CADU NEWS 8
Summer 2001

Contents
- Anti DU Actions In UK
- The Royal Society - a royal whitewash?
- People in Solidarity with Vieques - march on the Belly of the Beast
- Chief War Crimes Prosecutor is asked to prosecute NATO for DU
- Proposed New Radioactive Waste Smelter in South Africa
- Russian Government finds DU dangerous
- Too many babies without eyes
- WHO to assess DU in Iraq
- War veterans hail news on radiation tests
- US/UK Defeated On DU Vote At The UN Subcommision
- New DU Book

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Anti DU Actions In UK

CADU Action at Armed Forces Recruitment Centre
Many bemused passers- by took one look at the front of the leaflet we gave out in front of the Manchester Armed Forces Recruitment office on July 29th and immediately turned it over to see what it was all about. They obviously didn’t see the connection between the picture of the wheelchair and the military. (They can’t have been reading our newletters!) .

We hope that those young men, perhaps “persuaded” by their benefits offices into visiting the recruitment centre, will think twice about joining up after reading our leaflet. We noticed that the soldiers staffing the centre were very keen that potential recruits avoid contact with us and these were ushered in very speedily when we engaged them in conversation! This was a useful exercise in giving out information that has been denied to British soldiers in the past and that even now is not welcomed by the authorities. It is something a very small group of people can do in any town that has an army recruitment office. It would also be useful to leaflet any recruitment or military information stand at a summer fair or agricultural show. Please contact the office if you would like some leaflets or if you would like to borrow the excellent posters that DAAMDU have produced. You can use your own props, such as an empty wheelchair or a zimmer frame! We have a right to demonstrate peacefully. Let's use it as often as we can.

Protesters swim across moat in action at MoD Procurement Centre, Bristol DAAMDU ( Direct Action Against Militarism and Depleted Uranium) held a successful early morning demonstration at the new £50 million M.o.D Procurement Centre in Bristol on June 18th .The Centre is a very beautiful modern building surrounded by curvaceous moat and ornamental gardens. The perimeter fence which faced a busy roundabout was soon decorated by various banners including the CADU one. Peace activists picketed the entrance and hundreds of civil servants were leafleted as they arrived for work. At about 8.00a.m. four brave protesters, Ray Davies(CND Cymru), Margaret Jones( Bristol Trident Ploughshares), Dave Rolstone (peace activist from Pembrokeshire and Jim Kinnaird ( Bristol Peace and Justice Group) entered the icy cold water and swam across the moat . They managed to attach a large waterproof banner with, ‘MoD, Purchaser for Nuclear Crime ‘ written on it to a bridge support where it remained for the rest of the day. Ray Davies said that during the action all he had in mind were Iraqi children lying in ill equipped hospitals, dying with various radiation- related cancers, Iraqi mothers weeping and wailing for their loved ones: all of them screaming at me ‘Why me?’

More information from [email protected], 0117 954 0564

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The Royal Society - a royal whitewash?

The Royal Society published its report into Depleted Uranium in May this year. In the absence of a public enquiry on the issue of Depleted Uranium which the government has refused to set up, concerned groups and individuals were led to believe that the so-called independent Royal Society would produce an acceptable alternative. Indeed, it has made several important recommendations and suggestions for further action.

However, CADU has serious criticisms of the report which can be summarised as follows :- Given the Royal Society’s own remarks about the paucity of information in this area it seems incredible and deplorable that such definite conclusions, ( e.g. “ but the risks of leukaemias and other cancers from depleted uranium radiation are likely to be very low for all possible battlefield situations”) have been drawn. This is particularly lamentable since civilians and veterans exposed to depleted uranium and suffering ill-health could be receiving treatment to alleviate some of the effects. (see note a.) The IRCP model used to estimate radiation exposure is not appropriate in relation to those people exposed to battleground ‘Depleted’ Uranium and, therefore, invalidates any conclusions drawn. (see note b.) The Royal Society report, like the Rand Report, has relied heavily on research conducted on uranium workers and miners. Again, this research has limited application to those exposed to battleground ‘Depleted’ Uranium. (see note c.)

