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the du years: death and destruction by heavy metal by Preston Peet (ptpeet@cs.com) - January 21, 2001 |
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| How do you dispose of the nuclear waste that remains from nuclear power and weapons-grade material? This question has been posed by opponents of nuclear power and weapons technologies, which create byproducts that emit harmful radiation for thousands of years. The US Pentagon has come up with a sure-fire way to get rid of US nuclear waste: fire it as ammunition, whilst engaged in foreign conflicts. The US Pentagon favors Depleted Uranium, which is used for armor plating and ammunition. DU is a byproduct from "enriched" uranium, which is used to create components for nuclear weapons. Depleted Uranium has 40 percent less Uraniuam-235 than it had whilst "natural." This do not mean it is less radioactive, only that it has less Uranium-235: a genuine heavy metal, at about 1.7 times the weight of lead. In the early 1970s, the Pentagon began fashioning DU into munitions, such as 120 millimeter Sabot rounds fired from tanks, and 30 millimeter rounds fired by A-10 TankBusters. The first acknowledged use of DU ammo during combat came during the Gulf War. Self-sharpening, the DU ammo scorches its way into and through enemy armor like butter. DU is pyrophoric, which means when it strikes something at Mach speeds, like a tank, or house, small pieces flake off and burst into lames upon contact with the open air, often setting off secondary explosions in enemy fuel and ammo. Up to 70 percent of each shell vaporizes, becoming breathable dust, thereby entering the body, where it is most dangerous. A good analogy is of standing next to a fire, getting warmed, but taking a hot coal from the same fire and eat it, it will burn through your stomach. Compressed sheets of DU are also used to enhance armor in the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, enabling one US tanks during the Gulf War to repel three direct hits from Iraqi T-72 Russian-made tanks. The US crew then used its "magic bullet"--DU rounds--to knock all three Iraqi tanks out of action. A Department of Defense interim report, Environmental Exposure Report: Depleted Uranium in the Gulf (December 13, 2000), details the use of DU by the US in the Gulf War, and studies the possible effects on US troops, to see if there could be a link between DU and Gulf War Syndrome illnesses. "The amount of DU present, the route of entry, solubility, particle size, other chemical and physical factors, and toxicity determine potential health effects." While it notes that 33 US Gulf War vets were wounded with friendly fired DU, half of them stil carrying DU shrapnel inside them, the report asserts that none suffer ill effects directly related to DU: "no adverse effects on the kidney, only subtle perturbations in the reproductive and central nervous systems: and elevated fragments of urinary uranium" from the DU fragment-retaining vets. The report says these "subtle perturbations" are within very high- or very low-normal ranges, so they're nothing to worry about. Mandatory suicide. There is ample evidence the US government, and others, have known of risks to human health from using and being exposed to DU. Four years ago, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported (January 12, 2001), an internal British Defense Ministry Report warned of a high risk of cancer from DU exposure, but the British are now saying the report was written by a "trainee and never endorsed." The report was issued officially "on the authority of the then-Chief of Staff," who may not even have read it, the Irish Times reported (January 12, 2001). The British military report noted that ingesting DU can lead to brain, lung and lymph cancers, and that risk of "occupational exposure by inhalation must be reduced." Craig Roberts, author of The Medusa File (Tulsa, OK: Consolidated Press International, 1997), and Mike Ruppert, publisher of From the Wilderness Publishing, were instrumental in bringing to light a 1984 DU advisory memo from the US Federal Aviation Administration, circulated for its flight crash investigators. Due to its weight, DU is often used in "airelons, rudders and elevators on certain jet aircraft and rotor blades on certain helicopters," as balancing weights, notes the FAA. Due to high risk of harmful exposure if the cadmium casing around the DU broke open in the crash, the FAA warns its crash-site investigators to take special precautions whenever entering an aircraft accident area where the presence of DU is suspected. The advisory suggests a variety of special precautions to take if DU is found to be present and the cadmium plating opened, first and foremost, "request specialized assistance." The FAA notes the necessity of wearing heavy gloves, respirators, and special clothing while cleaning up or handling. After DU recovery, the FAA suggests the DU, and everything you were wearing to protect yourself, “should be discarded and appropriately labeled as radioactive waste, and disposed of properly." US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's assurances to the contrary in the New York Times (January 9, 2001), when she said, "As far as I've been told, there's no scientific evidence that would link (shells tipped with armor-penetrating depleted uranium), to a health hazard," have not reassured the European allies. Each time the US Government claims that DU is safe, we are reminded of its past lies about Agent Orange--the defoliant used by US Forces in Vietnam--that caused major health complications amongst the Vietnam veterans, exposed to the deadly chemical. Profits matter more than the lives of soldiers who enforce, and the foreign civilians who suffer from, the American Way. |
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Avoiding or Minimizing Encounters with Aircraft Equipped with Depleted Uranium Balance Weight During Aircraft Investigations Trail of a Bullet: The Depleted Uranium Issue Depleted Uranium: The Stone Unturned Minister Accused of Coverup Over Uranium Shells Environmental Exposure Report: Depleted Uranium in the Gulf Depleted Uranium Shells Leave Lethal Legacy Panel FAA Memo: Depleted Uranium Used Commonly in Aircraft Manufacture Poses Serious Hazard to Crash Investigators Gulf War File Gave Uranium Warning Aftershocks from Anti-tank Shells The Trail of a Bullet Bullet Debate: Answers in Iraq Clinton Urged Over Balkans Syndrome NATO Bows to Uranium Shell Fears Ammunition is Good For You UN Finds Kosovo Nuclear Danger NATO Says No DU-Cancer link, No Balkans Syndrome Pentagon Poison: The Great Radioactive Ammo Cover-up Warning Issued Months Ago on Uranium Ammo NATO Allies Split on Uranium Shells Some Link Balkans Deaths to Depleted Uranium Fired by US Puerto Rico Asks EU to Include Vieques Island in Depleted Uranium Investigation US Warned Allies on Depleted Uranium, Memo Contradicts Pentagon on Safety Ministry Knew of Arms Risk for 20 Years Arms Controversy Lands in Sweden Depleted Science in DU Debate Uranium Ammunition Used in Britain Depleted Uranium: Australia's Role Information on Depleted Uranium and its Effects Russian Diagnosis of Balkan Syndrome |
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