Indian Doctors for Peace & Development & NTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENT

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Indian Doctors for Peace & Development & NTERNATIONAL

PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR

 

 

Effects Of Depleted Uranium

 

PLEASE PUBLISH, POST, PRINT, PASS AROUND.

 

INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR (IPPNW)

 

CONFERENCE: DIALOGUES WITH DECISION MAKERS

NEW DELHI, INDIA, FEBRUARY 29, MARCH 1-2, 2004

 

CONFERENCE HOSTED BY THE INDIAN DOCTORS FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT (IDPD)

 

CONTACT: DR. ARUN MITRA

 

idpd2001

 

 

SILENT WMDs EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM

By Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat

Former Chief of the Naval Staff, India

 

FEBRUARY 29, 2004

 

 

 

 

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot ..that it do singe yourself.

 

- William Shakespeare

 

 

 

 

This brief presentation is aimed at conveying to the primarily

Indian participants of the Conference the fateful and disastrous

consequences of the indiscriminate use of depleted and non DU

munitions on the people of the west, central and south Asian regions,

women, children , men , animals, plant and animal life now and in the

future, in gross violation of international law, the Hague convention

and domestic US military law.

 

Official Gamma Ray damage caused studies have been deficient in a

number of respects..internal contamination, internal dose to

individual cells, omissions of diseases other than cancer, mutagenic,

long term degeneration , oncogenesis, effects of the killer isotopes

in particular. The case studies of the years 1945-50 were ignored. A

recent European Parliament Report ECRR 2003 (European Committee on

Radiation Risk ) concludes that A Bomb studies underestimate the

radiation risk by more than 1000 times and failed to consider the

internal exposure and diseases caused by Alpha and Beta rays.

They did not consider the Manhattan Project classified memo that, in

case the Project objective of producing Plutonium fission and theA

Bomb did not succeed , Depleted Uranium munitions would be deployed

towards the attainment of the same objective (encl. 1).

 

DU weapons emit Alpha particle dose to a single cell from U-238

which is 50 times the annual dose level. Cancer is initiated with one

alpha particle, its daughter isotopes effect generations as the

isotopes bio-concentrate in plants and animals, and travel up the

food chain. It is a nuclear weapon because the energy is derived from

the nucleus of the atom. They enter the body through the lungs, the

digestive system or breaks in the skin. One gram of DU releases more

than 12,000 particles per second. The radiation slowly kills the cells

that make life possible. The Gulf War syndrome of 1991 did just that

( reported by Dr Asaf Durakovic, Prof. of Medicine , Georgetown

University, and discoverer of the Gulf War Syndrome.)

 

We are well aware that the radiation fall-out map Under the

Cloud: Decades of Nuclear Testing has demonstrated the effects of

1200 nuclear weapon tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site; and the

US Government admitted in Nov. 2002, that every living person in the

US between 1958-63 was exposed to this fall out resulting in cancer,

gene mutation, heart disease, autism, diabetes, Parkinsons, ALS,

asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome , hypothyroidism in new-borns,

obesity and learning disabilities. One out of twelve children in the

US is disabled. The fall out did not stop at the US borders. It

travelled around the world, as atmospheric dust and remains even in

the biosphere/ sub-orbital space today. High breast cancer rates have

been co-located in the proximity of nuclear power plants in the west

and more so in the east coast areas of the US (The Breast cancer map

from The Enemy Within: the high cost of living near nuclear

reactors, quotes US Govt. Disease Control Centers.

 

The Radiation & Public health Report (RPHP), rendered by a group

of independent scientists collected 4000 baby teeth and by measuring

Strontium 90 levels in the baby teeth ( a built in dosi-meter ) they

have been able to co-relate with radiation related diseases in

children living near the nuclear power plants; the main path ways

being dairy products and drinking water.

 

The induction of DU weapons in 1991 in Iraq, the radio-active

trash from nuclear plants broke a 46 year taboo. This Trojan Horse of

nuclear war, an omnicidal weapon has since then continued to be used

more and more. DU remains radioactive longer than the age of the earth

( estimated at 4.5 billion years. )

 

The long-term effects from over a decade of DU exposures are

emerging in Southern Iraq. They are devastating. The increased

quantities of radio-active material ( including non-depleted uranium),

used in Afghanistan are 3 to 5 times greater than Iraq 199. In Iraq

2003 they are already estimated to be 6 to 10 times 1991 and will

travel through a larger area and affect many more people, babies and

unborn. Countries within a 1000 mile radius of Baghdad and Kabul are

being affected by radiation poisoning , that includes the Capital, New

Delhi, where the ruling elite lives. The reported coming of an AIDS

epidemic last year in India , down wind, may have a relationship to DU

bombing in Afghanistan. If we think cancer is a problem now wait

until more DU is released in wars against terror and for regime

change, on mistaken Intelligence reports.

