DEMOCRACY BETRAYED

The horror of Depleted Uranium is not limited to Iraq ­ it may well be at our
doorsteps. The information which some governments are concealing is presented
here.

By James Denver

Remixed Propaganda Poster by Micah Wright www.micahwright.com
'I'm horrified. The people out there ­ the Iraqis, the media and the troops
­ risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium
can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives of thousands of
children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel.
Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust
from the Sahara on your car.'

The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr Chris Busby, the
British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of
Medicine and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk,
talking about the best kept secret of this war: the fact that, by illegally using
hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America
have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these
weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in
such abundance that ­ whipped up by sandstorms and carried on trade winds ­
there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate ­ including Britain. For
the wind has no boundaries and time is on their side: the radioactivity
persists for over 4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukaemia, brain damage,
kidney failure, and extreme birth defects ­ killing millions of every age for
centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of
historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time.

These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive
particles in such abundance that there is no corner of the globe they cannot
penetrate ­ including Britain.

Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a dirty story
in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is
also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical
care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to
suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium
was used.

A dirty Tyson

'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. For 'depleted' sounds weak.
The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap,
toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is
one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing
through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as
it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US
servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered
children killed at a greater distance he wrote: 'The children's skin had
folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood,
while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited.' (Daily Mirror)

The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it burns
can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even be so tiny they
pass through a gas mask, making protection against them impossible. Yet, small
is not beautiful. For these invisible killers indiscriminately attack men,
women, children and even babies in the womb ­ and do the gravest harm of all to
children and unborn babies.

A terrible legacy

Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6
times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukaemia since
1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as
500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that
the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per
1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic
leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming
rate'. In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the
highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder
cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1

On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic Energy
Authority sent the Ministry of Defence a special report on the potential damage
to health and the environment. It said that it could cause half a million
additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years. In that war the authorities only
admitted to using 320 tons of DU ­ although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates
the true figure is closer to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread
across Iraq by this year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the
health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come,
is beyond imagining.

The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions of
every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against humanity which may
rank with the worst atrocities of all time.

We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies. Nobody
knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU contaminated their world. But
it is suggested that troops who were only exposed to DU for the brief period
of the war were still excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some
had 100 times the so called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack
of government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is reflected
in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but informal research has
found a high incidence of birth defects in their children and that the wives of
men who served in Iraq have three times more miscarriages than the wives of
servicemen who did not go there.

Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would break a
heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines
outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumours where their eyes should be, or
with a single eye ­ like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even
without heads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside
textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific.
Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a boy?' but simply,
'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible legacy will not end. The genes
of their parents may have been damaged for ever, and the damaging DU dust is
ever-present.

Blue on blue

What the governments of America and Britain have done to the people of Iraq
they have also done to their own soldiers, in both wars. And they have done it
knowingly. For the battlefields have been thick with DU and soldiers have had
to enter areas heavily contaminated by bombing. Moreover, their bodies have
not only been assaulted by DU but also by a vaccination regime which violated
normal protocols, experimental vaccines, nerve agent pills, and organophosphate
pesticides in their tents. Yet, though the hazards of DU were known, British
and American troops were not warned of its dangers. Nor were they given
thorough medical checks on their return ­ even though identifying it quickly might
have made it possible to remove some of it from their body. Then, when a growing
number became seriously ill, and should have been sent to top experts in
radiation damage and neurotoxins, many were sent to a psychiatrist.

Over 200,000 US troops who returned from the 1991 war are now invalided out
with ailments officially attributed to service in Iraq ­ that's 1 in 3. In
contrast, the British government's failure to fully assess the health of
returning troops, or to monitor their health, means no one even knows how many have
died or become gravely ill since their return. However, Gulf veterans'
associations say that, of 40,000 or so fighting fit men and women who saw active
service, at least 572 have died prematurely since coming home and 5000 may be ill.
An alarming number are thought to have taken their own lives, unable to bear
the torment of the innumerable ailments which have combined to take away their
career, their sexuality, their ability to have normal children, and even their
ability to breathe or walk normally. As one veteran puts it, they are 'on DU
death row, waiting to die'.

