Grassroots Actions for Peace

1. Weapons may only be used in the legal field of battle, defined as legal military targets of the enemy in the war. Weapons may not have an adverse effect off the legal field of battle. (The "territorial" test).
2. Weapons can only be used for the duration of an armed conflict. A weapon that is used or continues to act after the war is over violates this criterion. (The "temporal" test).
3. Weapons may not be unduly inhumane. (The "humaneness" test). The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 use the terms “unnecessary suffering” and ”superfluous injury” for this concept.
4. Weapons may not have an unduly negative effect on the natural environment. (The "environmental" test).

• Urge your Congressperson to co-sign the Serrano Bill (HR 207), "The Depleted Uranium Screening and Testing Act". We want "best practice" testing of veterans exposed to depleted uranium dust and the best health possible for our veterans. The Serrano Bill introduced by Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) would do this.
  
  
• In Massachusetts, urge your local legislators to co-sponsor the Massachusetts bill, HB 3713, "An Act Relative to Exposures to Hazardous Materials by certain members of the National Guard, which also asks for 'best practice' testing of veterans exposed to DU dust (See Bill).
  
  
• Urge your state legislators to co-sponsor ‘Best Practice’ Testing of veterans exposed to depleted uranium dust and the best health care possible.  Legislation on testing:
  National Legislation (Serano Bill)
  State Legislation (CT & LA)
  
  
• See to it that the Nuclear Metals/Starmet site in Concord, MA where DU penetrators were manufactured for 25 years, is cleaned up. The site is contaminated by toxic and radioactive wastes.  
• View EPA Site Listing 'NMI: A Depleted Uranium Toxic Waste Site'
• Nuclear Metals/Starmet Corp. site cleanup progress lauded by environmentalists
• Metalworking firm agrees to vacate site

The Dali Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists has given his support for ICBUW's campaign for a global ban on uranium weapons:

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is renowned for his support for environmental and human rights campaigns and his strict adherence to the principles of non-violence have won him recognition around the world.

He firmly believes that violence begets violence and therefore it is no solution to a lasting settlement of conflicts; believing instead in the settlement of conflicts through dialogue and compromise so that a lasting solution is found without one being the victor and other the loser.    See [ entire article ]

European Union should set an example for the International Community for a worldwide moratorium on Uranium weapons:

"The use of uranium weapons has devastating consequences on human health and the environment. That's why we call for an immediate end to the use of uranium weapons and for the disclosure of all locations where uranium weapons have been used".   See [ entire document ]

U.S. on a path to becoming "the world's nuclear garbage waste dump:

Bart Gordon, the Tennessee Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Science and Technology, does not want the United States to receive low-level radioactive waste from Italy for processing in Tennessee and disposal in a Utah waste site.   See [ entire article ]

Trying to figure this out. Maybe you can help me? I don't have all the answers - but I sure wish I did! The US is bombing Hawaii - yes, its own country! Can someone please help me to think this through!  See [ entire article ]

THE URANIUM INDUSTRY AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA:

...
The most common health risk associated with uranium mining is breathing radon-222 gas, which continues to seep from the crushed ore and mill tailings for hundreds of thousands of years. It is therefore essential to contain this material, and prevent it from either blowing away or spilling into water supplies.
...
See [ entire article ]

Impressive timeline display of nuclear events from 1941 to 2004 
view presentation ]

KABUL, April 20 (Reuters) - The Afghan Public Health Ministry denied on Sunday a media report that there was evidence of nuclear contamination in the Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

The radio report said the ministry was investigating claims the Tora Bora mountains had been contaminated with radioactive material, the ministry said in a statement.   See [ entire article ]

GAO study says market price is right:

WASHINGTON - About 40,000 canisters of depleted uranium are spread out in rows at the Paducah, Ky., Gaseous Diffusion Plant. An additional 20,000 are stored at a sister facility in Piketon.

