Depleted Uranium     Weapons to die for Depleted Uranium is WMD The Queen's Death Star SILENT  WMDs  EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM  Excellent Resources for Further Study:     Tehran Times Opinion Column, Aug. 30, By Leuren Moret Weapons to die for TEHRAN, Aug. 30 (MNA)  -- Two images changed my life when I visited the Peace Museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 2000, on my first trip to Japan. I had worked as a geoscientist in two U.S. nuclear weapons labs -- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab -- but I never knew what a nuclear weapon really was, nor the horrific effects of radiation on the environment and biological systems. Now I know. In the Hiroshima Museum, as a nuclear weapons lab whistleblower I wandered through the exhibits with TV cameras in my face, keeping it together by stuffing my emotions. I walked past the mangled lunch boxes and tricycles, thinking of the school children as I looked at the watches and clocks stopped at the moment the first thermonuclear weapon detonated on a human population. Shadows of people vaporized on stones, and on the steps of a building where one had sat, waiting for the bank to open on that fateful morning. A diorama showed the reality of dying people walking through the streets of Hiroshima with skin dripping and hanging from their bodies. In another image a man stood looking down at his eyeball he held in his hand. When I looked up at a model of LITTLE BOY, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, I lost it and broke down in sobs which did not stop until half an hour later, halfway through a press conference. The cameras continued to roll, capturing my horror and real feelings at the realization that scientists had made that “gadget” possible. I am a scientist, I worked in those laboratories of death. And I am a graduate of the University of California, which will forever be known as “the University that poisoned the world.” The university managed those laboratories of death, unchallenged, for more than 60 years. Three days later in the Nagasaki Peace Museum, I saw FAT MAN, the first plutonium atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki. There were photos taken by a local photographer just hours after the bomb destroyed the city. People were standing on a bridge absolutely devastated, lying on the ground dying, patterns from their kimonos burned into their skin. And then I saw THE photo: a young mother standing with her kimono open, barebreasted, with a vacant stare, while she nursed her dying baby. Sobbing overwhelmed me once again, and it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of that image, which is burned into my brain by now. I am a mother, and in that moment I knew that mother could have been me, with the life of my baby taken from me, or any other mother around the world. Radiation respects no living thing. That is when I made the decision to spend the rest of my life doing research and educating the public about radiation. I never knew that I could make a difference. Now I know that, as a citizen scientist, empowering others is the best way of all. I started by writing a Letter to the Editor, not expecting to have it published, but it was. And then I started writing articles about depleted uranium which I had learned about from a journalist, Akira Tashiro, whom I met in Hiroshima on that first trip to Japan. In 2002 he asked me to write the Foreword to his prize-winning book “Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost of Depleted Uranium”. Then I was asked to be an expert witness in Japan for the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan in 2003. Marion Fulk, a Manhattan Project scientist and Livermore nuclear weapons program researcher, prepared me with the best science in the world for my testimony. The testimony resulted in a very strong conviction on depleted uranium weapons, illegal under all laws, war conventions, U.S. Federal Code, and U.S. military law. In fact, during testimony, the exposure of the original 1943 Manhattan Project plan to develop DU as a radioactive poison gas weapon convinced the international panel of Judges to make two additional charges: It was a crime against the environment, and President George W. Bush was guilty of war crimes by knowingly exposing his own troops to illegal radioactive weaponry. My motivation to expose the horrible truth about depleted uranium resulted in very unexpected successes. One of the most important actions was taking a bill, introduced and stuck in limbo in the Connecticut legislature, to New Orleans on a speaking tour in March 2005. I joined anti-war protestors and veterans marching through the streets of New Orleans on March 19. We ended up standing on the white marble steps of the antebellum Louisiana Supreme Court in the heart of the French Quarter. While I stood in the hot sun describing the horrors of depleted uranium weapons, a withered grinch of a security guard glared out at me from behind the locked doors of the Courthouse, while a police van across the street secretly videotaped our speeches. Bob Smith, a Vietnam veteran, came up afterwards and asked me for a copy of the Connecticut