Whatever other factors there may be, some of their illnesses are strikingly
similar to those of Iraqis exposed to DU dust. For example, soldiers have also
fathered children without eyes. And, in a group of eight servicemen whose
babies lack eyes seven are known to have been directly exposed to DU dust. They
too have fathered children with stunted arms, and rare abnormalities classically
associated with radiation damage. They too seem prone to cancer and
leukaemia. Tellingly, so are EU soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans,
where DU was also used. Indeed their leukaemia rate has been so high that several
EU governments have protested at the use of DU.

The vital evidence

Despite all that evidence of the harm done by DU, governments on both sides
of the Atlantic have repeatedly claimed that as it emits only 'low level'
radiation DU is harmless. Award winning scientist, Dr Rosalie Bertell who has led
UN medical commissions, has studied 'low level' radiation for 30 years.2 She
has found that uranium oxide particles have more than enough power to harm
cells, and describes their pulses of radiation as hitting surrounding cells 'like
flashes of lightning' again and again in a single second.2 Like many
scientists worldwide who have studied this type of radiation, she has found that such
'lightning strikes' can damage DNA and cause cell mutations which lead to
cancer. Moreover, these particles can be taken up by body fluids and travel
through the body, damaging more than one organ. To compound all that Dr Bertell has
found that this particular type of radiation can cause the body's
communication systems to break down, leading to malfunctions in many vital organs of the
body and to many medical problems. A striking fact, since many veterans of the
first Gulf war suffer from innumerable, seemingly unrelated, ailments.

In addition, recent research by Eric Wright, Professor of Experimental
Haematology at Dundee University, and others, have shown two ways in which such
radiation can do far more damage than has been thought. The first is that a cell
which seems unharmed by radiation can produce cells with diverse mutations
several cell generations later. (And mutations are at the root of cancer and birth
defects.) This 'radiation induced genomic instability' is compounded by 'the
bystander effect' by which cells mutate in unison with others which have been
damaged by radiation ­ rather as birds swoop and turn in unison. Put
together, these two mechanisms can greatly increase the damage done by a single source
of radiation, such as a DU particle. Moreover, it is now clear that there are
marked genetic differences in the way individuals respond to radiation ­ with
some being far more likely to develop cancer than others. So the fact that
some veterans of the first Gulf war seem relatively unharmed by their exposure
to DU in no way proves that DU did not damage others.

The price of truth

That the evidence from Iraq and from our troops, and the research findings of
such experts, have been ignored may be no accident. A US report, leaked in
late 1995, allegedly says, 'The potential for health effects from DU exposure is
real; however it must be viewed in perspective... the financial implications
of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would be excessive.'3

Clearly, with hundreds of thousands gravely ill in Iraq and at least a
quarter of a million UK and US troops seriously ill, huge disability claims might be
made not only against the governments of Britain and America if the harm done
by DU were acknowledged. There might also be huge claims against companies
making DU weapons and some of their directors are said to be extremely close to
the White House. How close they are to Downing Street is a matter for
speculation, but arms sales makes a considerable contribution to British trade. So the
massive whitewashing of DU over
the past 12 years, and the way that governments have failed to test returning
troops, seemed to disbelieve them, and washed their hands of them, may be
purely to save money.

The possibility that financial considerations have led the governments of
Britain and America to cynically avoid taking responsibility for the harm they
have done not only to the people of Iraq but to their own troops may seem
outlandish. Yet DU weapons weren't used by the other side and no other explanation
fits the evidence. For, in the days before Britain and America first used DU in
war its hazards were no secret.4 One American study in 1990 said DU was
'linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and to] chemical toxicity ­ causing
kidney damage'. While another openly warned that exposure to these particles
under battlefield conditions could lead to cancers of the lung and bone,
kidney damage, non-malignant lung disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal
damage and birth defects.5

A culture of denial

In 1996 and 1997 UN Human Rights Tribunals condemned DU weapons for illegally
breaking the Geneva Convention and classed them as 'weapons of mass
destruction' 'incompatible with international humanitarian and human rights law'.
Since then, following leukaemia in European peacekeeping troops in the Balkans and
Afghanistan (where DU was also used), the EU has twice called for DU weapons
to be banned.

