8/15/2019 Use of Depleted Uranium Devastating Lives

1/2

You know how something keeps nagging and nagging at you, until you just have tosay something about it? Well, such is the case for me with all the articles Iveread and pictures Ive seen about the devastating affects of depleted uranium.While most people think that the worst things soldiers in Iraq have to contendwith are the violence and chance of death due to the war, there is another evilthat is becoming more widespread. The United States and Britain use hundreds oftons of depleted uranium in their weapons that release deadly, carcinogenic andmutagenic radioactive particles.

While depleted makes the uranium sound weak, it is anything but! It is one ofearths heaviest elements that can easily smash through tanks, buildings andbunkers. It instantly catches fire and burns everything people, plants andanimals. The particles are so tiny that they can even pass through a gas mask! Butthat is not the worst thing about depleted uranium. The fact of the matter is thatit gets in the air and is causing birth defects worse than anything ever seen inthe history of the world. It has also sickened many Iraq military vets, who havehad to simply come home and wait to die.Now, lest you think you are safe in a small American or Canadian town and far awayfrom the danger, think again! According to Dr. Chris Busby, a British radiationexpert at the University of Liverpools Faculty of Medicine, the radiationreleased by the use of depleted uranium can travel around the world causingmutations and death in great numbers.

"I'm horrified, said Dr. Busby, who is also the U.K. representative on theEuropean Committee on Radiation Risk. The people out there - the Iraqis, themedia and the troops - risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation fromdepleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives ofthousands of children all over the world. We all know how far radiation cantravel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes getred dust from the Sahara on your car."Dr. Busby called the illegal use of depleted uranium by Britain and America acrime against humanity that will be recorded as the worst atrocity of all time.The radioactivity will persist for more than 4,500,000,000 years and aside fromextreme birth defects, it can cause cancer, leukemia, brain damage kidney failure.Leuren Moret is an expert on depleted uranium having worked in two U.S. nuclearweapons laboratories. He calls the use of the use of the substance in warheads

weapons of mass destruction. In 1991, he became a whistleblower at the LivermoreLab and calls it very, very, very nasty stuff.Depleted uranium (DU) weaponry meets the definition of weapon of mass destructionin two out of three categories under U.S. Federal Code Title 50 Chapter 40 Section2302. DU weaponry violates all international treaties and agreements, Hague andGeneva war conventions, the 1925 Geneva gas protocol, U.S. laws and U.S. militarylaw.Since this horrible substance has been unleashed, doctors in Iraq say birthdefects have increased by 2-6 times. Some soldiers returned from active duty wheredepleted uranium was present have since fathered children with these horribledefects as well.Babies have been born with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestinesoutside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with

a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even withoutheads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooksshowing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific. Sickness inchildren has increased 3-12 times.In fact, The Lancet on Feb. 28, 1998 reported that as many as 500 children a dayare dying. In adult men, cancer related to the lungs, bladder, bronchus, skin andstomach have increased at an alarming rate. In women, the highest increases werein breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.The British and Americans knew of the dangers of depleted uranium before it wasused in the Gulf in 1991, because the UK Atomic Energy Authority issued a specialreport about it. However, in that war at least 320 tons was used and its affects

8/15/2019 Use of Depleted Uranium Devastating Lives

2/2

have been devastating. After doing a little research, I also learned that Israelused buster bombs containing depleted uranium warheads against Lebanon.The World Health Organization, which has previously stated that depleted uraniumposes only a small risk has a site where depleted uranium is explained. However,they really downplay anything dangerous about the substance. You can read aboutthat here: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/While both the British and American governments continue to state that depleteduranium is harmless as well, the evidence is mounting. Award-winning scientist,

Dr. Rosalie Bertell has studied low-level radiation for 30 years. She found thaturanium oxide particles can harm cells like flashes of lightening again andagain in a single second, which then damages the DNA and causes cell mutations.Recent research by Eric Wright, professor of Experimental Hematology at DundeeUniversity concurs that depleted uranium is hazardous. However, he adds that somepeople have a much worse reaction to it than others, which is why some Gulf Warveterans seem unaffected.Now, if depleted uranium is even thought to have such horrible and lasting affectson human life, why do these governments continue to use it? The answer is simple.ITS CHEAP!

And why wont these governments admit that the substance is dangerous? A U.S.

report leaked in late 1994 allegedly stated: The potential for health affectsfrom DU exposure is real; however, it must be viewed in perspective the financialimplications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would beexcessive.It is interesting to note that in 1996 and 1997, the UN Human Rights Tribunalcondemned these weapons for illegally breaking the Geneva Convention and alsoclassified them as weapons of mass destruction that are incompatible withinternational humanitarian and human rights law. The European Union has alsocalled (twice) for depleted uranium weapons to be banned.I could go on and on about this, but I think you get the message. Here is a sitethat should give you some insight into the number of soldiers who have died fromnon-war related injuries and illness: http://www.icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

To sign a petition against the use of depleted uranium, go here:http://www.cadu.org.uk/ or http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/