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 Congress person 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 ]

The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee has urged Europe's Council of Ministers - the principal decision-making institution on Security and Foreign Policy matters of the European Union - to support EU work towards controls on depleted uranium weapons at the United Nations 65th Session this year.

... The Council of Ministers is the principal decision-making institution of the European Union (EU) on Security and Foreign Policy matters. It is one of the two legislative bodies in the EU, the other being the European Parliament and is composed of twenty-seven national ministers.

...MEPs requested that a clause be added to cover wider disarmament efforts and in doing so called for a total ban on uranium weapons. This is the first time that the Parliament has made such a call. Previous resolutions have supported a moratorium leading to a ban should there be sufficient evidence of harm. ...  See [ entire article ]

When my sister, 101st Airborne Army Captain Fran E. Stuart, returned from Iraq, she was forever changed.
...
I began to do research, and was alarmed to discover how the military uses depleted uranium, especially in Iraq. Soldiers I talked to at Walter Reed began to say the same thing. Cancer is not a 'war wound' so the military denies responsibility.   See [ entire article ], See also Sister Soldier: A Chronical of Life After Iraq by R. B. Stuart

Six years after the intense fighting began in the Iraqi town of Fallujah between US forces and Sunni insurgents, there is a disturbingly large number of cases of birth defects in the town.

The Iraqi government line is that there are only one or two extra cases of birth defects per year in Fallujah, compared with the national average.

'Daily cases'

But in the impressive new Fallujah General Hospital, built with American aid, we found a paediatric specialist, Dr Samira al-Ani, who told us that she saw two or three new cases every day.    See [ entire article ]

In the area surrounding the Iraqi rich oil city of Basra, pummelled by years of war and swamped with industrial and agricultural pollution, there are concerns that cancer cases are on the rise due to the presence of depleted uranium found in war debris in the area.   See [ entire article under the Story section ]

Britain was so concerned about reports of an alarming increase in the number of babies being born with deformities that ministers asked the Red Cross to investigate.   See [ entire article ]

The Lingering Crimes of Aggression

The BBC reported last month that doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the United States during its fierce onslaughts of 2004 and subsequently, which left much of the city in ruins. "It was like an earthquake," a local engineer who was running for a national assembly seat told the Washington Post in 2005. "After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was Fallujah." Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.   See [ entire article ]

Rates of leukaemia in children around the Basra area of Southern Iraq have almost tripled in the last 15 years according to calculations by public health experts. Research published in the American Journal of Public Health documents 698 cases of leukaemia among children under the age of 15 in the period to 2007. There was a peak of 211 cases in 2006.

Rates increased from three to almost 8.5 cases of the disease per 100,000 children over the time period. This is more than double the rate of leukaemia in the European Union.    See [ entire article ]

* Greater rates of cancer and birth defects near sites
* Depleted uranium among poisons revealed in report

A tribunal in Rome has ruled that the Italian Ministry of Defence failed to adequately protect its troops from the hazards posed by exposure to depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo.

Another powerful precedent has been passed in the continuing flurry of court cases surrounding the high rates of death and sickness from lymphoma and leukaemia amongst Italian soldiers who served in conflicts where depleted uranium munitions were used. -- See [ entire article ]

ICBUW responds to the ongoing concern over the WHO's stance on the potential health impact of uranium weapons by sending an open letter to Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the WHO.

We, the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), are a global civil society network working towards a ban on the use of conventional uranium munitions; weapons that we consider to be both inhumane and indiscriminate . Worldwide public concern about the impact of uranium weapons on human health and the environment has been increasing in recent years as a more complete understanding of their hazards has developed. -- See [ entire article ]

New Zealand parliamentarian Phil Twyford has submitted a bill calling for a domestic ban on the use of uranium in all conventional munitions and armour within New Zealand and by its military.

Twyford's bill seeks to introduce a general prohibition on the possession, use, sale, manufacture, testing and transit of uranium in all conventional munitions and armour and if passed, would make New Zealand the second or third state in the world to ban the weapons. Two law proposals currently being considered by the Costa Rican parliament are closer to completion. See [ entire article ]

The federal agency that assesses health hazards at sites designated for Superfund environmental cleanups said Friday that it had reversed its conclusion that contamination at a former United States Navy training ground in Puerto Rico posed no health risks to residents.

As a result, it said, it plans to recommend monitoring to determine whether residents of the island of Vieques, the site of decades of live fire and bombing exercises, have been exposed to harmful chemicals and at what levels. See [ entire article ]

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born. See [ entire article ]

The nuclear industry could be on the verge of a major expansion just as the government cancels a plan to store the waste. Where's it going to go?

