Subject:
[du-list] du info bulletin no 23
Date:
Mon, 1 Oct 2001 21:45:21 +0100 (BST)
From:
davey garland <thunderelf@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: du-list@yahoogroups.com
To:
du-list@yahoogroups.com
DU INFO BULLETIN NO 23
VETERANS ALERT ON URANIUM SHELLS
By Macer Hall> (Filed: 23/09/2001)>
Shells with depleted uranium
tips are being
transported to the Middle East for
use in the war
against terrorism despite concerns
of health threats
to thousands of Nato service> personnel,
The Telegraph
has learnt. Veterans of the Gulf War
and the Balkans
who believe that the armour-piercing
ammunition caused
them to suffer leukaemia and other
illnesses, last
night gave a warning that a new generation
of service
personnel could be at risk.
Nato has been
investigating complaints by former
service personnel
from several European countries that
radioactive dust
spread by the weapons made them ill.
A spokesman for
the United States Defence Department
confirmed that
depleted uranium shells were widely
used in America's
armed forces. The department refused
to take any
action after a Pentagon report found
no link between
depleted uranium and cancer. The Ministry
of Defence,
which earlier this year agreed to test
hundreds of
veterans for traces of uranium poisoning,
also
confirmed that depleted uranium rounds
could be used
in a forthcoming conflict against terrorists.
An MoD spokesman said: "We do still
have depleted
uranium-tipped shells and, if we have
to, we will use
them." He added that the only depleted
uranium-tipped
shells used in British Armed Forces
were those fired
by the Army's Challenger 2 tank.
Tony Flint, a spokesman for the National
Gulf Veterans
and Families Association, said: "This
is a major concern for us.
Depleted uranium should not be used
in any
forthcoming> conflict. These weapons
do not just
affect the enemy, they have consequences
for the
troops that go in on the ground after
they are fired."
Mr Flint, a 54-year-old Gulf veteran,
now suffers from
fatigue and a muscle-wasting illness.
He added:
"Depleted uranium will cause a lot more
deaths through
poisoning. We could be creating another
generation of
service personnel with terrible illnesses."
Bernie
McPhillips, of the Gulf Families Association,
another
campaign group, said: "If they go ahead
with a ground
invasion, it is more than likely that
depleted>
uranium weapons will be used and there
will be
consequences for our troops. Until
they develop a new>
weapon, depleted uranium will continue
to be used."
A recent investigation for the MoD by
the scientists at
the Royal Society found no evidence
of a link between
depleted uranium and cancer, but conceded
that
further research was needed.
INDEPENDENT PANEL TO OVERSEE MOD'S DEPLETED
URANIUM
SCREENING PROGRAMME
Press Release Number: 218/01 Date:
26 September 2001
A panel of scientists and veterans'
representatives
has been appointed to oversee the MoD's
depleted
uranium (DU) screening programme. The
group meets for
the first time tomorrow (Thursday 27
September).
Following concerns earlier this year
about the
potential exposure of UK service personnel
to DU, the
MoD agreed to establish a screening
programme for
those who had served in the Gulf and
the Balkans.
The Oversight Board will oversee the
development of a
scientifically valid test for DU exposure
and a case
control study. Announcing the membership
of the
Oversight Board, veterans' minister
Dr Lewis Moonie
said: "This is a significant step forward
in
addressing the concerns of our veterans.
The Board
provides the programme with independence.
The Board
also provides confidence that questions
about past
exposure to DU will be answered on
a scientifically
sound basis."
Eminent scientific experts and veterans'
representatives form the bulk of the
Oversight Board.
The composition of the Board is designed
to ensure
independence, transparency, scientific
rigour and to
provide an important voice for the
veterans.
Tomorrow's meeting will decide the
way ahead for the
screening programme.A further element
of the MoD's
response to concerns over DU was to
initiate
environmental monitoring in the Balkans.
Over 500 air,
dust, water and soil samples were collected
in August
from sites in Kosovo where DU ammunition
had been
used. Early indications show that the
risks to British
troops from DU residues in Kosovo are
low. Dr Moonie
commented: "This is good news and should
provide
reassurance to our troops deployed
on the Balkans.