Yet, far from banning DU, America and Britain stepped up their denials of the
harm from this radioactive dust as more and more troops from the first Gulf
war and from action and peacekeeping in the Balkan and Afghanistan have become
seriously ill. This is no coincidence. In 1997, while citing experiments, by
others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer
of the lungs, Dr Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear
Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying, 'The [US
government's] Veteran Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorpora
ting depleted uranium in the human body.' He concluded, 'uranium does cause
cancer, uranium does cause mutation, and uranium does kill. If we continue with
the irresponsible contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that
human life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing
disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God and to all
generations who follow.' Not what the authorities wanted to hear and his research
was suddenly blocked.

During 12 years of ever-growing British whitewash the authorities have
abolished military hospitals, where there could have been specialized research on
the effects of DU and where expertise in treating DU victims could have built
up. And, not content with the insult of suggesting the gravely disabling
symptoms of Gulf veterans are imaginary they have refused full pensions to many. For,
despite all the evidence to the contrary, the current House of Commons
briefing paper on DU hazards says 'it is judged that any radiation effects
frompossible exposures are extremely unlikely to be a contributory factor to the
illnesses currently being experienced by some Gulf war veterans.' Note how over a
quarter of a million sick and dying US and UK vets are called 'some'.

The way ahead

Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they
dramatically increased its use ­ from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war to at
minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn't limited to
anti-tank weapons ­ as it had largely been in the previous Gulf war ­ but was
extended to the guided missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000 pound
bombs used in Iraq's cities. This means that Iraq's cities have been blanketed in
lethal particles ­ any one of which can cause cancer or deform a child. In
addition, the use of DU in huge bombs which throw the deadly particles higher
and wider in huge plumes of smoke means that billions of deadly particles have
been carried high into the air ­ again and again and again as the bombs rained
down ­ ready to be swept worldwide by the winds.

The Royal Society has suggested the solution is massive decontamination in
Iraq. That could only scratch the surface. For decontamination is hugely
expensive and, though it may reduce the risks in some of the worst areas, it cannot
fully remove them. For DU is too widespread on land and water. How do you clean
up every nook and cranny of a city the size of Baghdad? How can they
decontaminate a whole country in which microscopic particles, which cannot be detected
with a normal geiger counter, are spread from border to border? And how can
they clean up all the countries downwind of Iraq ­ and, indeed, the world?

So there are only two things we can do to mitigate this crime against
humanity. The first is to provide the best possible medical care for the people of
Iraq, for our returning troops and for those who served in the last Gulf war
and, through that, minimize their suffering. The second is to relegate war, and
the production and sale of weapons, to the scrap heap of history ­ along with
slavery and genocide. Then, and only then, will this crime against humanity be
expunged, and the tragic deaths from this war truly bring freedom to the
people of Iraq, and of the world.

Read the full article in issue 60 of Caduceus...

References
1. The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998.
2. Rosalie Bertell's book Planet Earth the Latest Weapon of War was reviewed
in Caduceus issue 51, page 28.
3. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl1. htm#TAB L_Research Report Summaries
4. www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.01/020117moret.htm The secret official
memorandum to Brigadier General L.R.Groves from Drs Conant, Compton and Urey of
War Department Manhattan district dated October 1943 is available at the
website www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm
5. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_iitab11.htm#tab L_research report summaries

Further information

The Low Level Radiation Campaign hopes to be able to arrange a limited number
of private urine tests for those returning from the latest Gulf war. It can
be contacted at: The Knoll, Montpelier Park, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LW. 01597
824771. Web: www.llrc.org

James Denver writes and broadcasts internationally on science and technology.

Does Hennepin County Harbor War Criminals?
By Steve Clemens. Dec. 13, 2004

On December 10 in Hennepin County Court, four protestors were found not guilty by a six person jury. The four Minneapolis residents had been charged with criminal trespass after they had attempted to deliver documents to corporate officers at Alliant TechSystems headquarters in Edina on July 21. The defendants successfully argued that they were compelled to act based on their understanding of International Humanitarian Law and the rulings of the Nuremberg Tribunals.