BAY CITY, Texas (CNNMoney.com) -- At a Texas power plant, two men in head-to-toe yellow jumpsuits are perched above a pool filled with still, crystal-clear water -- and nearly 20 years worth of nuclear waste.

The 40-feet deep pool, about the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, is the current home to thousands of uranium-filled fuel rods -- the radioactive byproducts of a nuclear reactor. The men are using a robotic arm to position the rods sitting at the bottom of the pool.

Pools such as this one are a temporary solution to a very long term problem: the hotly contested debate over what to do with the country's nuclear waste. See [ entire article ]

Los Alamos, N.M.   No one knows for sure what is buried in the Manhattan Project-era dump here. At the very least, there is probably a truck down there that was contaminated in 1945 at the Trinity test site, where the world's first nuclear explosion seared the sky and melted the desert sand 200 miles south of here during World War II.   See [ entire article ]

A tractor-trailer hauling radioactive materials wrecked and caught fire Sunday, forcing mass evacuations and the shutdown of part of Interstate 64 for about 17 hours, according to authorities.

...State troopers said the truck was carrying a container with about 32,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride , a radioactive chemical compound. According to information from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is a chemical used in the uranium enrichment process.

UF6 can be toxic if released into the atmosphere, according to information from the Argonne laboratory. If it enters a person’s bloodstream by ingestion or inhalation, it can have toxic chemical effects, primarily on the kidneys.

When UF6 comes in contact with water or water vapor in the air, this forms a corrosive compound called hydrogen fluoride (HF). HF is an extremely corrosive gas that can damage the lungs and cause death if inhaled at high concentrations. See [ entire article ]

Costa Rican politician leads push for regional action on depleted uranium weapons in Latin American Parliament as Human Rights Committee accepts wide-ranging resolution.    See [ entire article ]

Nuclear regulators hold hearings in the Islands after the Army’s depleted uranium problem is uncovered by chance.

After years of denying the existence of depleted uranium (DU) at its installations in Hawaii, the Army is now seeking a permit to possess tons of the radioactive material.   See [ entire article ]

A classified German Army manual has thrown doubt over US and UK assurances that no depleted uranium munitions have been used in Afghanistan.   See [ entire article ]

THE United Nations Association Edinburgh has called on the UK government to follow Belgium's lead on banning depleted uranium weapons.

Belgium's decision has been praised by European military unions who are concerned about the impact the weapons may have on their members.

Opposition to uranium weapons in Belgium has been spearheaded by a group of more than 20 NGOs, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.   See [ entire article ]

A 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation.

Fifty years ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation's assembly voted into force an obscure but important agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency – the United Nations "Atoms for Peace" organisation, founded just two years before in 1957. The effect of this agreement has been to give the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health. See [ entire article ]

Where are we getting our real news from in these past times, especially about the two long running occupation theaters we have our soldiers engaged in? I would suggest we're getting a better look on these conflicts, and other real news, from local outlets and not the so called National Media Cable Outlets, which seem to give more talk, from so called experts and analyst, singular opinion, than real news reporting, with the occasional mini doc thrown in.

Since 1991 the U.S. military has admitted to using depleted uranium in armor and ammunition on a large scale. But since then, a debate has raged about its long-term health effects on soldiers and their families. Could one of the most effective military tools in their arsenal actually be harming soldiers?

Gulf War Syndrome, or whatever name one wants to label it with, has been virtually in the total dark as soldiers, and their families, suffer and some have died from. Virtually nothing has been said nor discussed about this, and yet one possible cause of some of the human poisoning and suffering, depleted uranium, is not only still in use, in two theaters of occupation, but has been developed even further for artillery etc. since Gulf War I.

Only 77 soldiers from Gulf War I and just four from Operation Iraqi Freedom are being tracked clinically. Jerry Wheat is one of them. "I had a tumor removed in the 90s from my left arm that was in the bone, and DU stores in the bone," said Wheat. Wheat said he has endured a series of health problems.

There is a two part video to be viewed at the following link, with Dan Fahey and Dr. Diane Stearns. Diane Sterns was one of the speakers at the ICBUW Conference in New York City in October 2007.   See [ entire article ]

Groups gear up to issue an emergency alert that carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere has already passed a tipping point.