For years, the canisters and their contents have been considered worthless waste.

Not anymore.

With worldwide uranium supplies tight and prices soaring, those canisters in Kentucky and Ohio are getting a new look as a potential moneymaker for the federal government.   See [ entire article ]

Plans to bury radioactive waste from Italy in Utah's West Desert have become a game of hot potato between federal regulators and the state government.

Both Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission deny they have the authority to stop the Italy waste.

While they point fingers at one another, saying only the other has the power to settle the issue, the plan has attracted an unprecedented interest among Americans, and even a few Europeans.   See [ entire article ]

PRIZREN, FRANKFURT -- The villagers in Planeja, an ethnic Albanian settlement near Prizren, are increasingly dying of cancer, Beta reports:

The news agency's Refki Alija says that the village, on the slopes of Mt. Paštrik in southern Kosovo, has some 1,000 inhabitants, many of them sought-after bakers who worked all over the former Yugoslavia, to spend their earnings building huge houses in their native village.

But the village, only kilometers away from the border with neighboring Albania, suffered greatly as NATO air strikes targeted nearby Yugoslav Army, VJ, forces during the 1999 war.

In early June that year, shortly before the end of the war, U.S. bombers targeted military structures when they dropped depleted uranium bombs. But what they hit were the civilian homes of Planeja, razing almost all of the buildings to the ground.  See [ entire article ]

A ship carrying 6,700 tons of sand contaminated with low levels of hazardous waste at a U.S. Army base in Kuwait during the first Gulf War will be unloaded at the Port of Longview on April 22.

The vessel BBC Alabama is delivering 306 containers of the sand, which contains low levels of uranium, to the port, which will then be loaded onto trains bound for a disposal site in Grand View, Idaho, said Doug Averett, the port’s director of operations.   See [ entire article ]

In June 2007 Gregory Hartl, World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman for Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments, claimed that the proceedings of the international conference held in Geneva in 1995 on the health consequences of the Chernobyl disaster had been duly published (1). This was not so. And the proceedings of the Kiev conference in 2001 have never been published either. Challenged by journalists a few months later, the WHO repeated the claim, providing references to a collection of abstracts for the Kiev conference and just 12 articles (out of hundreds) submitted to the Geneva conference.

Since 26 April 2007 (the 21st anniversary of Chernobyl), a large placard has informed WHO employees each day that one million children in the area around Chernobyl are irradiated and ill. Independent WHO, the group organising the action, accuses the WHO of a cover-up of the health consequences of the catastrophe, and of failing to assist populations in danger.  See [ entire article ]

UC Students Demanding “No More Nukes In Our Name!:

For over six decades, the University of California has been the United States government’s primary nuclear weapons research and design contractor. It has managed the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore nuclear weapons compounds since their inceptions. Scientists at these laboratories – UC employees, all – have designed every nuclear warhead in the US arsenal, of which there have been 65 designated types (1). UC nuclear weaponeers have also carried out close to every US nuclear weapons test detonation since the dawn of the Nuclear Age, of which the official tally is 1,054.(2)  See [ entire article ]

"Fourth generation" reactors could be built with a sealed load of fuel that lasts the lifetime of the reactor – like a disposable gadget with a non-replacable battery:

A US government-led plan to design small nuclear reactors for deployment in developing countries is continuing despite ongoing fears about security and proliferation risks.

The Bush administration has ear-marked $20 million in its 2009 budget toward the US Department of Energy's efforts to design nuclear power plants in the 250-to-500 megawatt range as part of its Global Nuclear Energy Program (GNEP).   See [ entire article ]

The poisoned legacy:

Issue includes articles about the history of DU weapons, facts about the DU cycle, and an article on DU health effects in Iraq and problems at WHO by Doug Weir. There are articles also by Herbert Reed, an Iraq war veteran, one by John LaForge on Alliant Tech, the largest producer of DU munitions, and an interview with Belgian ICBUW activists about events leading to the passage of Belgian's domestic law banning DU weapons. There are statements as well by EUROMIL, the European Organization of Military Associations and by Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament.  See [ entire article ]

The UK Ministry of Defence has announced five days of test firing for its CHARM3 Challenger tank ammunition, beginning today.