Alliant TechSystems (ATK) is the US Army's largest supplier of ammunition and has manufactured antipersonnel landmines, cluster bombs, and depleted uranium weapons. In the two day trial, the four peace activists used a "claim of right" provision in the Minnesota trespass law and then cited numerous provisions in the Hague and Geneva Treaties and subsequent International Laws which prohibit the "manufacture, sale, stockpiling, and/or use" of weapons which are determined to be "indiscriminate" and those which cause long-term damage to the natural environment.

Also cited and entered as evidence in the trial was the decision by the United Nations Committee on Human Rights which specifically names cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons as being illegal. The U.S. Constitution's Article VI became evidence with its declaration that treaties signed by our government become "the supreme law of the land" and all judges are bound by it. The Nuremberg Principles are part of the treaty the U.S. signed to become founding members of the United Nations. Defendants testified that the Nuremberg Principles compel us to act if we are aware of the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The manufacture of indiscriminate weapons is a war crime as defined by that document.

Although the four residents, John and Marie Braun, Carol Masters, and Steve Clemens, were acquitted on the basis of "reasonable doubt", the verdict by the citizen jury raises the question of who is responsible for the enforcement of International Law when ATK publicly admits it has manufactured depleted uranium weapons. Prior to 9-11, the ATK website boasted about their manufacture of armor-piercing weapons with "depleted uranium penetrators." However, ever since a similar group of 19 protestors were acquitted by another Hennepin County jury in October 2003, all references to this controversial weapon were removed from their website.

Basing their statements to the jury on the testimony of Dr. Karen Parker before the U.N. Subcommittee, the defendants, who represented themselves, testified that depleted uranium clearly fails four tests, any one of which would make the weapon illegal. 1) Weapons must be limited to the field of battle ­ depleted uranium (DU), when used, aerosolizes into minute dust particles which can carry the radioactive waste for miles (the territorial test). 2) Weapons must not continue to kill long after a war has ended ­ DU weapons remain radioactive for a half-life of four and one-half billion years and will continue to impact the civilian population forever until cleaned-up (the temporal test). 3) Weapons must not be unduly inhumane ­ the cancers, birth defects, and genetic damage linked to the inhalation or ingestion of radioactive DU particles clearly impact both combatants and civilians (the humanness test). 4) Finally, weapons may not cause long-term damage to the natural environment ­ DU particles can contaminate the air, water, and soil indefinitely until it is removed and permanently secured and guarded in a protective storage facility (the environmental test). Since DU weapons miserably fail all four tests, it is clearly outlawed by existing International Law.

Those acquitted in the trial are part of a larger group called "Alliant Action" which holds a Wednesday morning vigil on the public property adjacent to ATK's headquarters at 5050 Lincoln Drive in Edina. Protestors have gathered weekly, rain or shine, freezing weather or heat, for the past nine years. It is a continuation of the movement begun in 1968 against Honeywell's manufacture of cluster bombs used in the Vietnam War. There are estimates of up to 10 million unexploded bomblets from these cluster bombs still remaining in Laos 30 years later. The defendants testified that each week brings another report of a farmer or a child killed or seriously wounded when one of these "duds' explode. After years of high-profile protest against Honeywell, the corporation spun off their weapons production to form a new company in the 1980's, Alliant TechSystems.

Although ATK continues to make cluster bombs (and protestors often cite their opposition to such), much of the recent focus has been concentrated on opposing DU weapons because they have affected not only Iraqi citizens but also U.S. troops who have served in the areas of Iraq where these radioactive weapons have been used. Reports from various sources quoted in the trial estimate that in excess of 300 tons of DU weapons were used in the 1991 war. Present estimates indicate that more than 1,000 tons of DU has been used in the current war, in major population areas including Baghdad rather than being restricted to the desert areas outside of Basrah which were contaminated in the 1991 war.

