Depleted uranium: Devastation at Home and Abroad

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_http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html_

(http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html)

 

Depleted uranium: Devastation at Home and Abroad

by Leuren Moret

 

 

San Francisco Bay View, 7 November 2001

 

Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 23 January

2002

 

 

 

--

 

“The little fox is still. The dogs of war have made their kill.†These are

the words of famous Black poet and writer Langston Hughes, commenting on war.

He couldn’t have said it better.

 

Few communities have felt the impact of war more than Hunters Point. The

impact of war is not felt just overseas, in a distant country. It is right here

in our own backyards: death and illness from radiation exposure, chemical

exposure, and the economic devastation that ensues when the military moves on

and leaves the mess behind.

 

The bombing of Afghanistan by U.S. government forces has direct ties to

Hunters Point. It was at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that a radioactive

material called depleted uranium (DU), currently being used in the bombing of

Afghanistan, was first tested by the Navy.

 

The United States now has hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium

piled in heaps outdoors at DOE facilities. It is 99.5 percent of what is left

when the most fissionable isotope (one of three) is extracted from naturally

occurring uranium. The extracted uranium is used in nuclear weapons or

nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors. The 99.5 percent that is discarded cannot be

put

back into the mines it came out of because, after crushing and processing,

the volume is greater than before it was removed from the mines. “Depleted

uranium†does not mean it is not radioactive - it is very radioactive and

very

dangerous to all living things.

 

The Department of Defense got the bright idea of using depleted uranium in

weapons because: it is very dense, which gives it greater penetrating power to

destroy tanks, etc.; it is “pyrophoric,†which means that upon impact, it

explodes into fire and smoke, creating submicroscopic radioactive particles

which travel great distances and can remain suspended until it is “rained

outâ€

of the atmosphere; it is cheap, and passes the responsibility for disposal

from DOE on to civilians (that means us) and the environment.

 

Since depleted uranium is so radioactive, it will continue acting internally

on living things long after the battlefield has been cleared - with delayed

effects, which impact soldiers and civilians for the rest of their lives. The

half life of uranium is 4.5 billion years - in ten half-lives radioactivity

becomes an insignificant amount. In 45 billion years it will no longer be a

danger. In other words, it’s “fun†for the DOD, it’s “cheap†for the

arms

manufacturers (who reap good profits by making it), and “good riddanceâ€

says

DOE (with 480,000 tons on hand).

 

The Navy first tested depleted uranium munitions in 1977 at Hunters Point.

From the USS Bigelow, the Phalanx Weapons System fired 3,000 rounds of depleted

uranium penetrators per minute. The tests exceeded expectations and

production started in 1978 to fill orders for 23 U.S. Navy and 14 foreign

military

systems.

 

The Army A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed “the Warthog,†fired most of the

depleted uranium munitions in the Gulf War, between 300 to 800 tons. The Abrams

Tank, the Marines M-60, the U.S. F-16 and U.S. Apache helicopters have been

fitted to fire DU munitions. Many cruise missiles contain DU balance weights.

 

The use of DU is not being covered up, but the health hazards have been.

Gulf War Syndrome not only killed, maimed, and made soldiers sick, they brought

it home. In a study of 251 Gulf War veterans’ families in Mississippi, 67

percent of their children were born without eyes, ears or a brain, had fused

fingers, blood infections, respiratory problems or thyroid and other organ

malformations.

 

The U.S. has manufactured and tested depleted uranium in 39 states. The

cleanup bill — just for the depleted uranium — at the Jefferson Proving

Ground

in Indiana would be $7.8 billion. The DU has not been cleaned up, but DOD has

closed the area. Communities living near these test ranges will continue to be

exposed and suffer health problems.

 

For 40 years, the Sierra Army Depot in Northern California has burned

millions of tons of old munitions — including 20 times more DU than was used

in the

entire Gulf War. The radioactive smoke and ash, full of heavy metals,

phosgene gas and dioxins, contaminated local communities as well as that of many

Native Americans living downwind — especially the Pyramid Lake Paiute

Reservation.

