it, it slices
through armoured plating as if it was cheese, turning tanks, buildings and
bomb shelters into exploding incinerators. It causes cancer among people who
breathe its dust, or touch it. It causes horrible birth defects among the
babies of pregnant women who breathe it or touch it. It causes a host of
chronic ailments and sicknesses among returning troops.
It was used by the US army in Iraq, in Kosovo, and Afghanistan. The United
Nations wants a worldwide ban on it. The US plans to use it again, in its
war on Iraq.
What is it? It's a waste product that arises during the production of
enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and reactors. It's called depleted
uranium.
It has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years. The Earth is 4.5
billion years old. This means that the cities, battlefields, and locations
where depleted uranium is used will be radioactive and remain radioactive
for the next 4.5 billion years.
That's as long as the Earth has existed. That's twice as long as the entire
evolution of life on Earth. Seventy times longer than the time since the
dinosaurs became extinct.
Depleted uranium is extremely dense. That's what makes it capable of slicing
into heavily armoured vehicles. That's why the American military likes it.
In the Gulf War, in 1991, the US army fired off a million rounds of depleted
uranium, totalling 300 tons. In Baghdad, where they thought they were
attacking a secret bunker, they sliced into it with depleted uranium and
incinerated 800 women and children who were hiding in a shelter. Along the
"highway of death", outside Basra, in southern Iraq, they incinerated every
tank, every soldier.
Along that road, the shell-holes in the blown-up tanks are 1000 times more
radioactive than the background. The desert near the vehicles is 100 times
more radioactive.
Seventy percent of the uranium burns on impact, turning into a fine ceramic
dust of depleted uranium oxide particles which get blown on the wind, and
washed into the groundwater. In the Basra region, there has been a 100-fold
increase in uranium in the groundwater.
And then there's the birth defects.
Children born with fingers missing. Children born with legs missing.
Children born with parts of their face missing. Children born with their
eyes missing. Children born with grossly deformed skulls. Children born with
enormous distended bellies. Children born with no hands. Children born with
no genitals. Children born with no skin over their bellies. Children born
with open holes in their backs. Children born whose bodies are beyond words,
in their pitiful awfulness.
There has been a 10-fold increase in such birth defects in the Basra region
since 1988. I have seen the photos of these children. You can see them for
yourself at http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html. But be
warned - these photos are not for the squeamish, and may give some people
nightmares. They are also at http://www.ngwrc.org/Dulink/du_link.htm.
There has also been a 17-fold increase in cancer in southern Iraq since
1988, and a sudden increase in childhood leukemia.
That was Iraq. Then there was Afghanistan.
The data is still sketchy, but tests on residents in Jalalabad have found a
level of uranium in the urine of residents that is 400 to 2000 percent
higher than normal. The contamination is also present in Kabul.
A scientific team from the Uranium Medical Research Centre that went to
Kabul in September 2002 found that people who had been exposed to debris
from the US/British precision bombing were reporting pains in their joints,
back and kidney pain, muscle weakness, memory problems, confusion, and
disorientation. Members of the team began to complain of the same symptoms.
They found that 25 percent of newborn infants were suffering from congenital
and post-natal health problems that appeared to be associated with uranium
contamination.
So what happened to the US and British troops who were exposed to the same
dust?
It's hard to sort out, because the troops who served in the Gulf were
exposed to a cocktail of injections and chemical and biological hazards, as
well as depleted uranium. But the symptoms are telling.
There were 700,000 US troops who served in the Gulf War in 1991. 50% were
black or Latino. Many were women. 260,000 have applied for medical benefits.
159,000 have been awarded disability allowances. Many are probably on low
incomes, and cannot afford expensive medical insurance.
They call it Gulf War Syndrome; nobody in the military wants to talk about
it. The returning troops are suffering from reactive airway disease;
neurological damage; cataracts; kidney problems; lymphoma; skin and organ
cancer; neuropsychological problems; uranium in their semen; sexual
dysfunction; and birth defects in their offspring. Birth defects are turning
up four times more often in the children of those who served in the Gulf
than normal. See www.chronicillnet.org/online/lifemag.html.
That was Afghanistan. Now a new war on Iraq looms.
A new round of death. A new nightmare.
Unless we stand together, work together, pray together, and call out
together to stop it, and to outlaw depleted uranium forever, as the United
Nations has recommended.
Four and a half billion years. Written and compiled by Guy Dauncey,
Victoria, B.C., Canada Author of Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global
Climate Change. Editor of EcoNews, http://www.earthfuture.com
-- 
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