...In Washington, meanwhile, the Obama administration is valiantly helping to push a bill through Congress that would finally set a cap on U.S. carbon emissions. Introduced by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), it has the support of most environmental groups and represents the culmination of years of hard lobbying work. And if the leaks coming out of the committee are correct, it's watered down with lots of loopholes and compromises. These concessions are clearly necessary to win passage, but they may also limit the speed and breadth of the legislation's impact. ... See [ entire article ]

Belgium’s Senate has voted to ban the financing of companies that manufacture or sell uranium weapons, in a move that will compliment the country’s imminent ban on their manufacture, testing, use, sale and stockpiling. This legislation will come into force on June 20th this year.

See [ entire article ]

The Latin American Parliament is considering a resolution on uranium weapons after Costa Rican parliamentarian Alexander Mora Mora introduced his draft law proposal at a meeting in Buenos Aires.

Costa Rica’s plan to ban the munitions has triggered considerable media interest throughout the region and representatives from several governments are thought to be interested in considering similar legislation.    See [ entire article ]

Thirty years ago this Saturday, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania malfunctioned, sparking a meltdown that resulted in the release of radioactivity. It was the worst nuclear accident in US history. The accident at Three Mile Island fueled the nuclear debate in this country that continues to rage to this day. We speak with anti-nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman.   See [ entire article]

Also see People Died at Three Mile Island at this link

Decision an Apparent Bow to Burgeoning Nuclear Fuel Enrichment Industry

“The Commission has done a real disservice to the public with this decision,” said Dr. Makhijani. “President Obama has said his administration would respect good science. With the exception of the courageous vote of Commissioner Jaczko, who voted for a process that would respect the scientific and regulatory processes, the NRC majority flouted that commitment.”

Extensive analyses done by IEER have shown that DU disposal in large amounts in shallow facilities would greatly exceed the dose limits of current NRC low-level waste regulations (see, for instance, http://www.ieer.org/reports/du/lesrpt.pdf). The 1981 analysis done by the NRC itself in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the low-level waste regulation concluded that DU in Class A waste should not exceed 0.05 micro curies per cubic centimeter. DU from enrichment plants has a concentration that is over ten times greater than that. The final rule dropped DU in large amounts from consideration because it was not considered a waste at that time.

Dr. Makhijani said that the NRC staff’s October 2008 finding that doses from DU disposal could result in low doses in arid climates is based on unsupportable assumptions. For instance, the analysis assumes that will be no erosion from wind, rain, flowing water, or snow for one million years at the disposal site. Another implicit assumption was that affected people would remember where the disposal took place and know not to go onto the site for a million years because the dose is calculated only for people outside the disposal area.

Currently some 740,000 tons of depleted uranium in unstable hexafluoride form are stockpiled at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. One company, LES, is currently building an enrichment plant in New Mexico, which will generate well over 100,000 metric tons of DU. The NRC granted a license to that company for the enrichment plant in 2006. Three other companies are seeking licenses to build enrichment plants in Idaho, Ohio, and North Carolina. The NRC staff assumes that between existing stocks and DU from new plants, 1.4 million tons in all, will have to be disposed of as a radioactive waste. The radioactivity of DU grows with time because of the in-growth of the decay products of uranium-238, like thorium-230 and radium-226.  See [ entire article ]

President of the Latin American Parliament’s Human Rights Commission and member of Costa Rica’s legislative assembly Alexander Mora Mora today released a draft for a comprehensive ban on uranium weapons in Costa Rica.

Mora Mora, a member of the Partido Liberacion Nacional and keen advocate for peace and non-violence, estimates that the bill could become law in under a year and hopes that it will attract cross party support. Parliamentarians have been inspired by Belgium’s decision to ban uranium weapons and armour in a unanimous vote passed in 2007. Belgium’s ban will come into force this June.   See [ entire article ]

The United Nations General Assembly has passed, by a huge majority, a resolution requesting its agencies to update their positions on the health and environmental effects of uranium weapons. See [ entire article ]

Still no resolution on the DU issue in Gaza - Jane's Defense doesn't think so. But white phosphorus is being used. [ed.]

Italian compensation package agreed after Ministry of Defence convinces government of link between ill health and DU exposure. Health survey of personnel who served overseas to be published in the next few months  See [ entire article ]