 

The health problems in those communities have been horrendous. The Sierra

Army depot burned old munitions in open pits — and was the single largest

contributor to air pollution in California — 17-23 percent. Norman Harry,

former

Pyramid Lake Tribal Chairman, and Nevada Senator Harry Reid, worked with others

to shut it down. A month ago, Lassen County refused to renew the burn permit

for the Sierra Army Depot — finally.

 

The United States has used DU weaponry in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Serbia,

Vieques Island, and Torishima Island near Okinawa, Japan; and sold DU to at

least

23 countries at great profits. As mentioned earlier, DU is part of the

arsenal the U.S. and British military forces are using against Afghanistan.

 

The depleted uranium that has contaminated the Gulf States since the Gulf

War can be detected on gamma meters in Greece and Bulgaria on windy days. It’s

the weapon that “keeps givingâ€... and keeps killing.

 

DU is also used as ballast in commercial and military planes. On Sept. 11, a

hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon. Dr. Janette Sherman, research

associate with the Radiation and Public Health Project, had spoken a few days

earlier at a Sept. 6 press conference in Hunters Point. After the Sept. 11

attacks, Dr. Sherman notified the Nuclear Information and Resource Service that

she detected elevated levels of radiation in her home, located seven miles from

the Pentagon. Dr. Sherman still had a gamma meter she had borrowed for her

visit to Hunter’s Point. The EPA, the FBI, and other federal agencies,

including HMRU (Hazardous Materials Response Units), USAR teams, the local fire

department and the Virginia HAZMAT were notified, and an investigation began at

the Pentagon.

 

A pile of rubble from the crash was found to be radioactive, but EPA

official Bill Bellinger of the agency’s Region III Environmental Radiation

Monitoring Office was unconcerned when contacted by Diane D’Arrigo from the

Nuclear

Information and Resource Service. Bellinger indicated that it was probably

depleted uranium and mentioned that americium 241could also be scattered around

the crash site. He was convinced that depleted uranium is not radiologically

toxic, but commented that it is more of a hazard when aerosolized.

 

Firefighters, Pentagon personnel, and communities nearby did breathe the

smoke and ash from the fire. The agencies that are supposed to be protecting us

are not. There was no follow-up investigation.

 

And what about the World Trade Center in New York? Radiation issues almost

never get coverage from mainstream media. It is a taboo subject, a silent

killer, as Hunter’s Point residents know too well.

 

The true patriots in this country are two women: Barbara Lee for saying

“noâ€

to needless further devastation of an already war-torn country, and Dona

Spring, who brought the issue to the table in the Berkeley City Council.

Berkeley is the only city in the United States to pass a resolution calling for

an

end to the bombing of Afghanistan.

 

Whether or not we agree with the military action in Afghanistan, our

soldiers have fought for hundreds of years to give us the right to say yes …

or no.

War is how our “leaders†bleed us, too. It is economically, radiologically

and chemically devastating at home as well as abroad.

 

 

 

--

 

Useful links: For an article about how DU is currently being used to bomb

Afghanistan, visit _www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.html_

(http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.html) .

 

For information about the testing of DU in Hunters Point Shipyard via the

USS Bigelow and the Phalanx Weapons System, visit

_www.spar.navy.mil/ships/ddg995/wep-phal.html_

(http://www.spar.navy.mil/ships/ddg995/wep-phal.html) .

 

To read an article about the use of DU as ballast in commercial as well as

military planes, _www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dhap997.html_

(http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dhap997.html) .

 

The Radiation and Public Health Project website is located at

_www.radiation.org_ (http://www.radiation.org/) .

 

Visit the Nuclear Information and Resource Service at _www.nirs.org_

(http://www.nirs.org/) .

 

 

 

--

 

Leuren Moret, an environmental geologist and independent scientist, is

president of Scientists for Indigenous People. Leuren Moret can be reached at

_leurenmoret_ (leurenmoret) .