We question how far the Report can be said to be impartial when the foreword by Professor Spratt describes ‘Depleted’ Uranium as being “weakly radioactive”. Certainly, an inert piece of DU can be so described but this enquiry was to focus on battleground DU which behaves quite differently and so the statement is misleading. The foreword by Sir Robert May, President of the Royal Society, repeats the assertion that DU is weakly radioactive which makes us wonder whether there is a deliberate attempt to mislead. (see note d) Additionally, Professor Spratt commented in an interview on the ‘Today’ programme on January 9th 2001 that DU weapons are “ here to stay because they are very successful.”

Significantly, DU is practically given away by the nuclear industry because there is so much lying around at nuclear facilities and safe storage has yet to be managed. Is his statement more evidence of the outcome of the working group having been pre-judged? In a further interview on Radio 5 Professor Spratt stated that “ the aim [of the working group] was to reassure Gulf War veterans that they are not at risk [from DU]” This is a highly unscientific statement to make before the results of the working group were known. The veterans and civilians don’t want false re-assurances. They deserve treatment and compensation. No veterans have yet been tested by the Ministry of Defence for ‘Depleted ‘ Uranium contamination. This means that there is a serious gap in crucial information. Neither have any epidemiological studies been undertaken.

Epidemiological studies referred to in paragraph 3 of Professor Spratt’s foreword are of nuclear miners and workers. This is not made clear and it is, therefore, misleading to say that lessons have been learned, particularly given point (iii) above. (see note e) The Report addresses only the radiological effects which may or may not lead to cancer and does not look at other possible effects, for example, on the immune system, or on the development of a foetus. (See note f)

The working group should have considered evidence emanating from areas where DU weapons have been tested. In Vieques, for example, which the US navy has used as bombing range, including the test firing of DU weapons, figures compiled in 1990-94 show that the 9,300 islanders are 27% more likely to get cancer than those inhabitants of mainland Puerto Rica. Dr. Rafael Rivera-Castao, who lives on the island says that the rate has risen since then to 52% more than the Puerto Rican average. ( see note g)

The remit of the working group specifies that an estimate should be made of“the exposure, doses and possible health effects for the general population“and {of} the longer term consequences for health of environmental contamination.”It is our opinion that these areas have been inadequately addressed, particularly considering the dramatic increases in childhood cancers and leukaemias, and birth deformities in Iraq. In fact, civilians have been largely overlooked by the working group.

More recently, similar evidence is emanating from the Balkans. Moreover, the air-borne potential of aerolised ceramic particles of ‘Depleted’Uranium has not been acknowledged. Notes Note a) The Royal Society’s Report states:- (I) most of these uncertainties ( re estimates of DU intakes that could occur in different situations on the battlefield arise as a consequence of the paucity of good experimental data on the amounts of DU that may be inhaled within and close to tanks struck by a DU penetrator and almost complete lack of any measurements of DU in urine samples taken soon after exposure to a DU impact aerosol” page vii (emphases added) (2) Appendix 3 states:- “ It is unclear how relevant the exposure of uranium nuclear workers are for DU exposed soldiers, although it is noteworthy that some nuclear industry workers would also have been exposed to DU, albeit in a different form.” Page 77 (emphases added) ( 3 ) Appendix 3 also states:- “ Many people who work in uranium processing plants or similar places do not actually handle uranium themselves- for example security officers, builders, administrators, clerical workers and cooks would have minimal exposure. Thus the mortality experience of workers who actually handles uranium may be diluted by the experience of people with little or no direct exposure. ”page 77 (emphases added) Note ( b )

We would draw your attention to studies produced by Dr.Chris Busby of the Low Level radiation Unit and, in particular , his evidence submitted to the Royal Society Working Group 2000- available at www.llrc.org/ Also to the work of Dr. Rosalie Bertell.No Immediate Danger”1985 printed by the Women’s Press and her contribution to The Metal of Dishonor 1999. ISBN: 0-9655569916-0-8 Note ( c ) We would draw your attention to points (a) 2 and 3 above and to the work of Rosalie Bertell. Note ( d ) See Rosalie Bertell’s work to understand how dangerous inhaled aerosolised ceramic particles of DU can be, emitting as they do radiation to localised tissue over a long period

Conclusion
Given the inadequacy of the Royal Society Report, we believe that the Ministry of Defence should apply the precautionary principle and stop the use of Depleted Uranium weapons until they can prove that it is not a weapon of indiscriminate destruction. The Report asserts without hesitation that the smoking of tobacco leads to cancer. Thirty years ago this would have been a contentious statement to make. We have heard scientists and government ministers assert that BSE posed no risk to humans. For how much longer will the military endanger the health and lives of its own personnel and the even greater numbers of civilians?