On Friday, December 10, as these four defendants were being exonerated by their jury, another group of four peacemakers began their jury trial for an identical action against ATK a week later. Three additional groups of 3-5 activists have trials pending within the next few months. Alliant Action intends to persevere until ATK stops making these weapons and pays for their clean-up or they are hauled into court on the charges of making illegal weapons. Citizens interested in this vital concern for the world community can get more information at the Alliant Action link on www.circlevision.org.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED ON DEPLETED URANIUM    Dr. Doug Rokke, Ph.D.
March 12, 2004

ABSTRACT: Depleted uranium munitions are used during combat because they are extremely effective. However, in winning these battles through use of uranium munitions we have contaminated air, water, and soil. Consequently, children, women, and men have inhaled, ingested, or got wounds contaminated with uranium. Uranium is a heavy metal and radioactive poison. The toxicity is not debatable as the Director of the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute stated in a congressionally mandated report that "No available technology can significantly change the inherent chemical and radiological toxicity of DU. These are intrinsic properties of uranium " (Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in the U.S. Army: Technical Report, AEPI, June 1995). The primary U.S. Army training manual: STP 21-1-SMCT: Soldiers Manual of Common Tasks states "NOTE: (Depleted uranium) Contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption." [Task number: 031-503-1017 "RESPOND TO DEPLETED URANIUM/LOW LEVEL RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS (DULLRAM) HAZARDS"]. Although, existing U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) directives require that prompt and effective medical care be provided to all exposed individuals (Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties, DOD, 10/14/93) and the thorough clean up of dispersed radioactive contamination (AR 700-48: "Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities"); United States, British, and Australian officials refuse to comply with these directives.

RECENT EVENTS.

The United States, England, and Australia have recently used extensive amounts of weapons made from uranium, commonly called depleted uranium in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans. Medical evidence and especially the birth defects in children born to parents in areas with DU contamination is an issue of significant concern. Depleted uranium (uranium 238) along with other contaminates of war have been implicated and medical evidence supports the fact that uranium contamination exposure results in adverse health effects.

Today; after the willful use of uranium munitions during Gulf War 1, during Balkans combat, in Afghanistan, and now during Gulf War 2; warriors and non-combatants are exhibiting serious adverse health effects from exposure to depleted uranium munitions contamination, conventional weapons residue, and released toxic industrial chemicals.

However, even though medical evidence exists to prove adverse health effects United States, British, Australian, Canadian, and NATO officials continue to state specifically that there are no known adverse health effects in
individuals who were exposed to uranium and other contamination. That is a willful lie as verified by actual medical records of thousands of individuals affected by war created contamination. However, despite their formal stance the British Ministry of Defence recently have acknowledged that British serviceman who serve in Iraq may be exposed to depleted uranium contamination and can obtain medical testing upon re-deployment
(http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_mod_warning_cards.html).

WHAT IS DU?

Depleted uranium (DU) which is 99.8% by mass U-238 is made from uranium hexaflouride, the byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. Recent documents released by the U.S. Department of Energy and the 1995 U..S. Army Environmental Policy Institute reports state that a small proportion of other toxic heavy metals and radioactive isotopes such as plutonium, neptunium, americium, and U-236 also are present. Although the 60 % of the ionizing radiation given off by gamma emissions from U-235 and U-234 was eliminated during the enrichment process, alpha particles at 4.2 Mev and 4.15 Mev that cause significant internal ionization with consequent cellular damage were proportionally increased and gamma and beta emissions from contaminants and daughter products still are present. The continuing incomplete statement that DU is 60% less radioactive than natural uranium simply ignores the serious internal damage caused by alpha particles that impact any cell! Alpha particle emission measurements show that the dose or exposure rate is in excess of 10000 counts per minute. DU is a serious internal hazard. Consequent inhalation, ingestion, and wound contamination pose significant and unacceptable health risks due to direct cell damage from alpha and beta particle and gamma ray emissions. Spent penetrators, DU fragments, and contaminated shrapnel emit beta particles and gamma rays at 300 mrem / hour and thus can not be touched or picked up without protection.

HOW IS DU USED BY THE MILITARY?