In addition, see the following English translation of

'Historic Sentence in Florence' Italian Court recognizes the link between cancer and depleted uranium 13 January 2009 - Stefania Divertito, http://www.peacelink.it/disarmo/a/28323.html A sentence that could represent a milestone has been pronounced by a Court in Florence, Italy: the Ministry of Defence will have to compensate 545,061 euros to Gianbattista Marica, parachutist who was deployed in Somalia, during the Ibis mission, for eight months between December 1993 and July 1993. Marica is an ex-soldier who got ill with cancer. The sentence is significant not only for the extent of the compensation, but because it states an important principle: the causal link between the presence of depleted uranium and the illness of the soldier. The judicial measure is dated 17 December 2008 but it has been announced yesterday by Falco Accame, president of Anavafaf, an association which assists italian veterans; among them Marica, who asked for their support in 2001. The Court's statement includes the report of a technical consultant who maintains that there's a causal link between the Hodgkin Lymphoma developed by the soldier (which is currently in definitive remission) and the exposure to depleted uranium. The expert, appointed by the Court, says that the findings of the scientific investigation by the Mandelli Commission, who claimed that it was not possible to prove the causal link, "are groundless because of the mistakes in the research process". The responsibilities of the Ministry of Defence are then denounced by the judges in the sentence details, published yesterday and available on the internet [1]: the Ministry did not take the necessary precautions to protect the members of the mission in Somalia, in spite "it was in the eyes of the international community the specific danger of this war zone, and in spite of the adoption of particular prevention measures by other military forces". According to the judges, "besides the recommendations which were or should have been known by the Ministry, the fact that american soldiers were ordered to use particular protections should have warned the italian authorities, even if they were lacking information." In any case, "the attitude of the Ministry of Defence has not been inspired by the principles of caution and responsibility, as the Ministry ignored the information, which was in his hands since long time, about the presence of depleted uranium in the areas of the mission and its danger for the soldiers' health; and the Ministry didn't take all the necessary measures to protect the soldiers' health and ignored the use of measures by other countries involved in the same mission, in spite of the many times this fact had been noted by the italian soldiers". "Marica immediately denounced that U.S. soldiers in Somalia, even with 40 degrees [Celsius, ed.] in the shadow, were using overalls, masks, gloves and glasses, while the italian ones were dressed with shorts and t-shirts" Accame says, underlining the importance of the sentence and reminding that "Italian corps were made aware of the danger only on 22nd November 1999, when information about precautionary measures was finally given to soldiers in the Balkans". Accame raises another question too: "The sentence is dated 17 December 2008, exactly the day before Mr. La Russa, Ministry of Defence, during a press release, announced the funding of 30 million euros for the victims of depleted uranium and nanoparticles". [2] Is it a coincidence? Or the Ministry decided to show a collaborative attitude towards what had just been decided by the Court? In any case - concludes Accame - "we are extremely happy of this achievement".

Hanford workers have finished cleaning up a high risk burial ground a mile north of Richland and even closer to the Columbia River.

Over the last year they've dug up and hauled away almost 179,000 tons of dirt and debris, some of it contaminated with chemicals or radio nuclides, from the 618-7 Burial Ground.

Washington Closure Hanford, the Department of Energy contractor assigned the work, researched historical records to try to figure out what might have been disposed of in the burial ground from 1960 to 1973.   See [ entire article ]

Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons production sites are being dumped into regular landfills, and are available for recycling and resale. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has tracked the Department of Energy’s (DOE) release of radioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, chemicals, soil, and more, to unaware and unprepared recipients such as landfills, commercial businesses, and recreation areas. See [ entire article ]

Seventeen years and three wars later, the ghosts of Operation Desert Storm - the cancers, the chronic headaches and dizziness, the fibromyalgia, the ALS and so much more that have stalked returning vets, whose medical claims have been denied, ignored, relegated to the paper shredder - have just gotten a reality upgrade.    See [ entire article ]

A NUCLEAR NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

In a 1968 plane crash, the US military lost an atom bomb in Greenland's Arctic ice. But this was no isolated case. Up to 50 nuclear warheads are believed to have gone missing during the Cold War, and not all of them are in unpopulated areas. Pretty exciting reading, we are not ready for the nuclear age - ed. See [ entire article ]

Aldermaston, England - More than 30 people were arrested yesterday during one of the biggest anti-nuclear protests at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston for 10 years. The gates of the site were blocked as people attached themselves to concrete blocks which had to be broken apart by police. Others climbed scaffolding or lay in the road at the demonstration by about 400 people to mark the start of the UN World Disarmament Week.

They were protesting against a decision to modernise the Aldermaston plant in Berkshire and plans to develop a new warhead for nuclear missiles that the government wants to buy to replace the Trident system   See [ entire article ]

A Trip to America's Most Toxic Place

The outback of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington State is called the T-Farm. It's a rolling expanse of high desert sloping toward the last untamed reaches of the Columbia River. The "T" stands for tanks-huge single-hulled containers buried some fifty feet beneath basalt volcanic rock and sand holding, the lethal detritus of Hanford's fifty-year run as the nation's H-bomb factory.