Dr Malcom Hooper’s Response can be seen by clicking here

The Royal Society report - ‘The Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions. Part 1.’ costs £17.50 and is available from The Royal Society, 6 Carleton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG, email: [email protected].

According to the Royal Society, the first part addresses the likely levels of exposure to DU, the resulting radiological risks, and the lessons to be learned from epidemiological studies. Part 2, to be published later this year will address the toxicological risks and environmental issues.

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People in Solidarity with Vieques - march on the Belly of the Beast

The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV), the leading Vieques- based civic organization, called the March for Peace in Vieques in Washington, DC "an admirable showing of the broad-based support that this peaceful and just movement has gained." Robert Rabin, spokesman for the CRDV in Vieques, said: "We in Vieques wish to express our gratitude to those brothers and sisters who marched today in Washington, DC to tell President Bush and the public at large that the Navy must stop bombing and must leave Vieques, not a year from now, not two years from now, but immediately. 60 years of suffering is too much." Rabin added: "We thank the various labor, civic, community and religious leaders, as well as the Members of Congress and many others, who walked the streets of DC today in order to raise awareness of the injustice suffered by the people of Vieques at the hands of the Navy, and of the inhumane treatment and excessive punishment suffered by those who have peacefully defended our land and our people against further destruction. This showing of love, peace and unity transcends race, color or nationality and is our strongest weapon in the struggle for peace against the military might that has been imposed on the people of Vieques."

Flavio Cumpiano, attorney and Washington Representative for the CRDV, stated: "The Navy's damage and destruction to human health, to the environment, to the flora and fauna, and to the economy of Vieques and its people, must cease immediately and permanently. Since the demand has always been that one more day of bombing is unacceptable, allowing for one or two more years of bombing with other organizations- for the people of Vieques to vote for option #2 (the immediate and permanent cease and desist of all military activities in Vieques; the immediate withdrawal of the Navy, and the decontamination and return of the land to Vieques) in the July 29 referendum called for by the Government of Puerto Rico. At the same time, Rabin said that the CRDV and others are preparing themselves to participate in civil disobedience in order to stop further bombing in Vieques should the Navy decide to try to bomb Vieques again. "We will defeat the Navy in the referendum and we will continue to defend our land if the Navy fails to respect our democratic will", Rabin added.

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Chief War Crimes Prosecutor is asked to prosecute NATO for DU

The head of the Athens Bar Association and two human rights groups asked the chief war crimes prosecutor for Yugoslavia to charge NATO officials for allowing the use of depleted uranium ammunition in the Balkans. In a request filed with Carla del Ponte, the threeasked for the prosecution of any NATO political or military official who authorized the use of the armor-piercing ammunition. They claim use of the ammunition violated international agreements barring the use of toxic or "other" materials during a war, and the 1949 Geneva Convention intended to protect civilians in areas of conflict. No NATO officials are named in their request.

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Proposed New Radioactive Waste Smelter in South Africa

There are plans for a smelter in South Africa that will emmit 360 grams of Uranium and 5 kilpgrams of uranium containing dust into the atmosphere per year. The purose of the plant will be to release cleared scrap for sale. It is believed that the plant will import its waste from abroad. For further information see http://www.earthlife.org.za

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Russian Government finds DU dangerous

According to a statement in early June by Lieutenant General Boris Alexeyev, the Russian Defence Ministry have found DU dangerous for human life and health, but only in combination with other substances. A commission from the International Atomic Energy Authority carried out complex research into the effects of DU on the environment in Yugoslavia. NATO’s destruction of many chemical and pharmaceutical companies released into the environment many substances which became very dangerous once they combined with DU. The laboratories which analysed these products claim that 36 of them are lethal for animals and 11 for people. Leukaemia was singled out as the most significant danger. For CADU, this report raises questions. We do not question that DU may well be even more dangerous when in combination with other substances, which may produce a synergistic effect quite different from exposure to DU alone. But we question their finding that DU was not dangerous per se. What tests were carried out? Who was tested and what was their exposure route?

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Too many babies without eyes

extracted from the Dutch Journal of Medical Science, May 2001

Mohammed A. Salman, an eye surgeon from Baghdad has reported via the internet on the phenomenon of anophtalmos: babies who have been born with only one eye or who are missing both eyes. This is a rare anomaly, which normally exists in 1 out of 50 million births.The Iraqi eye doctor however, has reported 9 cases in 2 years; 8 babies missing both eyes. The Flemish eye doctor, Edward De Sutter from the Groeninghe Hospital in Kortrijk picked up the message from the internet and started a scientific discussion with Salman by email.