 

Copyright Leuren Moret 2002. Reprinted for fair use only.

 

 

 

--

 

The URL of this article is: _http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html_

(http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html)

 

 

“The little fox is still. The dogs of war have made their kill.†These are

the words of famous Black poet and writer Langston Hughes, commenting on war.

He couldn’t have said it better.

 

Few communities have felt the impact of war more than Hunters Point. The

impact of war is not felt just overseas, in a distant country. It is right here

in our own backyards: death and illness from radiation exposure, chemical

exposure, and the economic devastation that ensues when the military moves on

and leaves the mess behind.

 

The bombing of Afghanistan by U.S. government forces has direct ties to

Hunters Point. It was at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that a radioactive

material called depleted uranium (DU), currently being used in the bombing of

Afghanistan, was first tested by the Navy.

 

The United States now has hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium

piled in heaps outdoors at DOE facilities. It is 99.5 percent of what is left

when the most fissionable isotope (one of three) is extracted from naturally

occurring uranium. The extracted uranium is used in nuclear weapons or

nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors. The 99.5 percent that is discarded cannot be

put

back into the mines it came out of because, after crushing and processing,

the volume is greater than before it was removed from the mines. “Depleted

uranium†does not mean it is not radioactive - it is very radioactive and

very

dangerous to all living things.

 

The Department of Defense got the bright idea of using depleted uranium in

weapons because: it is very dense, which gives it greater penetrating power to

destroy tanks, etc.; it is “pyrophoric,†which means that upon impact, it

explodes into fire and smoke, creating submicroscopic radioactive particles

which travel great distances and can remain suspended until it is “rained

outâ€

of the atmosphere; it is cheap, and passes the responsibility for disposal

from DOE on to civilians (that means us) and the environment.

 

Since depleted uranium is so radioactive, it will continue acting internally

on living things long after the battlefield has been cleared - with delayed

effects, which impact soldiers and civilians for the rest of their lives. The

half life of uranium is 4.5 billion years - in ten half-lives radioactivity

becomes an insignificant amount. In 45 billion years it will no longer be a

danger. In other words, it’s “fun†for the DOD, it’s “cheap†for the

arms

manufacturers (who reap good profits by making it), and “good riddanceâ€

says

DOE (with 480,000 tons on hand).

 

The Navy first tested depleted uranium munitions in 1977 at Hunters Point.

From the USS Bigelow, the Phalanx Weapons System fired 3,000 rounds of depleted

uranium penetrators per minute. The tests exceeded expectations and

production started in 1978 to fill orders for 23 U.S. Navy and 14 foreign

military

systems.

 

The Army A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed “the Warthog,†fired most of the

depleted uranium munitions in the Gulf War, between 300 to 800 tons. The Abrams

Tank, the Marines M-60, the U.S. F-16 and U.S. Apache helicopters have been

fitted to fire DU munitions. Many cruise missiles contain DU balance weights.

 

The use of DU is not being covered up, but the health hazards have been.

Gulf War Syndrome not only killed, maimed, and made soldiers sick, they brought

it home. In a study of 251 Gulf War veterans’ families in Mississippi, 67

percent of their children were born without eyes, ears or a brain, had fused

fingers, blood infections, respiratory problems or thyroid and other organ

malformations.

 

The U.S. has manufactured and tested depleted uranium in 39 states. The

cleanup bill — just for the depleted uranium — at the Jefferson Proving

Ground

in Indiana would be $7.8 billion. The DU has not been cleaned up, but DOD has

closed the area. Communities living near these test ranges will continue to be

exposed and suffer health problems.

 

For 40 years, the Sierra Army Depot in Northern California has burned

millions of tons of old munitions — including 20 times more DU than was used

in the

entire Gulf War. The radioactive smoke and ash, full of heavy metals,

phosgene gas and dioxins, contaminated local communities as well as that of many

Native Americans living downwind — especially the Pyramid Lake Paiute

Reservation.