DU is used to manufacture kinetic energy penetrators- giant pencils or rods.
Each kinetic penetrator consists of almost entirely uranium 238. The United
States munitions industry produces the following DU munitions with the
corresponding mass of uranium 238:
7.62 mm with unspecified mass
50 cal. With unspecified mass
20 mm with a mass of approximately 180 grams.
25 mm with a mass of approximately 200 grams.
30 mm with a mass of approximately 280 grams.
105 mm with a mass of approximately 3500 grams.
120 mm with a mass of approximately 4500 grams.
Sub-munitions / land mines such as the PDM and ADAM whose structural body contain a small proportion of DU.
Cruise missiles with unknown quantity of DU
Bunker buster bombs with unknown quantity of DU

Many other countries now produce or have acquired DU munitions. DU is also used as armor, counter weights, radiation shielding, and as proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy as a component of road and structural materials. All of these uses are designed to reduce the huge U.S. Department of Energy stockpiles left over from the uranium enrichment process.

It is important to realize that DU penetrators are solid uranium 238. THEY
ARE NOT TIPPED OR COATED! During an impact at least 40 % of the penetrator forms uranium oxides or fragments which are left on the terrain, within or on impacted equipment, or within impacted structures.

The remainder of the penetrator retains its initial shape. Thus we are left with a solid piece of uranium lying someplace which can be picked up by children. DU also ignites in the air during flight and upon impact. The resulting shower of burning DU and DU fragments causes secondary explosions, fires, injury, and death.

All individuals must ask if they would want tons solid uranium penetrators lying in their backyard? Does anyone want any radioactive contamination of any type lying in their backyard? The answer is simple- NO ONE!

OPERATION DESERT STORM DEPLETED URANIUM FRIENDLY FIRE AND COMBAT INCIDENTS INVESTIGATION FINDINGS

I was assigned to the 3rd U.S. Army Depleted Uranium assessment team as the health physicist and medic by order of Headquarters Department of the Army in Washington, D.C. What we found can be explained in three words: "OH MY GOD".

According to official documents each uranium penetrator rod could loose up to 70% of its mass on impact creating fixed and loose contamination with the remaining rod passing through the equipment or structure to lie on the terrain. On-site impact investigations showed that the mass loss is about 40% which forms fixed and loose contamination leaving about 60% of the initial mass of the penetrator in the solid pencil form.

We found that standard radiacs will not detect his contamination. Equipment contamination included uranium fragments, uranium oxides, other hazardous materials, unstable unexploded ordnance, and byproducts of exploded ordnance. U.S. Army Materiel Command documents sent to us stated the uranium oxide was 57% insoluble and 43 % soluble and at least 50% could be inhaled. In most cases except for penetrator fragments, contamination was inside destroyed equipment or structures, on the destroyed equipment, or within 25 meters of the equipment. During the 1994 and 1995 Nevada tests we found DU contamination out to 400 meters from a single incident.

After we returned to the United States we wrote the Theater Clean up plan which reportedly was passed through U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of State and consequently to the Emirate of Kuwaiti. Today, it is obvious that none of this information regarding clean up of extensive DU contamination ever was given to the Iraqi's. Consequently, although there still are substantial radiation contamination hazards existing within Iraq these hazards have been ignored by the United States and Great Britain for political and economic reasons at the same time additional use of uranium weapons has occurred resulting in additional confirmed contamination.

Iraqi, Kosovar, Serbian, and other representatives have asked numerous times for DU contamination management and medical care procedures but this information has not been provided. Although residents of Vieques, who are U.S. citizens, also have asked for medical care and completion of environmental remediation DOD officials still refuse to complete these essential actions.

THE U.S. ARMY DEPLETED URANIUM PROJECT AND ITS OBJECTIVES?

The probable health and environmental hazards of uranium contamination were known before the Gulf War. A United States Defense Nuclear Agency memorandum written by LTC Lyle that was sent to our team in Saudi Arabia stated that quote:

"As Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), ground combat units, and civil
populations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq come increasingly into contact with DU ordnance, we must prepare to deal with potential problems. Toxic war souvenirs, political furor, and post conflict clean up (host nation agreement) are only some of the issues that must be addressed. Alpha particles (uranium oxide dust) from expended rounds is a health concern but, Beta particles from fragments and intact rounds is a serious health threat, with possible exposure rates of 200 millirads per hour on contact." end quote.