Work is now underway to fully analyse
the many samples
collected and an initial report will
be produced in
the next few months. "The MoD today
also published a
summary of responses to the second
consultative
document for a screening programme.
As part of our
response to the DU issue a consultative
process was
announced in January of this year with
the aim of
generating practical ideas for establishing
a
screening programme. This is latest
stage in that
process.
BABY BONE USED IN NUCLEAR TESTS
Bones were removed from the bodies of
thousands of
dead babies without parents' consent,
a government
agency has admitted.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority
(UKAEA) said thigh bones from 3,400
children were
tested between 1954 and 1970. It emerged
in June that
the Yorkhill Children's Hospital in
Glasgow had been
involved in the project - but it has
now been revealed
that bones were collected from hospitals
throughout
the UK. Scientists were trying to establish
what
effect the fallout from nuclear tests
being carried
out around the world was having on
health.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1571000/1571883.stm
A GROWING OPPOSITION
by John Nichols
After President Bush's "win this war"
speech to
Congress Thursday night, Senate majority
leader Tom
Daschle and Senate minority leader
Trent Lott strode
to a podium where Lott declared, "Tonight,
there is no
opposition party."
On the streets of America, however,
there is an
opposition. In growing numbers, and
in every region of
the United States, a new peace movement
is delivering
a message summed up by Harvard Initiative
for Peace
and Justice organizer David Jenkins.
"It's OK to be
scared; it's even OK to be angry,"
Jenkins said at a
September 20 rally that drew more than
500 war foes to
Harvard Yard. "But it's not OK to lash
out violently
as a result of those emotions; it's
not OK to target
groups of people; it's not OK to accept
'collateral
damage' of the lives of innocent people
for a
retaliation against terrorism."
/directory/view.mhtml?handle=nichols_john/directory/view.mhtml?handle=nichols_john
URANIUM COMPANY FOR DISCRIMINATION
ASHTABULA,
Ohio, September 27, 2001 (ENS)
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) has proposed
a $17,600 fine against RMI Environmental
Services (now
Earthline Technologies), for apparently
violating NRC
requirements protecting employees from
discrimination.
From 1962 until 1988, the company fabricated
uranium
metal products for the Department of
Energy, the
Department of Defense, and other commercial
clients.
The facility is now being decontaminated
and
decommissioned. An NRC investigation
found that an RMI
radiation protection technician was
placed on
involuntary leave after he raised safety
concerns
about the handling of a radioactively
contaminated
pipe and other radiation protection
issues. The NRC
cited RMI for discriminating against
the employee who
had raised safety concerns and proposed
the $17,600
fine.
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-27-09.html">
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-27-09.html</
Subject: Re: [du-list] BUSH ADMN.
URGED TO USE NEUTRON BOMB
Date:
Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:33:53 -0400
From: "Dr.
H. D. Sharma" <hdsharma@golden.net>
Reply-To: du-list@yahoogroups.com
To: du-list@yahoogroups.com
Yes, I like to know a little more as
well. The use of neutron bomb will add
to already a very precarious situation.
Nuclear devices should not be used
by the super power for such situations.
In my opinion, even guided
misssiles should not be deployed. I
do hope that cool heads will prevail in
the President Bush adminitration.
I should like to know a little more
about the neutron bomb. There has not
been any sort of estimates provided
to us as to how it destroys life --
radiation dose from neutron flux from
a thermo-nuclear device. How is it
triggered? This is not meant to get
details of the bomb but to estimate how
this bomb destroys human life and not
non-bio environment.
Hari Sharma.
Subject: Re: [du-list] BUSH ADMN. URGED
TO USE NEUTRON BOMB
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 00:23:08 -0300
From:
"Mitzi" <upthesun@tallships.ca>
Reply-To: du-list@yahoogroups.com
To: <du-list@yahoogroups.com>
References:
1
Dr. Sharma, Re: the neutron bomb, Your
best source, probably, would be
Dr.Arjun Makhijani mailto:arjun@igc.org
who is an expert on ionizing
radiation physics and the nuclear technology.