depleted uranium bill originally written and introduced by Pat Dillon. Dillon is an epidemiologist and was the Speaker of the House in Connecticut, a position she lost shortly after her bill was introduced. Much to my complete shock, Bob Smith and Ward Reilly, two Vietnam era veterans, took it to the Louisiana legislature. They told two legislators willing to introduce the bill to “white out Connecticut and write in Louisiana.” It was quickly passed unanimously by the legislature and signed into law by the governor within a few months. What I didn’t know then was that the bill would set states rights against federal rights, and National Guardsmen against regular military personnel, busting the depleted uranium issue open on a national scale. Because state governments have legal jurisdiction over the National Guard, the state bill requiring mandatory testing for depleted uranium exposure did not cover regular military personnel. This angered the regular soldiers who were frustrated and angry over being “kicked to the curb” by the Pentagon and Veterans Administration. The state is legally entitled to force the Pentagon to pay the costs of implementing the bill, because the Pentagon is in violation of its own mandates, directives and orders, which require training, testing and treatment for soldiers handling depleted uranium. In May of 2005, Congressman Jim McDermott, M.D. (D-WA), introduced a depleted uranium bill in Congress. Attached to the bill as a supporting document was an entire issue of President Bush’s hometown newspaper in Crawford, Texas, The Lone Star Iconoclast, which Leon Smith, the editor, had dedicated to “What is DU?.” On March 1, 2006, a second issue, “Have DU Will Travel,” came out with extensive interviews with scientists. After covering Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey last summer, the paper is now widely read in Washington, D.C. Recently, Leon Smith published a book called “The Vigil: 26 Days in Crawford, Texas” about Camp Casey. Today, more than 15 states have introduced a depleted uranium bill, and Louisiana and Connecticut have passed theirs. It has created a nightmare for the federal government and put the Pentagon in permanent PR counterspin as well as exposed 15 years of official coverup under three Presidents and corruption in Congress. Our children, our sons and daughters, have been sent off to the battlefields of the Middle East and Central Asia to become uranium meat. The cost of their care has been dumped on the state medical facilities. Their families have been destroyed, not to mention their lives. It is time for citizens and state elected officials to pass depleted uranium bills which will help all soldiers by putting pressure on the federal government. Each of us has a part to play by demonstrating at local facilities like Alliant (manufacturer of depleted uranium weapons), writing letters to local newspapers, contacting elected officials, counter-recruiting in schools, or just passing on the information so that others can become aware. Put a song in their hearts by sending “Johnny Got A Gun” to your local radio station or Indymedia site to play on the air. Depleted uranium is Washington’s secret nuclear war. Leuren Moret is an independent scientist and environmental commissioner in the City of Berkeley. She is featured in documentary films on depleted uranium: BEYOND TREASON (2005), BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND (2005), BAGDAD RAP (2004). They can be purchased by contacting her at leurenmoret@yahoo.com. She also does speaking events. (PulseTC.com) Publish date,Tehran: 2006/08/30, 20:51 © 2003-2005 Mehr News Agency       Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 by the Battle Creek Enquirer (Michigan) Depleted Uranium is WMD by Leuren Moret My grandfather, U.S. Army Col. Edwin Joseph McAllister, was born in Battle Creek in 1895. He does not know that his first grandchild is an international expert on depleted uranium. I have worked in two U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, and in 1991 I became a whistleblower at the Livermore lab. Depleted uranium is very, very, very nasty stuff:   Depleted uranium (DU) weaponry meets the definition of weapon of mass destruction in two out of three categories under U.S. Federal Code Title 50 Chapter 40 Section 2302.   DU weaponry violates all international treaties and agreements, Hague and Geneva war conventions, the 1925 Geneva gas protocol, U.S. laws and U.S. military law.   Since 1991, the U.S. has released the radioactive atomicity equivalent of at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs into the global atmosphere. That is 10 times the amount released during atmospheric testing which was the equivalent of 40,000 Hiroshima bombs. The U.S. has permanently contaminated the global atmosphere with radioactive pollution having a half-life of 2.5 billion years.   The U.S. has illegally conducted four nuclear wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and twice in Iraq since 1991, calling DU "conventional" weapons when in fact they are nuclear weapons.   