Following critical and unbelieving questions from De Sutter, Salman proposed that De Sutter should go and look for himself. De Sutter accepted the invitation and went to Iraq together with two other colleagues, also eye doctors. What he saw in Iraq was horrible as he wrote in the Flemish Daily ‘De Standaard’ (5 May 2001). De Sutter examined a number of children for himself who had been born without eyes, but also saw pictures of children with grotesque anomalies, such as the start of one eye in the middle of the face - the so- called cyclops.

His colleague Roland Bonneux examined children with a missing crown to the skull who were being kept alive in an incubator. It is not so much the presence of anomalies per se that is so bewildering, but the sheer number of them, says De Sutter. Out of every 4000 births there are 20 with such anomalies. “Iraq seems to be a scientific curiosity”. The cause is evident according to Salman: Seven of the eight babies missing both eyes had fathers who were exposed to US anti tank weapons during the US attack on Iraq in 1991, where depleted uranium was used. According to the US official point of view, the radioactive particles released by the use of such weapons, pose no danger to health, but various groups, amongst them participants of conflicts in Kosov@ in 1999 - dispute this. Leaving all political sensitivities aside, it was clear to De Sutter that Salman needs help. Not only concrete aid in the form of medicines and materials, but also in the field of scientific knowledge and support. Taken from a web page of the Association of Eye Doctors in Flanders - http://www.vov.be/

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WHO to assess DU in Iraq

A team from the World Health Organisation arrived in Baghdad on 28th August to lay the groundwork for research on a possible link between cancer and depleted uranium used by U.S.-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War. “The visit is a follow-up of the meeting which was held in Geneva between Iraqi and WHO experts,” Abdelaziz Saleh, the deputy head of WHO’s regional office in Cairo, told reporters. He said the seven-member team would meet officials from the health and foreign ministries as well as experts in other U.N. agencies based in Iraq. WHO and Iraqi officials met last April in Geneva, where they agreed to cooperate more in technical and scientific fields. The team will launch WHO’s first comprehensive attempt to assess the state of public health 11 years after a U.S.-led coalition bombed Iraq over its invasion of Kuwait. Baghdad has repeatedly accused Western powers of inflicting a creeping environmental disaster on the country’s southern provinces by firing shells made with depleted uranium. Official Iraqi figures show an increase in cancer cases from 6,555 in 1989 to 10,931 in 1997, mostly in areas bombed by U.S. led forces during the war.

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War veterans hail news on radiation tests

Campaigning war veterans have received a breakthrough thanks to new research which shows exposure to depleted uranium has damaged their genetic make-up. Eight veterans were tested at the World Depleted Uranium Centre in Berlin, where experts found they had damaged chromosomes which could be a result of exposure to ionising radiation from DU weapons. The study is a breakthrough in the veteran’s long fight to gain official recognition from the Government and the Ministry of Defence of the health problems they have suffered since serving in the Gulf War and the Balkans. Gulf War veteran Ray Bristow, from Hull, was among several tested during the independent research. It shows that Mr Bristow and two others have significantly raised levels of abnormal chromosomes and recommends that further studies are undertaken. The veterans have suffered from numerous health problems and Mr Bristow has recently been diagnosed with monoclonal gammopathy, which can lead to a rare form of cancer that is linked with exposure to nuclear bombs. But Mr Bristow, who believes he was contaminated while handling medical casualties, said: “I now have significant proven fact that radiation has caused us damage. We have all the facilities available to do these tests in the UK. I feel it is an absolute disgrace that veterans have got to go all the way to Canada and Germany to get these tests.” Mr Bristow plans to present the research to the International Court of Human Rights.

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US/UK Defeated On DU Vote At The UN Sub-Commission

Efforts by the US/UK to keep depleted uranium off the agenda of the UN Sub- Commission on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights failed this August as the Sub-Commission clearly decided that depleted uranium weaponry qualify as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and authorized a prominent member, Justice Y. Sik Yuen (Mauritius) to prepare a study on the topic.