This memorandum, the reports that we prepared immediately after the Gulf War as a part of the depleted uranium assessment project to recover DU destroyed and contaminated U.S. equipment, the previous research, and other expressed concerns led to the publication of a United States Department of Defense directive signed by General Eric Shinseki on August 19, 1993 to quote:

"1. Provide adequate training for personnel who may come in contact with depleted uranium equipment.                              2. Complete medical testing of personnel exposed to DU contamination during the Persian Gulf War.
3. Develop a plan for DU contaminated equipment recovery during future
operations."

It is thus indisputable that United States Department of Defense officials
were and are still aware of the unique and unacceptable health and environmental hazards associated with using depleted uranium munitions.

Consequently, I was recalled to active duty in 1994 as U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project Director and tasked with developing training and environmental management procedures. The project included a literature review; extensive
curriculum development project involving representatives from all branches of the U.S. Department of Defense and representatives from England, Canada, Germany, and Australia. We also completed basic research at the Nevada Test Site located 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, to validate management procedures.

The products of the DU project included: Three training curricula:
(1) Tier I: General Audience,
(2) Tier II: Battle Damage and Recovery Operations,
(3) Tier III: Chemical Officer / NCO;
(4) Three video tapes: (1) "Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness", (2)
"Contaminated and Damaged Equipment Management", and (3) "Operation of the AN/PDR 77
Radiac Set";
(5) The draft Army Regulation: "Management of Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities" (currently AR 700-48, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., 9/16/2002);
(6) an United States Army Pamphlet specifying "Handling Procedures for
Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities" and
(7) a redesigned radiac capable of finding and quantifying DU contamination.

Although, these products were completed, approved, and ready for distribution by January 1996, U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense, British, German, Canadian, and Australian officials have disregarded repeated directives and have not implemented or only have implemented portions of the training or management procedures.

The training curriculum and management procedures have not been given to all individuals and representatives of governments whose populations and
environment have been exposed to DU contamination as verified by U.S. General Accounting Office investigators in a report published during March 2000 and through personal conversations.

WHAT ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED, RECOGNIZED, TREATED, AND DOCUMENTED?

Deliberate denial and delay of medical screening and consequent medical care of U.S. friendly fire casualties who inhaled, ingested, and had wound contamination and all others with verified or suspected internalized uranium exposure limits recognition and verification of health effects still continues as of December 10, 2003.

Although we recommended immediate medical care during March 1991 and many times since then United States Department of Defense, the British Ministry of Defense, Canadian, Australian, United State Department, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials are still refusing to provide thorough medical screening and necessary medical care for all DU casualties as required by their own written and published directives.

Dr. Bernard Rostker wrote to me in a letter dated March 1, 1999 that physicians and health physicists at the completion of the ground war decided that medical screening and care for uranium exposures was not required. Actual documents refute this! Today, individuals are sick (including me) and others are dead who were denied medical care even though I requested it in a letter dated May 21, 1997 which was sent to the Office of Surgeon U.S. Army Materiel Command and forwarded to Dr. Rostker.

Verified adverse health effects from personal experience, physicians, and from personal reports from individuals with known DU exposures include: (a) Reactive airway disease, (b) neurological abnormalities, (c) kidney stones and chronic kidney pain, (d) rashes, (e) vision degradation and night vision losses, (f) gum tissue problems, (g) lymphoma, (h) various forms of skin and organ cancer, (I) neuro-psychological disorders, (j) uranium in semen, (k) sexual dysfunction, and (l) birth defects in offspring.

Today, health effects have been documented in uranium processing facility employees of and residents living near Puducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington. Employees of and residents living near uranium manufacturing or processing facilities in New York, Tennessee, Iowa, Massachusetts, and the four corners area of southwest Colorado also have repeatedly reported health effects similar to those reported by Gulf War DU casualties.