DU on the battlefield has three effects on living systems: it is a heavy metal "chemical" poison, a "radioactive" poison and has a "particulate" effect due to the very tiny size of the particles that are 0.1 microns and smaller.   The blueprint for DU weaponry is a 1943 Manhattan Project memo to Gen. L. Groves that recommended development of radioactive materials as poison gas weapons - dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets.   DU weapons are very effective kinetic energy penetrators, but even more effective bioweapons since uranium has a strong chemical affinity for phosphate structures concentrated in DNA.   DU is the Trojan Horse of nuclear war - it keeps giving and keeps killing. There is no way to clean it up, and no way to turn it off because it continues to decay into other radioactive isotopes in over 20 steps.   Terry Jemison at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs stated in August 2004 that over 518,000 Gulf-era veterans (14-year period) are now on medical disability, and that 7,039 were wounded on the battlefield in that same period. Over 500,000 U.S. veterans are homeless.   In some studies of soldiers who had normal babies before the war, 67 percent of the post-war babies are born with severe birth defects - missing brains, eyes, organs, legs and arms, and blood diseases.   In southern Iraq, scientists are reporting five times higher levels of gamma radiation in the air, which increases the radioactive body burden daily of inhabitants. In fact, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan are uninhabitable.   Cancer starts with one alpha particle under the right conditions. One gram of DU is the size of a period in this sentence and releases 12,000 alpha particles per second. Before my grandfather died, he told me that his generation had made a mess of this planet. I wonder what he would say to me now I would tell him to see "Beyond Treason" (www.beyondtreason.com), a new documentary about the history of treason by the U.S. government against our own troops: Atomic veterans, MK-Ultra, Agent Orange and DU. After Vietnam, Henry Kissinger said, "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. . ." (from Chapter 5 in the "Final Days" by Woodward and Bernstein). Leuren Moret is an international radiation specialist, with a B.S. degree in geology from University of California at Davis, a M.A. degree in Near Eastern studies from University of California at Berkeley and has done post-graduate work in the geosciences at UC-Davis. She is environmental commissioner for the City of Berkeley, Calif. © 2005 Battle Creek Enquirer   The Queen's Death Star Depleted Uranium Measured in British Atmosphere from Battlefields in the Middle East  LEUREN MORET / Mindfully.org 26feb2006 [More by Leuren Moret]       Leuren Moret President, Scientists for Indigenous People City of Berkeley Environmental Commissioner Past President, Association for Women Geoscientists Berkeley, CA Phone/FAX (510) 845-3139 leurenmoret@yahoo.com  [More by Leuren Moret] "Did the use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War II result in contamination of Europe? Evidence from the measurements of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK," reported the Sunday Times Online (February 19, 2006) in a shocking scientific study authored by British scientists Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan. The highest levels of depleted uranium ever measured in the atmosphere in Britain, were transported on air currents from the Middle East and Central Asia; of special significance were those from the Tora Bora bombing in Afghanistan in 2001, and the "Shock & Awe" bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq in 2003. Out of concern for the public, the official British government air monitoring facility, known as the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), at Aldermaston, was established years ago to measure radioactive emissions from British nuclear power plants and atomic weapons facilities. The British government facility (AWE) was taken over 3 years ago by Halliburton, which refused at first to release air monitoring data to Dr. Busby, as required by law. An international expert on low level radiation, Busby serves as an official advisor on several British government committees, and co-authored an independent report on low level radiation with 45 scientists, the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR), for the European Parliament. He was able to get Aldermaston air monitoring data from Halliburton /AWE by filing a Freedom of Information request using a new British law which became effective January 1, 2005; but the data for 2003 was missing. He obtained the 2003 data from the Defence Procurement Agency. The fact that the air monitoring data was circulated by Halliburton/ AWE to the Defence Procurement Agency, implies that it was considered to be relevant, and that Dr. Busby was stonewalled because Halliburton/ AWE clearly recognized that it was a serious enough matter to justify a government interpretation of the results, and official decisions had to be made about what the data would show and its political implications for the military. In a similar circumstance, in 1992, Major Doug Rokke, the Director of