Those tanks had an expected lifespan of thirty-five years; the radioactive gumbo inside them has a half-life of 250,000 years. Dozens of those tanks have now started to corrode and leak, releasing the most toxic material on earth-plutonium and uranium-contaminated sludge and liquid-on an inexorable path toward the Columbia River, the world's most productive salmon fishery and the source of irrigation water for the farms and orchards of the Inland Empire, centered on Spokane in eastern Washington.

Internal documents from the Department of Energy and various private contractors working at Hanford reveal that at least one million gallons of radioactive sludge have already leaked out of at least sixty-seven different tanks. Those tanks and others continue to leak and, according to these sources, the leaks are getting much larger.

....

Consider this. C-137 is a slow traveling contaminant. How far have faster moving radioactive materials, such as uranium, spread? No one knows. No one is even looking.

....

This essay is adapted from a chapter in Born Under a Bad Sky: Notes from the Dark Side of the Earth

(Boston, Mass.) - In order to prevent the release of depleted uranium and other hazardous substances from buildings at the Starmet/Nuclear Metals Superfund Site in Concord, Mass., EPA has determined that demolition of the buildings should occur. The Town of Concord, the "CREW" community group and the State support EPA's decision to demolish the buildings.

As required under the Superfund law, EPA evaluated potential cleanup alternatives for the facility buildings, considering factors such as effectiveness, ability to be implemented and cost. This action will remove the threat that hazardous substances could be released into the environment, due to incremental deterioration, fire, building collapse or vandalism at the site. The demolition work is not yet scheduled, but EPA is working with the property owners and State officials to ensure that safety measures are in place to restrict access to the contaminated buildings.

Full demolition was chosen as the most effective remedy to prevent short and long term release of depleted uranium present in and on the buildings. Under a separate time-critical removal action EPA has been working to remove containers of flammable and hazardous substances from the facility buildings that present a risk of fire or explosion.

The EPA decision calls for all building contents to be removed, followed by the demolition and disposal of all buildings and debris. Concrete building slabs will remain in-place so as not to disturb potentially-contaminated underlying soil. Sumps and depressions in the slab will be filled and slabs will be entirely overlain with a short-term cap or sealed until a future EPA decision is made regarding the handling of underlying site soils. Demolition debris will be disposed of off-site at an appropriately licensed disposal facility. However, in the chance that some debris material is not contaminated, some of the debris may be disposed or reused on-site, either temporarily or permanently.

Last Spring, EPA sought public input on the cleanup alternatives during a formal public comment period. EPA will soon begin negotiations with the potentially responsible parties for the performance of the demolition and associated cleanup work. The estimated cost for this cleanup is $63.9 million. Depending on volume of material that needs to go to the highest priced facility for disposal, the cost may fluctuate. EPA will continue to work closely with the Town, community groups such as CREW and state officials as the project progresses.

During the demolition and removal, EPA will employ safety measures to protect public health, such as dust suppression, ambient air monitoring and restricted access to the site. Workers will be protected by engineering controls, personal protective equipment, air monitoring and compliance with a site-specific health and safety plan.

The Starmet/Nuclear Metals Inc. site, was added to the Superfund National Priority List in June 2001. While Starmet, the current owner of the Site, is licensed by the Mass. Dept. of Public Health's Radiation Control Program to possess radioactive materials, it no longer manufactures products with radioactive materials. Starmet manufactured depleted uranium tipped munitions for the U.S. Army at the Site from the 1970s until 1999.

More information: Nuclear Metals Cleanup ( http://www.epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/nmi)

Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.

In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tonnes of DU in Iraq thus far.

Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.    See [ entire article ]

In a resolution adopted on depleted uranium (DU) weapons, the House calls for a moratorium on their use, increased pressure for an international treaty to ban them, and more research on these weapons. The resolution "strongly reiterates its call on all EU Member States and NATO countries to impose a moratorium on the use of depleted uranium weapons and to redouble efforts towards a global ban." The resolution was adopted with 491 votes in favour, 18 against and 12 abstentions.

Depleted uranium is used in ammunition, to increase the strength of casings for penetrating armour. Upon impact, however, the depleted uranium can be dispersed in the form of DU dust, which can cover large areas of conflict zones, and have averse health effects both for soldiers and civilians, even long after the conflict is over.   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 ]

The VA says it plans to review how regulations were written to ensure the veterans received the compensation they were entitled to under the law. The VA would then give veterans the opportunity to have a rejected claim reconsidered 

WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department will re-examine the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from ailments they blame on their war service, the first step toward compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the decision is part of a "fresh, bold look" his department is taking to help veterans who have what's commonly called "Gulf War illness" and have long felt the government did little to help them. The VA says it also plans to improve training for clinic staff who work with Gulf War vets, to make sure they do not simply tell vets that their symptoms are imaginary — as has happened to many over the years.   See [ entire article ]

It has emerged that the United States is seeking alternatives to depleted uranium for the future development and production of medium calibre bullets for its armed forces, although US government sources have declined to confirm the reasons behind the decision.

