To: du-watch@egroups.com
From: "Miroslav Antic" <miroslav@antic.org>
X-eGroups-Edited-By: stopnato@ntlworld.com
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 01:01:25 -0000
Subject: [DU-WATCH] Depleted Uranium and Canada's Role
Depleted Uranium and Canada's Role
Audio Transcript [prepared by Janet M. Eaton] (recording at
http://www.interlog.com/~nealm/du.html) of remarks by Dr. Rosalie
Bertell speaking on Depleted Uranium [DU] Weapons and Canada's
central role in the production of these weapons.
Dr. Bertell was one of nine prominent Canadians speaking at:
An Unjust and Illegal War:
Leading opponents of the War against Yugoslavia speak out
A public meeting held at Convocation Hall
at the University of Toronto, 6 May 1999
Dr. Rosalie Bertell is one of the world's leading authorities on
health effects of low level radiation. For a decade she worked for
the US National Cancer Institute and for 30 years has been in the
forefront of research on the effects of low level radiation on
human health. In 1984 she founded the International Institute of
Concern for Public Health in Toronto.
For further background on Dr. Bertell see : "Dr. Rosalie Bertell -
A Great Humanitarian & Scientist" at
http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11275 [as well as the full
list of all her works on rat haus reality at
http://www.ratical.org/rhrIndex/authorB.html#RB" --ratitor]
"I don't think I'm a radical." --Dr. Rosalie Bertell
Rosalie Bertell is deeply suspicious of the world's business,
political, military and scientific leaders. As a nun and a
scientist, she suspects we have already poisoned our environment
beyond recall, and if we haven't, we should begin now to save the
planet ourselves.
All the best,
Janet M. Eaton, PhD
Audio Transcript:
I'd like to talk about a little known factor in this war and that
is the kind of ammunition which is being used. It's called
Depleted Uranium [DU] but don't let that fool you -- it doesn't
mean it's harmless. Depleted Uranium is basically radioactive
waste. It's the waste from uranium enrichment. When the uranium is
taken out of the ground most of it is Uranium 238 but they like
the fissioning of 235 which is less than 1 percent of the whole --
so when they do uranium enrichment they basically try to increase
the proportion of the uranium 235 that fissions and the rest of
the uranium, and a lot of it, is considered waste.
For a long time in 70's there was an effort to declare this waste
"scrap metal" and use it in our refrigerators and stoves and
bicycles and automobiles. Many of us were out there protesting
this. We actually won and they stopped talking about that. But
very quietly on the side they gave this uranium, free of charge,
to weapons manufacturers.
What they discovered was it's more dense than lead which means it
goes through a tank, or an armored car, or a bullet proof vest.
It's what's called "auto pyrophoric" which means it can burst into
flame and when it does it becomes an aerosol. Also -- you know how
when you make pottery if you put it in a kiln and fire it you get
a glass? -- well that's what happens to uranium when you ignite it
in battle.
This was actually used for the first time by the Russians in
Afghanistan but on a very small scale. The first time it was used
on a very large scale was in Iraq in Gulf War. It was used
extensively by the US and the UK. According to the Pentagon
400,000 American veterans were exposed to this depleted uranium
aerosol in the Gulf War. About 200,000 of these men and women have
sought medical care since the war and about 115,000 have been
diagnosed as having Gulf War Syndrome. One would think in the
United States of America, given this new weapon and this massive
exposure and these sick veterans, that they would have tested the
veterans for Depleted Uranium.
I was in Washington DC 10 days ago and I found that not one
American veteran has been tested for Depleted Uranium in the 9
years since the Iraq war. We actually have tested some of the
veterans here in Canada and we have found Depleted Uranium in
their urine at quite a high level. Remember this is 9 years after
their exposure which means that the amount that they now are
excreting is nothing compared to what the original dose was.
There has been quite a dispute, which some of you may know, since
the war is on in Kosovo as to whether or not Depleted Uranium
ammunition was being used. In a sense this adds to the problem.
But you should know that every Cruise missile contains Depleted
Uranium ballast and when that missile impacts that ballast is
again aerosolized into very small particles of uranium glass that
can be breathed in and it will stay in the body 10 years or more.
And it keeps irradiating the tissue around it wherever it is in
the body!
Canada has been an international leader against land mines. But
this Depleted Uranium is worse than land mines. It will stay
around for thousands of years after the war is over. It is
incorporated into the farm land; it can be picked up by the
vegetables; the shrapnel can be handled by children. It stays
around. It doesn't disappear. Because it's an aerosol it can
travel as much as 50 or 60 kilometers from the point of release.
THIS IS CHEMICAL AND RADIOLOGICAL WARFARE. IT'S OUTRAGEOUS. IT'S A
VERY SERIOUS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS!
I think this talk about chemical warfare in Iraq and violation of
human rights in Serbia is outrageous. Because if anyone is waging
chemical and radiological warfare and violating human rights it's
NATO.
In 1996 this issue was brought before the Human Rights Tribunal in
Geneva. The Tribunal condemned it as warfare. They actually called
Depleted Uranium a weapon of mass destruction. I think it might be
better called a weapon of indiscriminate destruction but they
didn't really have a term for it. I say indiscriminate because it
will by choice affect women and children. Women have tissues that
are more radio-sensitive, like breast and uterine tissue. Children
are closer to the ground, they're growing, they'll incorporate
more uranium into their bones as they grow. They also have a
longer life span so the cancers that have a longer latency can be
expressed. So it selects out women and children.
Anyway it was condemned by the United Nations Human Rights
Commission and they have appointed a rapporteur to prepare a brief
for the United Nations. It's not completed yet. The World Health
Organization has sent a team into Iraq to look at the aftermath of
the war. But they just went in last fall and they expect to spend
two years in the study.
So I think you can see that the forces for good here are slow
compared to the extent at which this is being used and the
rapidity with which it is being used not only in Iraq but Bosnia
and Kosovo.
I call this to your attention and I ask you to make this known.
It's largely Canadian uranium that's being used! Canada has a
policy that its uranium cannot be used in nuclear bombs. That
policy does not extend to these DU weapons. So you really have to
complain loudly about this!
Canada also sends its uranium down to Paducah, Kentucky to be
enriched and it does not ask for the return of the waste. If that
waste stays in the United States for 30 days by U.S. law it
becomes U.S. uranium.
So Canadian uranium is basically providing the material for these
weapons. And I really would ask you to make this an issue in the
front-centre and stop it now as quickly as you can!