the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Cleanup Project after Gulf War I, was ordered by a U.S. Army General officer to write a no-bid contract "Depleted Uranium, Contaminated Equipment, and Facilities Recovery Plan Outline" for the procedures for cleaning up Kuwait, including depleted uranium, for Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton. The contract/proposal was passed through Madeleine Albright, the Secretary of State, to the Emirate of Kuwait, who considered the terms and then hired KBR for the cleanup. Aldermaston is one of many nuclear facilities throughout Europe that regularly monitor atmospheric radiation levels, transported by atmospheric sand and dust storms, or air currents, from radiation sources in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. After the "Shock and Awe" campaign in Iraq in 2003, very fine particles of depleted uranium were captured with larger sand and dust particles in filters in Britain. These particles traveled in 7-9 days from Iraqi battlefields as far as 2400 miles away. The radiation measured in the atmosphere quadrupled within a few weeks after the beginning of the 2003 campaign, and at one of the 5 monitoring locations, the levels twice required an official alert to the British Environment Agency. In addition to depleted uranium data gathered in previous studies on Kosovo and Bosnia by Dr. Busby, the Aldermaston air monitoring data provided a continuous record of depleted uranium levels in Britain from the other recent wars. Extensive video news footage of the 2003 Iraq war, including Fallujah in 2004, provided irrefutable documented evidence that the US has unethically and illegally used depleted uranium munitions on cities and other civilian populations. These military actions are in direct violation of not only the international conventions, but also violate US military law because the US is a signatory to The Hague and Geneva Conventions and the 1925 Geneva Gas Protocol. TITLE 50 > CHAPTER 40 > § 2302 § 2302. Definitions Release date: 2005-03-17 In this chapter: (1) The term “weapon of mass destruction” means any weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of— (A) toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors; (B) a disease organism; or (C) radiation or radioactivity. (2) The term “independent states of the former Soviet Union” has the meaning given that term in section 5801 of title 22. (3) The term “highly enriched uranium” means uranium enriched to 20 percent or more in the isotope U–235. source 27feb2006 Depleted uranium weaponry meets the definition of a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) in two out of three categories under US Code TITLE 50, CHAPTER 40 Sec. 2302 [at right]. After action mandates have also been violated such as US Army Regulation AR 700-48 and TB 9-1300-278 which requires treatment of radiation poisoning for all casualties, including enemy soldiers and civilians, and remediation. Dr. Busby's request for this data through Halliburton from AWE, and subsequently provided by the Defence Procurement Agency, was necessary to establish verification of Iraq's 2003 depleted uranium levels in the atmosphere. These facts demonstrate why Halliburton (AWE) refused to release the 2003 data to him, and it obviously establishes that weaponized depleted uranium is an indiscriminate weapon being distributed all over the world in a very short period of time, immediately after its use. The recent documentary film BEYOND TREASON details the horrific effects of depleted uranium exposure on American troops and Iraqi civilians in the Gulf region in 1991; not to speak of those civilians continuing to live in permanently contaminated and thus uninhabitable regions. Global increases since 1991 of melanoma, infant mortality, and frog die-offs can only be explained by an environmental contaminant. Alarming global increases in diabetes, with high correlation to depleted uranium wars in Iraq, Bosnia/Kosovo, and Afghanistan, demonstrate that diabetes is a sensitive indicator and a rapid response to internal depleted uranium exposure. Americans in 2003 reported visiting Iraqi relatives in Baghdad who were suffering from an epidemic of diabetes. After returning to the US following 2-3 weeks in Iraq, they discovered within a few months that they too had diabetes. Japanese human shields and journalists who worked in Iraq during the 2003 war are sick and now have symptoms typical of depleted uranium exposure. Likewise, after the US Navy, several years ago, moved depleted uranium bombing and gunnery ranges from Vieques Island in Puerto Rico to Australia, health effects there are already being reported. The documentary film BLOWIN' IN THE WIND, has an interview with a family with two normal teenage daughters, living near the bombing range where depleted uranium weaponry is now being used. The parents showed photos of their baby born recently with severe birth defects. The baby looked like Iraqi deformed babies, and like many of the Iraqi babies, died 5 days after birth. Other than anonymous British government officials denying that Iraq was the source of the depleted uranium measured at Aldermaston by AWE, and some unnamed 'establishment scientists' blaming