The dramatic change in policy will affect the future development of 25 mm and 30 mm rounds, which at present are used in the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the A-10 Thunderbolt Aircraft. The A10 Thunderbolt was responsible for the majority of depleted uranium contamination in Iraq, and almost all the contamination in the Balkans.   See [ entire article ]

As the U.S. military prepares to leave Iraq, the Pentagon is wrestling with questions about environmental cleanup on the bases it plans to transfer to the Iraqi Army by December 2011.

At issue on and around the bases are unexploded ordinance, depleted uranium from munitions, spilled oil and contaminated ash in burn pits.

There is no set answer about what -- if anything -- the military must do to mitigate environmental damage. Though there are clear environmental policies for permanent U.S. bases overseas, they do not apply to contingency operations like those in Iraq.

"There's nothing in international law, U.S. law, or executive orders that guide [U.S.] policy" in such operations, said David Mosher, a senior policy fellow at RAND and co-author of a 2008 report for the Army on environmental considerations during contingency operations. "It's a huge loophole," he said. "There's nothing in DOD policy that says anything should be done."   See [ entire article ]

The Private Members Bill entitled Prohibition of Depleted Uranium Weapons was submitted in the Seanad Éireann, the Irish parliament’s upper house by Green Senators Dan Boyle and Deirdre de Burca and Independent Fiona O'Malley. The bill is currently in its first stage and faces four more stages where it will face additional scrutiny and potential amendments. It is due to be debated in more depth early in 2010.  See [ entire article ]

YERINGTON, Nev. — Peggy Pauly lives in a robin-egg blue, two-story house not far from acres of onion fields that make the northern Nevada air smell sweet at harvest time.

But she can look through the window from her kitchen table, just past her backyard with its swingset and pet llama, and see an ominous sign on a neighboring fence: "Danger: Uranium Mine."  See [ entire article ]

After a year of discussions, university's Board of Trustees votes to divest from clusters and uranium weapons.

The Board was swayed by evidence that cluster munitions and depleted uranium have an unacceptable and unavoidable impact on civilians and the environment.

The announcement will take the number of companies excluded by the university to around 20, this includes oil and gas companies, tobacco companies, military manufacturers and companies connected to the regime in Sudan.   See [ entire article ]

To the editor:

The UN Day for the Prevention of the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict is Nov. 6 and is the International Day of Action in the campaign to ban depleted uranium (DU) weapons which are anti-tank shells.

However, the impact of a fired shell with a tank puts a cloud of radioactive and chemically toxic DU oxide particles in the air that can be inhaled or ingested. As its half-life — DU is radioactive — is over 4 million years — once in the environment, it is here to stay.

DU anti-tank shells have been used by the U.S. and the U.K. since 1991. During the First Gulf War in 1991, 320 tons of DU was dumped on Iraq, Kuwait and a little on Saudi Arabia. They have been used in the Balkans Wars of the 1990s and also in Iraq in 2003 where they were used in urban areas.

Reports from Iraq indicate increased rates of cancer, especially in children, and increased rates of birth defects that may be due to DU exposure. DU has been found to cause mutations in humans and laboratory animals and cancers including leukemia in laboratory rodents.

Nuclear Metals/Starmet in nearby Concord manufactured DU anti-tank shells for 25 years but the site is now a Superfund site. Just the demolition of the buildings on the site down to the foundations will cost more than $63 million according to a 2009 EPA estimate. The buildings are contaminated with DU and beryllium.

Overall, the depleted uranium problem is one that the public should be more aware of. There is concern elsewhere in the world. In September the Human Rights Commission of Latin American Parliament (Parlatino Americano) voted for a regional moratorium on uranium weapons and called for an international treaty on uranium weapons that the 22 member states should work on.

Belgium’s law banning uranium weapons on Belgium territory went into effect in June. Also in 2008 the UN asked its members to submit reports on DU weapons. The European Parliament has had four resolutions calling for a moratorium on these weapons.

What is the U.S. going to do?

Gretel Munroe

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons   See [ entire article ]

The death of a former soldier from colon cancer was "more likely than not" caused by his exposure to depleted uranium during the first Gulf War, an inquest has heard.  See [ entire article ] Also see Depleted Uranium Causes Cancer a pdf file at Google Docs.