 

More than 500 tons of DU munitions have been dispensed in

Afghanistan. Professor Yagasaki calculated that 800 tons of DU is the

atomicity equivalent to 83,000 Nagasaki bombs in a paper presented

at the World Uranium Weapons Conference in Hamburg in October 2003 (

5 months ago ). The amount of DU used in Iraq in 2003 is equivalent

to nearly 250,000 Nagasaki bombs ( Busby and Leuren Moret have

calculated that 1900 tons of DU is equivalent to 60 TBq of Alfa and

Beta particulate activity).

 

We need not ennumerate the DU munition types used in Iraq 199,

Kosovo 1999, Afghanistan 2001-04 and Iraq 2003. They have been

dispensed by all air / ground and sea systems on innocent civilians.

DU burns intensely and is very hard. It releases Uranium Oxide. The

aerosol contains particles of 0.5-5 microns in size, once they are in

the air or dust they are inhaled or ingested, including from

contaminated soil. Once in the lungs one such particle is equivalent

to having one XRay per hour, for life. Because it is impossible to

remove, the victim is gradually irradiated. Still births, birth

defects, leukemia, damaged central nervous systems and other cancers

have been common in children born since 1991. Child leukemia has risen

600 % in areas of Iraq as reported by the Netherland Visie

Foundation. Beyond just the health

consequences, DU munitions are in fact, weapons of Silent Mass

Destruction in so far as the consequences of their usage are vast,

indiscriminate and violate all Human Rights Conventions . Tora Bora ,

Kabu , Paktia , Karises or underwater supply tunnels have been

contaminated forever. All this has been documented in a comprehensive

paper Uranium wars : The Pentagon steps up its use of Radio-active

Munitions, by Marc W. Herold to whom this paper owes sincere

acknowledgement.

 

In another paper Dr Mohammed Daud Miraki, Director Afghan DU

Recovery Fund, quotes George W Bush , we will smoke them out,

condemning the unborn, the living and the future generations of

Afghans and the neighbouring people to a pre-determined, death

sentence. After the destruction of our village, I realised that the

Americans had sentenced us all to death. When I saw my deformed

grandson I realised my hopes for the future have vanished This time

we are part of the invisible genocide brought on by America a silent

death from which we will not escape ( Jooma Khan of Laghman

province..March 2003.) Similar stories are repeated from Paktita

province of Jelly Babies. Pregnant women are afraid of giving

birthThis is the legacy of US ushered liberation, freedom and

democracy. DU is cheap for the US, utilising nuclear waste, cheaper

than titanium and tungsten, not for the liberated (non-DU is still

cheaper as it is the uranium feedstock, pre-enrichment).

 

The Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC), Washington DC, and

the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (1991) - Steve Fetter and Frank Von

Hippel have reported on extensive research by Field teams of the

UMRC in Afghanistan. Testimonies of fathers and mothers are

horrifying What else do the Americans want ? They killed us , they

turned our new-borns into horrific deformations, and they turned our

farm lands into grave-yards, and destroyed our homes. On top of all

this their planes fly over and spray us with bullets.. we have nothing

to lose ..we

will fight them the same way we fought the previous invaders (Sayed

Gharib at Tora Bora).

 

Radiological dispensing devices or warfare is the latest of the

weapons of the new millenium, but it singes even those who use it , as

shown in the after effects of the tests at home ground in the US,

where evidence of cognitive damage during early infancy have been

compiled. For us in Eurasia, Pakistan and India we have a new health

epidemic to drain our scarce resources.

 

As world citizens we need to focus on a new scourge, the reality

of the PNAC - Rebuilding Americas Defenses, Strategy, Forces and

Resources for a New Century.

 

The Report notes that , Much has been written in recent years

about the need to transform the conventional armed forces of the

United States to take advantage of the Revolution in Military

Affairs. Our military requires a dramatic transformation , lest we

lose our ability to fight the future unconventional wars .. some may

be fought in cyberspace, others under water or in outer space . And

some even within our bodies.

 

Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol and others are some of the men

representing contemporary power centers, who define US policy.

History indicates that the men who define US military policy from the

shadows , are worthy of our attention.