it on local sources or natural uranium in the Iraq environment, there is no one, as of this writing, willing to lend their name or office to refuting this damning evidence reported by Dr. Busby. All of the anonymous statements used by the media thus far are contradicted by the factual evidence found in the filters, which was all transported from the same region. The natural abundance of uranium in the crust of the earth is 2.4 parts per million, which would not become concentrated to the high levels measured in Britain during a long journey from the Middle East. These particles traveling over thousands of miles would dilute the concentration rather than increase it. There are no known natural uranium deposits in Iraq which make it impossible for these anonymous claims to have scientific credibility. Unnamed government sources blamed local sources in Britain such as nuclear power plants; however that would also leave evidence of fission products in the filters which were not in evidence. The lowest levels measured at monitoring stations around Aldermaston were at the facility, which means it could not be a possible source. Atomic weapons facilities would be more likely to produce plutonium contamination, also not reported as a co-contaminant at Aldermaston. In other words, all factual evidence considered, the question must be asked, what were the media's anonymous experts and government officials basing their claims on? Dr. Keith Baverstock exposed a World Health Organization (WHO) cover-up on depleted uranium in an Aljazeera article, "Washington's Secret Nuclear War" posted on September 14, 2004. It was the most popular article ever posted on the Aljazeera English language website. See: Radiological toxicity of DU K. BAVERSTOCK, C. MOTHERSILL & M. THORNE Repressed WHO Document 5nov01 Baverstock leaked an official WHO report that he wrote, to the media several years ago after the WHO refused to publish it. He warned in the report about the mobility of, and environmental contamination from, tiny depleted uranium particles formed from US munitions. Busby's ECRR report challenged the International Committee on Radiation Protection (ICRP) standards for radiation risk, and reported that the mutagenic effects of radiation determined by Chernobyl studies are actually 1000 times higher than the ICRP risk model predicts. The ECRR report also establishes that the ICRP risk model, based on external exposure of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims, and the ECRR risk model, based on internal exposure, are mutually exclusive models. In other words, the ICRP risk model based on external exposure cannot be used to estimate internal exposure risk. The report also states that a separate study is needed for depleted uranium exposure risks, because it may be far more toxic than nuclear weapons or nuclear power plant exposures. In July of 2005, the National Academy of Sciences reported in their new BEIR VII report on low level radiation, that there is "no safe level of exposure". The report also finally admitted that very low levels are more harmful per unit of radiation than higher levels of exposure, also known as the "supralinear" effect. This is extremely alarming information on low level radiation risk, since the AWE data from Aldermaston confirms that rapid global transport of depleted uranium dust is occurring. Dr. Katsuma Yagasaki, a Japanese physicist at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, has estimated that the atomicity equivalent of at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs has been released into the global atmosphere since 1991, from the use of depleted uranium munitions. It is completely mixed in the atmosphere in one year. The "smog of war" from Gulf War I was found in glaciers and ice sheets globally a year later. Even more alarming is the non-specific catalytic or enzyme effect from internal exposures to nanoparticles of depleted uranium. Soldiers on depleted uranium battlefields have reported that, after noticing a metallic taste in their mouths, within 24-48 hours of exposure they became sick with Gulf War syndrome symptoms. Who is profiting from this global uranium nightmare? Dr. Jay Gould revealed in his book THE ENEMY WITHIN [see excerpt], that the British Royal family privately owns investments in uranium holdings worth over $6 billion through Rio Tinto Mines. The mining company was formed for the British Royal family in the late 1950's by Roland Walter "Tiny" Rowland, the Queen's buccaneer. Born in 1917 through illegitimate German parentage, and before changing his name, Roland Walter Fuhrhop was a passionate member of the Nazi youth movement by 1933, and a classmate described him as "...an ardent supporter of Hitler and an arrogant, nasty piece of work to boot." His meteoric rise and protection by intel agencies and the British Crown are an indication of what an asset he has been for decades to the Queen, as Africa's most powerful Western businessman. Africa and Australia are two of the main sources of uranium in the world. The Rothschilds control uranium supplies and prices globally, and one serves as the Queen's business manager. Filmmaker David Bradbury made