The UK member of the Sub-Commisson tried to have depleted uranium weaponry deleted from the study, which had been authorized earlier by the Sub- Commission, arguing that DU weaponry are not WMD,but her proposed amendments and a substitute resolution were defeated, drawing only two votes — hers and the vote of the member from Norway. The debate as well as the outcome reinforces the claim made by Karen Parker and supported by a clear majority of international experts —including 23 of the 26 members of the Sub-Commission — that DU is already banned because it is incompatible with existing humanitarian law and qualifies as WMD.

The vote to study weapons of mass destruction including DU is the latest success of UN non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who, beginning in 1996, started a campaign for a strong condemnation of both DU and sanctions. Thanks to Karen Parker, Margarita Papendreou, Dr. Beatrice Boctor, Philippa Winkler and Dr. Gorst Gunther (all representing International Educational Development/ Humanitarian Law Project (IED/HLP)) Felicity Arbuthnot, Damacio Lopez and others the United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution that listed DU among other ‘bad’ weapons. In 1997 the Sub-Commission appointed one of its members, Mme Forero Ucros (Columbia), to prepare a working paper preparatory to a full study. Unfortunately Mme Forero never returned to the Sub-Commission, with many saying this was because of US pressure.

The same year, however, the Sub-Commission moved on the sanctions issue, and adopted a resolution on economic sanctions — responding again to a speech by Karen Parker. Unfortunately, that resolution’s author, Marc Bossuyt (Belgium) was ill the following year, and was unable to attend the Sub- Commisison’s session. When he returned in 1999, the Sub-Commission authorized him to prepare a working paper on sanctions, issued as UN Doc.E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/33. Following the departure of Mme Forero, there were changes in the membership of the Sub-Commission, and the “team” was uncertain whether it was necessary or useful to go forward with a study on DU and the other listed weapons, in part because (1) the Sub-Commission had already labeled DU as a WMD, and (2) the Secretary-General’s report contained substantial portions of both the Parker Memorandum on Weapons, the submission of the International Indian Treaty Council and a number of countries, all essentially implying the same thing — DU weaponry is incompatible with existing international humanitarian law and human rights norms.

However, during these three years, the NGOs at the UN continued to present seminars, films and keep up the pressure. In 1999, the video documentary “From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Weapons” was shown at the Commission. The documentary linked the health impacts of uranium mining on Navajo miners to the impacts of DU weapons, and described tests done by Dr Hari Sharma showing the presence of DU in Gulf War veterans including Ray Bristow. The number of UN NGOs presenting statements on DU continued to grow. At the 2001 session of the Sub-Commission, one of the most respected members of the Sub- Commission, Justice Y. Sik Yuen (Mauritius) agreed to go forward with the study. By Thursday of the first week of the 2001 session, the draft resolution was tabled (submitted) with 16 co-sponsors. In the final debate on the draft the US and UK tried to urge that DU is a ‘conventional’ weapon and therefore ‘legal.’

So the debate really shows that these two countries are backed into a corner, and the rest of the world accepts that DU is and always was illegal.” In the meantime, Karen Parker will be assisting Justice Sik Yuen on this study, and requests that people collect the latest relevant information to transmit to her at [email protected] if they are small enough. Larger documents may be sent by mail. Funds to assist this effort may be made out to Karen Parker directly or to the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, and sent to The Law Offices of Karen Parker, 154-5th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA. Below is the relevent press release from the UN website http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/
Contact: Philippa Winkler 928 774 1765 (USA)

Copies of Karen Parkers Report ‘Depleted Uranium at the UN’ (published by CADU) are still available from the CADU office (see Resources)

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New DU Book

Akira Tashiro, a journalist from Chugoku Sinbun (Japanese local newspaper) has recently published a book (in English) on depleted uranium - ‘Discounted Casualities - The Human Cost of Depleted Uranium’. Akira spent much time with CADU last year, and toured the country interviewing scientists and activists. The book is a collation of the fantastic articles he wrote from his extensive research on DU. Details of how to obtain a copy are on the following website - http://www.chugoku- np.co.jp/abom/uran/booksale_e.html

Unfortunately, his article isn’t published as a book in Japanese for the reason that Chugoku Shinbun considered that the concern among Japanese on DU is very low, thus publishing it in Japanese is not economical. Mr. Tashiro, and Kumiko of the Depleted Uranium Center Japan are doing their best to get the book published in Japanese.

Page last updated: 6th December 2002

CADU NEWS 8 Summer 2001

CADU NEWS 8
Summer 2001