 

GENETIC BOMBS

 

When creating genetic-bombs or weapons to target specific

groups; genetic profiles are subtler and more accurate than the coarse

pseudo category called race. The group with ADHD ( the Edison Gene)

uniquely share common inherited variations in their dopamine

regulating genes regardless of race, geography or ethnicity. Thus

anybody whos part of a group with a shared genetic profile may be at

risk in the future.

 

A virus or bacteria may attack only a particular type of person,

killing, disabling or sterilising only those of a particular gene

profile.

Threatening a particular type would be sufficient political black-mail.

 

Wolfowitz, Kristol and their colleagues suggested that the

Pentagon should be thinking about not just germ warfare of which they

have plenty of capabilities, but gene warfare.

 

Genetic terra-forming could replace diplomacy, or it could

change the face of politics if an organism got loose that killed all

the people of a particular minority community who tend to vote for a

particular political party.

 

According to the PNAC, Genetically targeted weapons could

change world politics for ever, and the report notes, advanced forms

of biological warfare that can target specific geno-types may

transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically

useful tool

 

To conclude 4th generation micro-nukes, with their war-head

composition, were deliberated upon and decided at the US Airforce

Strategic Command Headquarters at the Offutt Airforce Base, Nebraska,

between the top Corporates /weapon manufacturers and the US military

brass. The former not only have prior knowledge of numbers and types

of all types of nuclear weapons, but the locations of the planned and

approved targets, globally.

 

This meeting took place on Hiroshima Day, 6th August, 2003, and

to reiterate, the aim was to define a new generation of nuclear

weapons to be used on a pre-emptive basis against rogue enemies and

terrorist organisations. (mini-nukes have an explosive capacity

between one-third and six times a Hiroshima bomb).

 

In this Strangelovian logic, nuclear weapons are now viewed as a

means to ensuring peace and security against non-existent WMDs.

 

AT A GLANCE:

 

1. In the 2003 war, the IraqiS were subjected to the Pentagons

radioactive arsenal, mainly in the urban centers, unlike in the

deserts in 1991. The aggregate effects of illnesses and long term

disabilities and genetic birth defects will be apparent only 2008

onwards.

 

2. By now, half of all the 697,000 US soldiers involved in the 1991

war have reported serious illnesses. According the American Gulf War

Veterans Association, more than 30% of these soldiers are chronically

ill, and receiving disability benefits from the Veterans Administration.

 

3. The number of disabled veterans is shockingly high . They are in

their mid-thirties and should have been in the prime of health.

 

4. Near the Republican Palace where US troops stood guard and over

1000 employees walked in and out, the radiation readings were the

hottest in Iraq, at nearly 1900 times background radiation levels.

 

5. At a roadside stand, selling fresh bunches of parsley, mint, and

onions, children played on a burnt out Iraqi tank just outside

Baghdad, the Geiger counter registered 1000 times normal background

radiation.

 

6. The Pentagon and the United Nations estimate that the US and

Britain used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of armor piercing shells made of DU

during attacks in March-April 2003, far more than the 1991 Gulf War

(this does not include air dispensed DU munitions and missiles),

wrote the Post Intelligencer.

 

7. An otherwise useless by-product of the uranium enrichment process,

DU is attractive to military contractors because it is so cheap and

often offered for free by the Government.

 

8. The long term effects, as Dr Asaf Durakovic elaborates, after the

early neurological symptoms are cancer, and related radiation

illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, joint and muscle pain,

neurological and/or nerve damage, mood disturbances, auto-immuno

deficiciencies, lung and kidney damage, vision problems, skin rupture,

increase in miscarriages, maternal mortality and genetic birth

defects/deformation.

 

9. For years the US government described the Gulf War Syndrome as a

post traumatic stress disorder. It was labelled as a psychological

problem or simply as mysterious unrelated ailments much in the same

way as health problems of Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange

poisoning.

( With acknowledgements to Sara Flounders, for 1-9 above,

Coordinator of the DU education program ).

 

I also gratefully acknowledge the facts learnt from

evidence led by scientists/papers presented and accepted by the

International Criminal Tribunal on Afghanistan, at Tokyo on 13-16

Decembe, 2003 and earlier at the World Depleted Uranium Weapons

Conference, Hamburg 16-19 October, 2003, by Leuren Moret, whose

continuing contribution to this cause against Silent Wepons of

Mass Destruction (SWMD), in defense of humanity, deserves our support.

 

Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat may be contacted at vbhagwat.