Depleted Uranium

[realFedUp]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/story/0,7369,419882,00.html

Depleted uranium

In a ground-breaking policy change, the Ministry of Defence is set to announce that medical tests will be carried out on tens of thousands of Gulf and Balkan military veterans, to check for possible contamination caused by depleted uranium shells used by British and allied forces. Derek Brown explains

Depleted uranium: an interactive guide

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/flash/0,7365,420455,00.html

snip-
What do the veterans themselves say?
The British Gulf Veterans and Families Association has for years called for systematic testing. It claims that "hundreds" of Gulf warriors have died of cancers and other illnesses contracted during active service.

What does the USA say?
The Pentagon is sticking to the line that DU may not be good for you, but isn't especially harmful either - except, of course, if it's fired at you. Interestingly, however, there has been concern about the material within the military for at least ten years. One of earliest warnings came in the so-called Los Alamos internal memorandum, dated March 1991.

continued-

[NMDemDist2]

1. didn't the entire returning unit from NY state get tested

and lots showed signs and symptoms?

see the story here... http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/05/1356248&mode=thread&tid=25

[realFedUp]

3. Thanks for posting that story

yeah, I was wondering about this and why
it hasn't been covered in mainstream media.

yeah, right.

[benddem]

2. It really is bad

4. High uranium levels found in troops and civilians.
Last year Project Censored included the United States' and Great Britain's continued use of depleted-uranium weapons ­ despite ample evidence of their acute health effects ­ among its top 10 underreported stories. Almost 10,000 U.S. troops died within 10 years of serving in the first Gulf War, researchers had found. And more than a third of those still alive had filed Gulf War Syndrome-related claims. Extract from: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/090304D.shtml

[OneBlueSky]

4. does Kerry have a position on the use of DU weapons? . . .

he should come out against them, and strongly . . .

Depleted Uranium: Dirty Bombs, Dirty Missiles, Dirty Bullets
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR408A.html

[realFedUp]

5. Good question

He should have an answer.
Bush should have an answer first.

[reorg]

6. Silent Genocide Being Waged by U.S. Troops

Friday 3rd September 2004 :
Silent Genocide Being Waged by U.S. Troops

By Craig Etchison

(...)

Charles Sheehan-Miles, former executive director of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, says, “The Pentagon’s own published studies have shown adverse heath effects .” Steven Rosenfeld confirms this in a 2003 article pointing out that Department of Defense studies confirm that DU may cause cancer, tumors, and neurological and reproductive problems. In a 2001 report sponsored by the World Health Organization, Dr. Keith Baverstock, top radiation expert for eleven years with WHO, warned of long-term health problems for civilians and soldiers exposed to DU munitions.

Unfortunately, WHO suppressed this report. A 1995 U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute report to the Senate stated, “No available technology can significantly change the inherent chemical and radiological toxicity of DU.” But when questions were raised about the use of DU in Iraq, the U.S. military said warnings about the health and environmental risks were nothing more than Iraqi propaganda to prevent use of these weapons. Dr. Doug Rokke, a thirty-six-year army veteran who did extensive research into the effects of DU munitions, was ordered not to report health or environmental consequences of these munitions because such a report would be politically unacceptable.

Why, then, do we use DU munitions when we know they aren’t safe for soldiers of either side, civilians, or the environment of the world? One reason—they are terribly effective. Because of its density, U-238 easily penetrates just about every metal, making it ideal for destroying military targets. The U.S. also has 700,000 tons of depleted uranium stockpiled, the annoying residue from nuclear power plants. Munitions manufacturers get DU free because it relieves the Department of Energy of the nasty headache of safely storing it. A win-win situation—at least for a few people.

The use of DU in the Gulf War and the Iraq invasion has resulted in a growing litany of medical horrors, a litany that will only increase as the radiation works its inevitable long-term devastation. Two Iraqi doctors report that since 1988, the Basra region has seen a ten-fold increase in diagnosed cancers. Many more undoubtedly go undiagnosed in a country where the health system is in a shambles. In 1990, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Basra had 37 cases of severe birth defects. In 2001, there were 611 cases of children born with no limbs, no eyes, and a host of other terrible abnormalities. The Netherland Visie Foundation reports that child leukemia is up 600% in areas of Iraq.

(...)

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3226

[vixengrl]

7. Anyone ever hear of the good-health benefits of radium?

Right. You know better. People exposed to high enough quantities of radium experienced--hair loss, tooth loss, abcess, cancer...etc. And of course, Agent Orange was no worse than, oh, dishpan hands. NOT! The anecotal evidence in regards to DU exposure is pretty heavy--the birth defects are thalidomide-bad. That's pretty damn bad. You can check out this site--www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm for some info. But the weird thing is, where's the press? Why isn't there an outcry that we're not just doing something that pretty obviously is death for a bunch of civilians, but can cause tragic veteran disabilities? Here's the miserable kicker--do people in high places really think American soldiers are so expendable--even after they've come home?

Take a look at the cuts in VA benefits. Take a look at Hoovervilles 70+ years ago-- in history, the homeless vets in the 80's...the silent people of my Gen x who can't have kids, whose spouses even get sick, the kids my younger brother's age in Iraq now, losing limbs and who knows what...

I don't know. It's just...curious.