BLOWIN' IN THE WIND to expose depleted uranium bombing and gunnery range activities contaminating pristine areas of eastern Australia, and to expose plans to extract over $36 billion in uranium from mines in the interior over the next 6 years. Halliburton has finished construction of a 1000 mile railway from the mining area to a port on the north coast of Australia to transport the ore. The Queen's favorite American buccaneers, Cheney, Halliburton, and the Bush family, are tied to her through uranium mining and the shared use of illegal depleted uranium munitions in the Middle East, Central Asia and Kosovo/Bosnia. The major roles that such diverse individuals and groups as the Carlyle Group, George Herbert Walker Bush, former Carlyle CEO Frank Calucci, the University of California managed nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos and Livermore, and US and international pension fund investments have played in proliferating depleted uranium weapons is not well known or in most instances even recognized, inside or outside the country. God Save The Queen from the guilt of her complicity in turning Planet Earth into a "Death Star." [See: Did the use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe? Busby & Saoirse1jan06]     Global Diabetes Epidemic Caused By Depleted Uranium From Leuren Moret 8-23-6 Here are two maps of Lebanon indicating the amount of munitions used on targets, and what parts of the infrastructure were destroyed in Lebanon, by Israeli military attacks. These are from an Italian journalist, Liliana Bourgana, who sent them to me - the maps are official Lebanese govt. data. Map 1 Map 2 You can go to the Lebanese govt. website listed on the maps for updates. The journalist will be interviewing me on Aug. 28 regarding the weapons that were used. This information is from my own observations in news coverage I saw on Italian TV and the BBC while I was in Italy July 4-July 18, and from Major Doug Rokke who was in charge of the Depleted Uranium cleanup team in the Gulf after GW I: * cluster bombs * depleted uranium bombs - including an order during the war by Israel from the US for 100 more GBU-28 5000 lb. depleted uranium warhead bombs [I was in Italy July 4-27 and saw depleted uranium bombs on Italian news and the BBC. Israeli military planes bombed Beirut, the airport and southern Lebanon with DU] * depleted uranium 105mm and 120mm tank rounds [Info from Major Doug Rokke which he saw in the news] * missiles (probably DU) * white phosphorous weapons * Baccilus globigii - bioweapon which makes people throw up violently but does not kill. (A military source said this was determined from color coding on the weapons) This was used in southern Lebanon and reported that it suddenly caused people to get sick. * Reports from MDs treating the wounded describing new kinds of wounds never seen before which may be laser weapons. The US has them (classified) on the ABRAMS tanks. There were certainly Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) used by Israel because shrunken bodies and other types of indicators were reported by Lebanese MDs, descriptions exactly like wounds etc. reported in Baghdad at the airport in 2003 and since. - Toxic chemicals Lebanese MDs working with the dead and wounded reported horrific new types of wounds and causes of death. In every war new weapons are tested and old weapons are dumped. I will continue to do interviews regarding the illegal use of depleted uranium weaponry, a radioactive poison gas weapon, which has now polluted the entire global atmosphere and has been measured in the British atmosphere within 7-9 days of its use on the battlefields of Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan: 'THE QUEEN'S DEATH STAR' By Leuren Moret http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm 'Depleted Uranium is WMD' By Leuren Moret http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0809-33.htm Yes it travels... very rapidly at relatively low altitude in the troposphere, and is carried by westerlies, trade winds, convection cells, and air currents, not to mention the sand and dust storms which are characteristic of arid regions. It is traveling west across the Atlantic on the westerlies at about 10,000 feet, north into Europe, and east where it is blowing off the Himalayas and contaminating northern India. We are now in a global diabetes epidemic since 1991 as a result of global contamination from depleted uranium. India now has 39 million diabetics and expects 50 million by 2010 (in third world countries 80% is undiagnosed). The US Centers for Disease Control reported in 1980 that there were 5.7 million diagnosed cases of diabetes. That number increased by 1 million in a decade, in 1990, to 6.7 million. Between 1990 and 2002 the number increased to 13.5 million, with the largest increase of 2 million in a single year between 1996-97. That was the year Clinton did heavy grid and carpet bombing... now we know it was with massive amounts of depleted uranium dirty bombs. This huge increase in diabetes is consistent with Japanese public health increases in diabetes and cancer mortality as well as other radiation related illnesses, also increases in India, and the UK. This planet is enveloped in depleted uranium radioactive poison dust, and with all the other problems, it is causing the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years since the dinosaurs went extinct. 