His organization IEER (can't remember
what the letters stand for)
Institute for Energy and Environmental
Research? Takoma Park,
Maryland, USA, puts out an excellent
newsletter
"Science for a Democratic Society".
Another one is Union of Concerned
Scientists' David Lochbaum (I'm sure
they have a website, though I haven't
tried to look at it yet).
Dr. Ernest Sternglass is another, Professor
Emeritus of Radiology, U. of Pittsburgh
mailto:mssejs@aol.com (|I hope
that's current). He is extremely knowledgeable
also. Other sources are
Abolition 2001and The American Friends
Service Committee.
These latter were involved in the anti-neutron
bomb campaign
when that monstrous idea was first
promoted sometime in the '70s
and/or early '80s.
I remember that the bomb was supposed
to be exploded in air,
showering neutrons sufficient to kill
all living things in a given area |
(I can't remember the details) but
leave the buildings standing.
I don't remember any mention at the
time of
the problem of induced radiation of
the buildings by the neutrons, which
might leave them uninhabitable for
quite a while. Goes to show how sick
our "leaders" were - and are - doesn't
it? At any rate, the powerful
campaign to stop its development made
the big boys shut up about it at the
time.
Looks as though they didn't drop the
idea, though, if there's talk
about it again. Mitzi
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 10:24
PM
Subject: Re: [du-list] BUSH ADMN. URGED TO USE NEUTRON
BOMB
From Strategic Review, Winter 1978, Page 9
ENHANCED RADIATION WARHEADS:
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
S. T. COHEN
THE AUTHOR: Mr. Cohen has been professionally engaged in nuclear
weapon development,
military applications and policy matters since 1944. His experience
includes the Manhattan Project
(Los Alamos); nuclear weapon planning with the U.S. Air Force; and nuclear
policy consultation with
the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 1958, he performed the
study which led to the formulation
of the enhanced radiation warhead concept [neutron bomb]. He is a
contributor to numerous national
and professional publications.
IN BRIEF
During the last year [1977], a major international debate has flared over
the issues of development
and deployment of enhanced radiation weapons. Misunderstanding has
been rife with regard to the
effects of these devices. Since the advent of nuclear weapons, a
major emphasis has been on
designing large-yield devices rather than "clean," low-yield and discriminating
tactical nuclear
weapons which could reduce unintended damage. ER weapons have the
desirable advantage for
NATO of making it possible to attack military targets without causing widespread
structural damage.
The outcry against ER tends to be based on erroneous assumptions and/or
emotion. The addition
of more discriminating weapons -- including ER weapons -- to the NATO arsenal
will be a step toward
a more credible tactical nuclear posture for the Alliance.
In June 1977, a reporter from the Washington Post, reviewing testimony
on nuclear weapons
developments to the House Appropriations Committee the previous March,
noticed that pursuant to
Presidential approval an "enhanced radiation lower average" yield warhead
would go into production
for incorporation into the Army's Lance battlefield missile. Almost
immediately, the Washington
Post picked up this disclosure in an editorial entitled "A New Warhead
We Don't Need," which
argued that this weapon's allegedly uniquely different propertioes made
it singularly pernicious
among tactical, nuclear weapons. Moreover, the editorial argued,
deployment of the weapon would
be downright inimical to U.S. security interests in view of the greater
probability that its use would be
much preferred over that of other nuclear weapons, and thereby significantly
increase the risk of
general nuclear war.
In short order, the subject was taken up in the news media, the Congress,
the scientific
community and public forums. A debate of major national proportions
emerged, which soon was
joined by voices in NATO Europe and Soviet-Warsaw Pact pronouncements.
The weapon was
attacked on political, military and technical grounds. In particular,
arguments were mounted against
the "insidious" concept of emphasizing a weapon kill mechanism -- namely,
nuclear radiation --
designed for anti-personnel application.