...."Our government needs to stop looking at these brave casualty of war soldiers as a small percentage for the "greater good." My son Travis, along with the thousands of other soldiers beginning with Desert Storm, who have come down with and died from cancers from their exposure to DU, in my eyes died directly connected to the war and should be recognized as such," Esther Bromfield argued.

"DU is harming not only our American loved one's but the people in Iraq too," she fumed. "This will be another Vietnam. Our government knows what's going on, as they did then. And I'll be dammed if it takes 20 years for the government to take responsibility for this. They downplay the use of DU but they know very well what it's doing."   See [ entire article ]

News Investigation:

Since 1991 the U.S. military has admitted to using depleted uranium in armor and ammunition on a large scale. But since then, a debate has raged about its long-term health effects on soldiers and their families.

Could one of the most effective military tools in their arsenal actually be harming soldiers? 

See [ Companion Article ]

Also See [ Video Part 1 ]   [ Video Part 2 ]

A think tank that issues recommendations to the US Army over ways to mitigate its environmental impact has urged planners to accelerate the search for alternatives due to the growing international opposition to depleted uranium weapons

  See [ entire article ]

German campaigners produce Germany's first major exhibition on uranium weapons in Berlin.

The exhibition was opened on May 1st under the patronage of the German singer and actress Nina Hagen, who has been calling attention to this topic for several years, and attracted an excited crowd.   See [ entire article ]

Mitrovica, 6 Feb. (AKI) - The number of illnesses related to exposure to depleted uranium in some parts of Kosovo has more than doubled after the 1999 NATO bombings, where the controversial weapon was used, a non-governmental organisation’s report has shown on Friday.

In some parts of Kosovo, the number of ailments, including cancer has jumped by 200 percent in the past ten years, the organisation 'Merciful Angel', based in the northern Kosovar city of Mitrovica, said in a report released on Friday.   See [ entire article ]

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Arab nations accused Israel on Monday of blasting Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate reports that traces of it had been found in victims of the shelling.

In a letter on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria, Prince Mansour Al-Saoud, the Saudi Ambassador, expressed "our deep concern regarding the information ... that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims."   See [ entire article ]

In 2010, the Energy Department plans to begin converting uranium hexafluoride, a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, into depleted uranium oxide, a stable material classified as low-level waste. The department then plans to spend about $428 million to bury it -- all 550,000 metric tons of it -- during the next 25 years.

But Gregory Friedman, Energy's inspector general, said there are promising potential uses for the material and the department could avoid millions of dollars in disposal costs if it pursued them. In a report released on Wednesday, the IG found that Energy had cut funding to a number of viable research programs aimed at reusing the depleted uranium oxide.

Senior managers told the IG they discontinued the research because the technology budget for the Office of Environmental Management had been severely cut during the Bush administration. Another factor in the decision was that no single reuse alternative would consume the entire inventory of depleted uranium oxide and officials wanted to avoid a piecemeal solution.   See [ entire article ]

Officials with the Lawrence Livermore Lab are looking into a potential hidden danger: hundreds of workers have been possibly exposed to a toxic metal dust.

"It was hard," said Joyce Brooks, talking about the loss of her husband to beryllium poisoning. "I have anger," she said. Carl Brooks came straight from the Air Force to work at Livermore Labs in the 1950's. For the next 30 years, he machined parts out of the lightweight metal beryllium.

"The dust was very toxic," she said. "And they did not have much protection except a paper mask." Eventually it destroyed his lungs. Carl Brooks died in 2000.

"His life was taken because of his work, and his loyalty to the lab," she said.   See [ entire article ]

Note: Buildings at the Nuclear Metals/Starmet site in Concord, MA, now a Superfund site, are contaminated by depleted uranium and beryllium; the buildings are going to be torn down. It is interesting that buildings at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory are contaminated by beryllium, while workers work there.

U.N. nuclear inspectors have uncovered substantial evidence suggesting Syria was building a covert nuclear reactor before Israel bombed the facility 14 months ago, but they declined to issue a formal conclusion in a report circulated today (see GSN, Nov. 18).   See [ entire article ]

Committee says research funding should be higher:
"This article in the November 18 Boston Globe dealt more specifically with the report done by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War illness. DU would fit into "other possible causes" as mentioned in the article. It is so mentioned in the report."   See [ newspaper article or  (pdf) ]

The extraction of uranium is dangerous, leaves a toxic legacy for millions of years in vulnerable parts of the world, and is hardly conducted in an ethical fashion, yet British ministers - while sourcing FSC timber - are complacent about the supply-chain consequences of their enthusiasm for nuclear new build.   See [ entire article ]

War veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Capitol Hill earlier this year to testify before Congress and give an eyewitness account about the horrors of war. Like the Winter Soldier hearings in March, when more than 200 service members gathered for four days in Silver Spring, Maryland to give their eyewitness accounts of the injustices occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan, “Winter Soldier on the Hill” was designed to drive home the human cost of the war and occupation—this time, to the very people in charge of doing something about it.