 

The health problems in those communities have been horrendous. The Sierra

Army depot burned old munitions in open pits — and was the single largest

contributor to air pollution in California — 17-23 percent. Norman Harry,

former

Pyramid Lake Tribal Chairman, and Nevada Senator Harry Reid, worked with others

to shut it down. A month ago, Lassen County refused to renew the burn permit

for the Sierra Army Depot — finally.

 

The United States has used DU weaponry in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Serbia,

Vieques Island, and Torishima Island near Okinawa, Japan; and sold DU to at

least

23 countries at great profits. As mentioned earlier, DU is part of the

arsenal the U.S. and British military forces are using against Afghanistan.

 

The depleted uranium that has contaminated the Gulf States since the Gulf

War can be detected on gamma meters in Greece and Bulgaria on windy days. It’s

the weapon that “keeps givingâ€... and keeps killing.

 

DU is also used as ballast in commercial and military planes. On Sept. 11, a

hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon. Dr. Janette Sherman, research

associate with the Radiation and Public Health Project, had spoken a few days

earlier at a Sept. 6 press conference in Hunters Point. After the Sept. 11

attacks, Dr. Sherman notified the Nuclear Information and Resource Service that

she detected elevated levels of radiation in her home, located seven miles from

the Pentagon. Dr. Sherman still had a gamma meter she had borrowed for her

visit to Hunter’s Point. The EPA, the FBI, and other federal agencies,

including HMRU (Hazardous Materials Response Units), USAR teams, the local fire

department and the Virginia HAZMAT were notified, and an investigation began at

the Pentagon.

 

A pile of rubble from the crash was found to be radioactive, but EPA

official Bill Bellinger of the agency’s Region III Environmental Radiation

Monitoring Office was unconcerned when contacted by Diane D’Arrigo from the

Nuclear

Information and Resource Service. Bellinger indicated that it was probably

depleted uranium and mentioned that americium 241could also be scattered around

the crash site. He was convinced that depleted uranium is not radiologically

toxic, but commented that it is more of a hazard when aerosolized.

 

Firefighters, Pentagon personnel, and communities nearby did breathe the

smoke and ash from the fire. The agencies that are supposed to be protecting us

are not. There was no follow-up investigation.

 

And what about the World Trade Center in New York? Radiation issues almost

never get coverage from mainstream media. It is a taboo subject, a silent

killer, as Hunter’s Point residents know too well.

 

The true patriots in this country are two women: Barbara Lee for saying

“noâ€

to needless further devastation of an already war-torn country, and Dona

Spring, who brought the issue to the table in the Berkeley City Council.

Berkeley is the only city in the United States to pass a resolution calling for

an

end to the bombing of Afghanistan.

 

Whether or not we agree with the military action in Afghanistan, our

soldiers have fought for hundreds of years to give us the right to say yes …

or no.

War is how our “leaders†bleed us, too. It is economically, radiologically

and chemically devastating at home as well as abroad.

 

 

 

--

 

Useful links: For an article about how DU is currently being used to bomb

Afghanistan, visit _www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.html_

(http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.html) .

 

For information about the testing of DU in Hunters Point Shipyard via the

USS Bigelow and the Phalanx Weapons System, visit

_www.spar.navy.mil/ships/ddg995/wep-phal.html_

(http://www.spar.navy.mil/ships/ddg995/wep-phal.html) .

 

To read an article about the use of DU as ballast in commercial as well as

military planes, _www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dhap997.html_

(http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dhap997.html) .

 

The Radiation and Public Health Project website is located at

_www.radiation.org_ (http://www.radiation.org/) .

 

Visit the Nuclear Information and Resource Service at _www.nirs.org_

(http://www.nirs.org/) .

 

 

 

--

 

Leuren Moret, an environmental geologist and independent scientist, is

president of Scientists for Indigenous People. Leuren Moret can be reached at

_leurenmoret_ (leurenmoret) .

 

Copyright Leuren Moret 2002. Reprinted for fair use only.

 

 

 

--

 

The URL of this article is: _http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html_

(http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR201A.html)