According to the BBC, the trials involving the DU shells will take place over the next five days in order to carry out safety checks needed for military operations. The MoD said that only a small amount of the ammunition would be used and full monitoring would take place. The tests in southern Scotland will be conducted by the defence research agency, QinetiQ.  See [ entire article ]

Basra, Feb 26, (VOI) - During a Basra-based conference on February 25, 2008 on cancer in southern Iraq, experts surmised that radioactive pollution, particularly in Basra, that was caused by the latest wars, engenders an increase in cancer cases there.   See [ entire article ]

In a recent press release, a Hawaiian peace group, Malu Aina (“Land of Peace”) issued a public statement on the bombings of a military training area on the Big Island of Hawaii. The monthly exercises involve United States Air Force B-2 stealth aircraft dropping bombs on the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA).   See [ entire article ]

This week EPA began a “Time Critical Removal Action” at the Nuclear Metals, Inc. Superfund site, in Concord Mass., to remove containers of hazardous substances within the facility that pose a risk of fire or explosion.

EPA has undertaken the action at the request of the Concord Fire Department which expressed concern about the facility’s ability to adequately manage combustible and flammable hazardous materials following a June 2007 fire at the site.  See [  entire document ]

Hanford workers are preparing to start next week digging up radioactive and chemical waste that could spontaneously catch fire when exposed to air.

"We're planning for the worst case," said John Darby, project manager for the Department of Energy's contractor, Washington Closure Hanford.   See [ entire article (link corrected) ]

Italy has agreed to the first ever widescale compensation package for DU contaminated veterans:

In early December, the Italian Ministry of Defence gave evidence to the Italian parliament for a second time over concerns about the level of cancers in Italian troops and peacekeepers. The Commission on DU, based in the Senate, heard that the latest estimate of cancer victims has risen to 77 dead and 312 ill.

There has been considerable disquiet in Italy recently over the number of young and otherwise healthy service personnel who have succumbed to cancers after serving in Iraq and the Balkans between 1996 and 2006.   See [ entire article ]

Sami Rasouli, Dr. Najim Askouri and Dr. Assad Al-Janabi, members of Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT) in Najaf, visited with Christian Peacemaker Teams CPT) in Suleimaniya, Kurdish Iraq, on December 10 and 11. The visit was an opportunity to report the recent activities of the respective peacemaker groups and learn to know new people. But the primary activity was a forum on depleted uranium (DU) presented by Drs. Assad and Najim.

Dr. Assad is the director of the Pathology Department at the 400-bed public hospital in Najaf. Dr. Najim is a nuclear physicist, trained in Britain, and one of the leading nuclear researchers in Iraq until his departure in 1998. They have worked as an MPT team documenting information about the health impact on Najaf of depleted uranium weapons used during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars.

This was not an exhaustive study because of the limits of personnel, resources and equipment. But it did rely on accumulated public data, thorough research, and a major contribution of time and energy. The focus was Najaf, a city of over one million people, and the rural areas in the governate. The area is about 180 miles from where DU was used in the First Gulf War.

Starting in 2004 when the political situation and devastation of the health care infrastructure were at their worst, there were 251 reported cases of cancer. By 2006, when the numbers more accurately reflected the real situation, that figure had risen to 688. Already in 2007, 801 cancer cases have been reported. Those figures portray an incidence rate of 28.21 by 2006, even after screening out cases that came into the Najaf Hospital from outside the governate, a number which contrasts with the normal rate of 8-12 cases of cancer per 100,000 people.