Iraqi and other humanitarian agency physicians are reporting the same health effects in exposed populations. Scottish scientists have verified that residents of the Balkans were excreting uranium in their urine. Dr. Assaf Durakovic (a retired U.S. Army Colonel) of the Uranium Medical Research Center has also verified extremely high uranium excretion rates in Afghanistan refugees. This demonstrates that depleted uranium (U-238) is mobile and contaminating, air, water, and soil just as specified in the October 1943 letter to General Leslie Groves.

Today, verifying correlation between uranium exposures and adverse health effects, except in only in a few cases, is difficult because of deliberate delays in required screening, a radio-bioassay and medical care. Screening involves the collection and analysis of urine, fecal, and throat samples within 24 hours of exposure as required in a October 1993 Department of Defense published directive. Today, months or years after exposure, only a small fraction of the sequestered uranium will be detected. This detectable fraction represents only the mobile or soluble portion and a very smal fraction of what is or was in the body. Terry Riordan's (a DU casualty) autopsy in Canada has revealed that sequestering is occurring and that the mobile fraction may not be representative of what is actually present.

Even when verified medical evidence attributing adverse health effects to DU exposures is available official recognition and documentation is limited. For example during 1994 and 1995 United States Department of Defense medical personnel at an U.S. Army installation hospital removed, separated, and hid documented diagnoses (including my own) from affected individuals and other physicians. Some medical records were retrieved during the fall of 1997, but, probably too late for many individuals. Today, this practice continues and consequently exposed individuals are not receiving adequate and effective medical care. This includes individuals whose required medical care has been requested and ordered many times.

The denial of medical care will continue as long as the United States, British, Canadian, NATO, and United Nations officials are permitted to ignore the emerging evidence and deny medical care to all individuals who have been or may have been exposed to depleted uranium (uranium 238), other isotopes, and other contaminants created as result of depleted uranium munitions use. The criteria describing exposures requiring medical screening within 24 hours of exposure and consequent medical care were specified in a message from Headquarters Department of the Army dated October 14, 1993. These exposures included:"a. Being in the midst of smoke from DU fires resulting from the burning of vehicles uploaded with DU munitions or depots in which DU munitions are being stored.
b. Working within environments containing DU dust or residues from DU fires.
c. Being within a structure or vehicle while it is struck by DU munitions."

These guidelines must be applicable to all exposed individuals with care
independent of military or civilian status. They must be implemented now!Medical care must be planned and completed to identify and then alleviate actual physiological problems rather than placing an emphasis on psychological manifestations and continued testing. Children and others are sick and deserve care for the complex exposures that have resulted in health problems. Medical care for known uranium exposures should emphasize (concern in parentheses):

a. neurology (heavy metal effects)
b. ophthalmology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
c. urology (heavy metal effects and crystal formation)
d. dermatology (heavy metal effects)
e. cardiology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
f. pulmonary (radiation, particulate, and heavy metal effects)
g. immunology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
h. oncology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
i. gynecology (radiation, neurological, and heavy metal effects)
j. gastro-intestinal (systemic effects)
k. dental (heavy metal effects)
l. psychology (heavy metal effects)
m. chromosomal damage (systemic effects)

Many individuals with known exposures still have not received requested care. As stated during March 10, 2003 by Dr. Michael KilPatrick, U.S. Department of Defense, only 90 individuals (including myself) are receiving minimal medical care from physicians assigned to the Baltimore Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs Depleted Uranium program. That includes only a fraction of over 400 individuals with verified extremely high exposures as the Dr. Rostker's staff told members of the Presidential Special Oversight Board on September 28, 1998.

It is impossible to get proper care and treatment. IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ASSESSMENT FOR THOSE WITH VERIFIED EXPOSURES AND HEALTH PROBLEMS THEN YOU
CAN SAY DU DID NOT CAUSE ANY ADVERSE HEALTH PROBLEMS BECAUSE YOU NEVER SAW ANY HEALTH EFFECTS. SO MUCH FOR MEDICAL SCIENCE WHEN A COVER-UP IS DIRECTED BY
POLITICIANS TO LIMIT LIABILITY.