Generally ignored in these arguments was the historical fact that, beginning
with the bow and
arrow, battlefield weapon developments have always emphasized effects against
enemy personnel.
Indeed, like the neutrons from the proposed enhanced radiation warhead
for Lance, today's most
effective conventional anti-tank weapons are designed to penetrate tank
armor and produce effects
which will kill or disable the tank crews. Also overlooked was the
fact that the bulk of NATO's
battlefield nuclear weapons (and perhaps also those of the Soviet Union)
have their most extensive
anti-tank effects in the form of nuclear radiation against tank crews.
**************************************************
Page 13:
When the battle is being waged adjacent to or actually within major urban
areas -- i.e., towns
and cities -- ER weapons take on an almost unique advantage. By raising
the burst height to the
appropriate level, it becomes possible to attack effectively (with radiation)
enemy forces occupying
these areas with but little significant structural damage resulting...
To the extent that ER weapons can divorce the military from the collateral
damage effects, a
vista for tactical warfare emerges which would seem to have a substantially
more desirable image
than either nuclear fission or conventional explosuve weapons can provide...
Page 15:
Norman Cousins, writing in his nationally syndicated column on September
8, 1977, maintained:
"The neutron bomb advocates have overlooked a basic fact. Survivors
in the outlying areas will suffer
genetic damage. This means that human beings yet unborn are going
to pay a fearsome price. The
radiation will affect the human genes, bequeathing to our descendants all
sorts of inherited defects...
Alton Frye, long a respected analyst of nuclear warfare issues, makes the
point that "the Army's
ideas for using enhanced radiation weapons offer no meaningful protection
to civilians in the combat
zones. One hundred rounds could easily be another Hiroshima...'
On the other hand, Dr. Frye would seem to have a point, if he were concerned
about the radiation
effects on civilians, since injurious and lethal effects may reach considerably
beyond the military
radius. If the civilians do nothing to protect themselves, it is
possible that 100 ER devices could
result in many thousands of casualties. However, if civilians do take elementary
measures to provide
radiation shielding, full protection against ER weapons can be achieved
very simply and very
cheaply, since blast hardening is unnecessary for ER weapons. In
most cases, the required
shielding can be achieved by piling the equivalent of three or four feet
of earth atop family
basements...
I will stop here as it becomes more technical and continues to page 17.
[Note: Dr. Cohen
assumes that everyone in the world has a basement.]
Pat Broudy, Leg. Dir. NAAV
DOE SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT FOR DEPLETED
URANIUM
HEXAFLUORIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
STATEMENT
Public Meetings Planned in Portsmouth,
Paducah, Oak
Ridge Oak Ridge, Tenn.
- The U.S. Department of Energy has
issued a Notice
of Intent to begin preparation of an
Environmental
Impact Statement which will cover construction,
operation, maintenance, and decontamination
and
decommissioning of depleted uranium
hexafluoride
conversion facilities at Portsmouth,
Ohio, and
Paducah, Kentucky. The Department
of Energy (DOE) has
a legacy of approximately 700,000
metric tons of
depleted uranium hexafluoride
that was created over
the last 40 years, which is stored
in 57,700
cylinders stored at Portsmouth,
Paducah, and the East
Tennessee Technology Park in Oak
Ridge. This material
was created at each facility during
> processing to
make natural uranium suitable for use
as fuel, such as
that used in nuclear power plants.
The full text of the NOI, found
in the September 18,
2001, > edition of the Federal Register
(66FR48123) is
available on > the Department's National
Environmental
Policy Act web site > at >
http://www.tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa> and
the depleted
uranium hexafluoride project Web site
at >
http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium. >
BRAZIL COVERS UP NUCLEAR LEAK
- Safety issues at Brazil's controversial
nuclear
power program came into the spotlight
yesterday after
a local magazine reported a four-month-old
accident at
a beach side nuclear reactor. Government
officials
played down the gravity of an internal
leak of
radioactive water at the Angra I plant,
80 miles (130
km) west of Rio de Janeiro in May,
saying there had
been no need to inform the public;
However,
environmentalists and the media took
the government to
task for hiding facts ofthe accident.