Two observations are striking. One, there has been a dramatic increase in the cancers that are related to radiation exposure, especially the very rare soft tissue sarcoma and leukemia. Two, the age at which cancer begins in an individual has been dropping rapidly, with incidents of breast cancer at 16, colon cancer at 8, and liposarcoma at 1.5 years. Dr. Assad noted that 6% of the cancers reported occurred in the 11-20 age range and another 18% in ages 21-30. See [ entire article ]

"Every single worker we tested, people who actually worked in the plant for a number of years, all of them continue to excrete very high levels of depleted uranium in their urine," research study scientist Randall Parrish said.

Former National Lead Site

These people still have levels of uranium in their bodies, which could be capable of causing some sever illnesses. Those illnesses include decreased kidney and lung function, brain impairment and reproductive impairment.  See [ entire article ]

Also see ' Uranium found in residents and workers near former National Lead's Colonie plant'

NL Industries DU Contamination Press Conference Video Link

Activists from the Belgian and International Coalitions to Ban Uranium Weapons, Netwerk Vlaanderen and Friends of the Earth today organised a “radioactive buffet” for staff in the entrance hall of the Brussels offices of The Bank of New York Mellon:

The buffet was organised to oppose the involvement of the bank in funding the production of controversial depleted uranium weapons. These weapons are both chemically toxic and radioactive, and have caused serious health consequences for both military and civilians.   See [ entire article ]

Tribal officials ask Congress for $500 million to deal with wastes left by mining for bombs, nuclear power plants.:

WASHINGTON -- Navajo tribal officials asked Congress on Tuesday for at least $500 million to finish cleaning up lingering contamination on the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest from Cold War-era uranium mining, an industry nurtured by its only customer until 1971: the United States government.  See [ entire article ]

Bill Would Fund Cleanup Effort-Critical First Step To Redevelopment Of Region:

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today introduced new legislation to continue the clean up of Piketon’s uranium enrichment plant. The authority for the Uranium Enrichment Decommissioning and Decontamination (D & D) Fund of the Department of Energy (DOE), which currently funds clean up efforts, is set to expire this year. Brown’s legislation would continue funding for the cleanup program for ten more years.  See [ entire article ]

Medical experts and U.S. senators accused the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday of failing to take seriously illnesses suffered by U.S. 1991 Gulf War veterans and doing too little to help them.

Expert witnesses called before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee testified that Gulf War illnesses are real, serious and widespread among U.S. troops sent to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The issue has been controversial for years.   See [ entire article ]

AlliantACTION has held a weekly vigil in front of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) headquarters for more than ten years on every Wednesday morning. However, to honor Gandhi and to broaden the circle of protestors beyond the normal group of 20-50 activists, the group added to the weekly presence by gathering on Tuesday, October 3.

In a park near the Edina offices, the group began with a song and reciting a “Commitment to Nonviolence” pledge. A poem was read to the circle and a brief talk informed those gathered about “Why We Focus on Alliant Techsystems”. Besides objecting to “profiting from war and death” and that “ATK sells its weapons all over the world –in more than 60 countries”, specific mention was made to the “illegal and indiscriminate weapons” designed, manufactured, and sold by ATK. Cluster bombs, anti-personnel landmines, and depleted uranium weapons were included in the list. See [ entire article ]

Dreamworks' summer blockbuster Transformers opened with the devastation of a U.S. military base at the hands of an evil space robot. Luckily, the movie depicted a special robot-killing weapon to defeat the evil robot: the sabot round. In fact, the sabot round is a very real weapon that has been used in both Iraq wars. But because of its dangerous health effects, the ongoing use of this weapon may constitute a war crime.

