Anti DU Actions In UK
The Royal Society - a royal whitewash?
Fringe Meetings Against Sanctions on Iraq
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
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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Fringe Meetings Against
Sanctions on Iraq
The Mariam Appeal are organising several
fringe meetings opposing sanctions and war on Iraq, at
political party conferences. Tuesday 25th September at the
LibDem conference in Bournemouth, and 3rd October at the
Labour Party conference in Brighton. Speakers include
Felicity Arbuthnot, Tony Benn, George Galloway and Alice Mahon
among other MPs.
Contact the Mariam Appeal on 01273 480810
or
[email protected]
for more details. Tickets are limited, so please book in
advance
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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
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 -
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.
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