"Radiation spills in Angra and the government
conceals,"
said a front-page head line in Jornal
do Brasil. O Globo
daily said: "Information about Angra
delayed by four
months."
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid
Alaska Antimissile Site: Too Close for Russians' Comfort?
By James Dao
Defending Against a Missile Attack FORT
GREELY, Alaska
— In a patch of fire-scorched forest
in central
Alaska, under the shadow of towering
peaks,
construction crews have been carving
the outlines of a
135-acre missile field at an Army base
here, 100 miles
south of Fairbanks.
They are laying the foundations
for a rudimentary missile defense site.
But as those
crews rush to beat winter's subzero
temperatures and
pounding snows, their work may complicate
the Bush
administration's efforts to keep Russia
in an
international coalition to fight terrorism
in the
aftermath of the attacks on New York
and Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/26/international/26MISS.html?
ex=1002168000&en=d42a616508bf424e&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER
Senate approves 'Downwinder'
By Robert Gehrke Associated Press WASHINGTON
Thousands of people sickened by
radiation exposure
during Cold War nuclear weapons development
could be
guaranteed compensation payments under
a proposal
adopted by the Senate on Tuesday. In
the past,
payments to former uranium miners and
"downwinders"
— people unknowingly exposed
to radioactive fallout
from above-ground atomic tests —
had been delayed
because the program had run out of
money. Many died
holding IOUs from the government. But
the amendment to
the Senate defense spending bill would
set aside $655
million over 10 years to pay the claims,
beginning
with $172 million in the coming year.
A
HREF="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,315009576,00.html?">
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,315009576,00.html?</
Oak Ridge contractor resumes shipping
low-level
nuclear waste
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) –
Shipment of low-level nuclear
waste from Oak Ridge
National Laboratory has resumed, but
officials say
other restrictions remain because of
heightened
security caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
U.S. Department of Energy spokesman
Steven Wyatt said
BNFL Inc., a cleanup contractor, initiated
waste
shipments to Utah and Nevada on Monday
and Tuesday.
Wyatt said Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's
environmental
manager, also was expected to send
wastes to a Western
site for disposal. However, he said
the transportation
of special nuclear materials, such
as highly enriched
uranium used at the Y-12 nuclear weapons
plant,
remains on hold.
="http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2001/sep/26/092610410.h
tml">http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2001/sep/26/092610410.html
</A>
VIDEOS/FILMS
Jawad Metni, an independent documentary
filmmaker
working in New York has recently completed
a
documentary dealing with DU weapons
entitled
"Downwind: Depleted Uranium Weapons
in the Age of
Virtual War". The film places the weapons
within an
historical context of the memory of
Hiroshima/Nagasaki
and the above-ground testing of nuclear
weapons in
America.
The film also maps out the movement
towards a
kind of virtual warfare, a dissociation
of the representation
and reality of war. There are
six interviews within the film,
most of them no doubt familiar names
to those regularly
on the du-list. They are as follows:
Dan Fahey
Carole Gallagher
Dr. Rosalie Bertell
Dr. Doug Rokke James
Der Derian
Dr. Melissa McDiarmid
These interviews are interwoven with
stock footage
from Hiroshima, Nevada, and the 1991
Gulf War. The
film hopes to raise questions about
the true human
cost when the desire for total victory
outweighs the
moral obligations of humanitarian intervention.
If anyone is interested in obtaining
this documentary,
please contact Jawad Metnimetni7@hotmail.com,
or
du_downwind@hotmail.com.
Also, please feel free to pass this
information along
to anyone who may be interested in
this issue.
There will also be a website for the
documentary on the
web by the 5th of October, 2001.
The site will be pinholepictures.com.
Please
also forward this information to any
interested
parties.Thank you for your time and
continued concern
for this important issue, and thank
you in advance for
any support you may give to this film.Peace
to you
all,Jawad Metni Pinhole Pictures
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