The sabot round is nothing more than a lightweight frame containing a solid, two-foot-long dart made from depleted uranium, or DU. Forged from leftover nuclear metal ore waste, DU is incredibly dense, allowing it to penetrate most conventional armor, and it is used primarily to penetrate tanks. It's also pyrophoric, which means the dart spontaneously ignites on contact with air, producing intense heat. A single DU sabot round will punch through a tank and engulf the interior in molten plasma. The resulting conflagration often burns hot enough to ignite the enemy vehicle's ammunition and fuel, completely destroying it. For the Department of Defense, DU is cheap and readily available: The Cold War left the United States with about half a million tons of the stuff.  See [ entire article ]

By any reasonable standard of biomedical proof, there is no safe dose, which means that just one decaying radioactive atom can produce permanent mutation in a cell's genetic molecules. My own work showed this in 1990 for xrays, gamma rays, and beta particles.....

It follows from such evidence that citizens worldwide have a strong biological basis for opposing activities which produce an appreciable risk of exposing humans and others to plutonium and other radioactive pollution at any level.   See [ entire article ]

Passing of a Giant

Gulf War Veteran Tells Local Audiences That Depleted Uranium Causing Countless Ailments:

SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) --
Gulf War veteran Jerry Wheat of Los Lunas spoke about his experiences with depleted uranium munitions Friday, Sept. 29, at the Disabled American Veterans Hall and at the Socorro Public Library.

Wheat said he was wounded by friendly fire on Feb. 27, 1990, as he was driving a Bradley armored personnel in Iraq, and that he did not know at the time that the U.S. shells that hit him were made from depleted uranium.  See [ entire article ]

The Army yesterday confirmed that depleted uranium from a 1960s weapons system has been found at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.
....
Earlier this summer, the Army said it had found more depleted uranium fragments at Schofield, and that the aiming rounds also may have been fired at Makua Valley and Pohakuloa.
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The Army earlier this month said it was monitoring air quality during a controlled burn at a Schofield Barracks target range in response to concerns that the fires could put fine particles of depleted uranium in the air.

The controlled burn on 1,100 acres of munitions impact area was done to minimize the chance of brushfires and to prepare the area for testing for the presence of DU. See [ entire article ]

WASHINGTON - In the wake of an Iraqi official last month blaming America’s use of depleted uranium munitions in its 2003 “Shock and Awe” campaign for a surge in cancer there, the Defense Department is facing an October deadline for providing a comprehensive report to Congress on the health effects of such weapons.

The report is required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which President Bush signed into law last year.

The request for the study is an outgrowth of claims by Iraq war veterans that exposure to depleted uranium and other toxic substances there has negatively affected their health and that, therefore, their illnesses should be recognized as war-related and the treatment covered by the Veterans Administration.  See [ entire article ]

See also 'Cancer in Iraq vets raises possibility of toxic exposure' by Carla McClain, 26 Aug, 2007, Arizona Daily Star at this link

Depleted uranium, which is used in armour-piercing ammunition, causes widespread damage to DNA which could lead to lung cancer, according to a study of the metal's effects on human lung cells. The study adds to growing evidence that DU causes health problems on battlefields long after hostilities have ceased.  See [ entire article ]

They were first with land mines, first with cluster bombs - now Belgium has become the first country in the world to ban uranium weapons! ICBUW praises the hard work and commitment of the Belgian Coalition Stop Uranium Weapons.:

On March the 7th, 2007, the Belgian Chamber Commission on National Defence voted unanimously in favour of banning the use of depleted uranium "inert ammunitions and armour plates on Belgian territory." Although Belgium isn’t a user of DU, it is the home of NATO and regularly has US DU shipments travelling through its port of Antwerp.

On Thursday 22nd March, the bill was adopted by Parliament, again with a unanimous vote from across the political spectrum; making Belgium the first country in the world to ban ammunitions and armour that contain depleted uranium, or any other industrially manufactured uranium.  See [ article ] and entire newsletter.  

Also be sure to read 'Depleted Uranium: Properties, Uses and Health Consequences' a book review by Gretel Munroe, of Grassroots Actions for Peace, in the same March 2007 Friendly Fire Newsletter.