Of particular note, see the testimony of James Gilligan, on the topic of depleted uranium.  See [ entire article ]

On November 16th in a continuation of its month of action against uranium weapons, ICBUW Japan used 1000 candles to send a message from Hiroshima to the world - Ban DU Next!

  See [ entire article ]

After successfully exhibiting Naomi Toyoda's 'The Human Cost of Uranium Weapons' in the Finnish Parliament last year, the Finnish Network Ban Uranium Weapons has now turned a Helsinki subway station into a campaign gallery. See [ entire article ]

The resolution, that highlights concerns over the military use of uranium, was passed with 127 against 4 votes (34 abstained). Last time the First Committee voted on the resolution Norway abstained, but this year Norway changed the voting pattern.  See [ entire article ]

Nearly three million Americans live within ten miles of the nation’s 104 operating nuclear power reactors. Fire hazards represent about half of the risk of a nuclear reactor meltdown. In other words, the chance of a reactor meltdown caused by a fire roughly equals the chances of meltdown from all other causes combined. A reactor accident could kill more Americans than were killed at Pearl Harbor, on 9/11, and by Katrina combined. See [ entire article ]

THREE Somali pirates were shot dead in an apparent argument with their mates aboard a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship carrying military tanks.

None of the 20 crew being held hostage on the freighter Faina were injured in the exchange of fire stemming from an alleged dispute between the pirates, the Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday.

The cargo ship remained anchored near the island of Hobyo off the Somali coast. There was no damage reported to the vessel’s cargo, including depleted uranium anti-tank shells, armoured personnel carriers, and 33 T-72 tanks   See [ entire article ]

127 states today backed a second resolution highlighting health concerns over the use of uranium in conventional weapons. Several key states including Norway, the Netherlands and Finland changed their positions to back the resolution. See [ entire article ]

According to a report carried by The Tokyo Newspaper on Sept. 5, 2008, Ms. Nermeen Osman, Iraqi Minister of Environment visited Japan last week to attend a UNEP meeting in Kyoto, said in an interview : 105 sites have been found contaminated by the DU shells used during the Iraq War of 2003, and she was to visit Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that of Environment to ask for assistance in decontamination and health measures for residents. She also said: Although researches on the DU effects on human health are still under way, it is clear that there is danger of damage to human health; cancer incidences have also risen. While they are taking measures to keep residents from entering the contaminated areas, they are carrying out works to remove contamination. Furthermore, she said: she would like to ask Japan, A-bombed country, for assistance in treatment of victims, etc. ?The UNEP meeting in Kyoto was held to assess the advancement of the UNEP-Japan joint enterprise to recover Mesopotamian Marsh, which has been damaged severely during the Hussein era and due to use of landmines and chemical weapons during the recent wars."  

The Hawaii County Council--after prolonged debate with testimonies from dozens of Peace activists & expert medical Dr. Lorrin Pang--passed a Resolution yesterday urging the immediate cessation of bombing and live fire exercises by the U. S. military on the island's Pohakuloa Training Area. It was a small but significant symbolic victory by Peace citizens over the aggressive expansion plans by the Iron Fist of the American Empire.   See [ entire article ]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in conjunction with four other government agencies, released a Five-Year Plan to deal with uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation on Monday, after urging from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The contamination is a result of uranium mining in the region from 1944 to 1986 that was conducted under lease agreements with the Navajo Nation. According to the report, the mining has left the Nation with "over 500 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs), four inactive uranium milling sites, a former dump site, contaminated groundwater, structures that may contain elevated levels of radiation, and environmental and public health concerns."   See [ entire article ]

When a local company sells a product off shore it usually qualifies as “EXPORT” sales, but what is it when they are selling space for contaminated uranium waste that is IMPORTED?

Local media and the mainstreamers in Longview, Washington are all over a story about 6,700 tons of sand from Kuwait contaminated with depleted uranium and lead making a rail journey from Longview to Grandview, Idaho—a route that will cross both Canyon and Ada counties.   See [ entire article ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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

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.
...
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.