>>Valley Patriot>> |
Since Desert Storm, the United States and Britain have been using ammunition, shells and tank armor made from depleted uranium (DU). According to the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute, “Iraq and northern Kuwait were a virtual testing range for depleted-uranium weapons. Over 940,000 30-millimeter uranium tipped bullets and more than 14,000 large caliber DU rounds were consumed during Operation Desert Storm/ Desert Shield.” Estimates for DU use in Desert Storm are about 300 -350 tons, while the current war in Iraq is around 1500 tons. Dr. Asaf Durakovia, former Chief of Nuclear Medicine for the Veterans’ Administration said after Desert Storm, “Due to the current proliferation of DU weaponry, the battlefield of the future will be unlike any battlefields in history.” While the
use of the word “depleted” uranium is
technically correct, it can be misleading. A byproduct of
nuclear power production, DU is about 60 percent as
radioactive as natural uranium, but with a half-life of
four and a half billion years. DU-contaminated dust is
problematic. When breathed into the lungs, it can remain
for many years, causing a wide range of serious health
problems. There are economic and military advantages to the use of DU. First, it is one of the densest materials in the world. And nobody argues that DU ammunition and shells are extremely effective in piercing tank armor and bunkers, after which a DU round disintegrates into tiny aerosol particles and bursts into flame. Economically, DU is very cheap and an abundant supply is readily available. The downside is DU’s catastrophic effect on health of our own troops, which the military denies. Of the 697, 000 soldiers that participated in Desert Storm in 1991, 207,000 are receiving disability compensation. (Veterans Benefit Administration Report, May 2002) This comes to a staggering 30 percent. These vets are still young men and women now in their mid-thirties, an age when they should be in the prime of their health. Many possible causes have been suggested such as the inhalation of oil fire smoke, vaccination damage, exposure to bioagents, nerve gas, pesticides, etc. all of which most likely contribute to what is loosely termed “Gulf War Syndrome”,” but some experts postulate that “Gulf War Syndrome” is a form of radiation sickness mixed in various proportions with exposures to this toxic mélange of substances. History is repeating itself. Remember those GIs in the 1950’s, who were paraded out to the desert test ground and told to face the direction of atomic bomb blasts, only to come down with cancer later in life? Then came the arrogance of the government, who sought to deny responsibility for the broken health of these men. It all happened again a generation later with Agent Orange and the devastation it caused those who returned from Viet Nam. An actively participating American citizenry should demand an open discourse on the use of depleted uranium- instead of the dialogue being closed off and displaced with administrative mandates. Thomas Jefferson said, “I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” Amidst
the denials and projections that will surely follow, the
use of depleted uranium will be a bitter pill indeed.
Broken health. Expendable people. Uranium
ammu-nition. A bad idea that nobody talks about. Mark Palermo is a professor at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill and is the past vice-president of the faculty union. You can email him at markpalermo@lycos.com. *Send your questions
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If your employer made you drive around
in vehicles made from uranium, handle uranium without
protection, and breathe uranium dust mixed with traces of
plutonium, would you be surprised if, in a few years, you
started to have health problems like cancer, chronic
fatigue, kidney damage, and neurological and chromosomal
damage? If you questioned the cause of your malaise,
would you be surprised if your employer claimed that
uranium was a harmless natural substance?