50% of the worlds species will be extinct within 100 years. Infertility in humans is an increasing problem now, with only 15% of sperm in men globally which is normal. It used to be 80% was normal. Britain and the US... and now Israel... have turned this planet into the Auschwitz radioactive poison gas chamber and we are all sitting in it increasing our body burden of radiation with every breath we take. There is no escape... I received an email "Thank god Bush finally nuked Israel... all we have to do is sit and wait now." As bad as this sounds, the reality is that it is not a joke. Israel has been contaminated from French atmospheric testing in the Sahara, Dimona (their own nuke program), depleted uranium used in Iraq/Yugoslavia/Afghanistan and now... Lebanon. This will contaminate the entire Mediterranean, Europe, and beyond... wherever the winds take it, to be rained and snowed out in our back yards. Thanks Leuren Moret leurenmoret@yahoo.com   SILENT  WMDs    EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM  By  Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat Former Chief of the Naval Staff, India  FEBRUARY 29, 2004  Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot ..that it do singe yourself.                                                                       -  William Shakespeare       This brief presentation is aimed at conveying to the primarily Indian participants of the Conference the fateful and disastrous  consequences of the indiscriminate use of depleted and non DU munitions on the people of the west, central and south Asian regions, women, children , men , animals, plant and animal life now and in the future, in gross violation of international law, the Hague convention and domestic US military law.       Official Gamma Ray damage caused studies have been deficient in a number of respects..internal contamination, internal dose to individual cells, omissions of diseases other than cancer, mutagenic, long term degeneration ,  oncogenesis, effects of the killer isotopes in particular. The case studies of the years 1945-50 were ignored.  A recent European Parliament Report ECRR 2003 (European Committee on Radiation Risk ) concludes that A Bomb studies underestimate the radiation risk by more than 1000 times and failed to consider the internal exposure and diseases  caused by Alpha and Beta rays.  They did not consider the Manhattan Project  classified memo that, in case the Project objective of producing Plutonium fission and theA Bomb did not succeed , Depleted Uranium munitions would be deployed towards the attainment of the same objective (encl. 1).       DU weapons emit Alpha particle dose to a single cell from U-238 which is 50 times the annual dose level. Cancer is initiated with one alpha particle, its daughter isotopes effect generations as the isotopes  bio-concentrate in plants and animals, and travel up the food chain.  It is a nuclear weapon because the energy is derived from the nucleus of the atom.  They enter the body through the lungs, the digestive system or breaks in the skin.  One gram of DU releases more than 12,000 particles per second. The radiation slowly kills the cells that make life possible.  The Gulf War syndrome of 1991 did just that ( reported by Dr Asaf Durakovic, Prof. of Medicine , Georgetown University, and discoverer of the Gulf War Syndrome.)       We are well aware that the radiation fall-out map  Under the Cloud: Decades of Nuclear Testing  has demonstrated the effects  of 1200 nuclear weapon tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site; and the US Government admitted in Nov. 2002, that every living person in the US between 1958-63 was exposed to this fall out  resulting in cancer, gene mutation, heart disease, autism, diabetes, Parkinsons, ALS, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome , hypothyroidism in new-borns, obesity and learning disabilities.  One out of  twelve children in the US is disabled. The fall out did not stop at the US borders.  It travelled around the world, as atmospheric dust and remains even in the biosphere/ sub-orbital space today.  High breast cancer rates have been co-located in the proximity of nuclear power plants in the west and more so in the east coast areas of the US (The Breast cancer map from The Enemy Within: the high cost of living near nuclear reactors, quotes US Govt. Disease Control Centers.       The Radiation & Public health Report (RPHP), rendered by a group of independent scientists collected 4000 baby teeth and by measuring Strontium 90 levels in the baby teeth  ( a built in dosi-meter ) they have been able to co-relate with radiation related diseases in children living near the nuclear power plants; the main path ways being dairy products and drinking water.      The induction of DU weapons in 1991 in Iraq, the radio-active trash from nuclear plants broke a 46 year taboo. This Trojan Horse of nuclear war, an omnicidal weapon has since then continued to be used more and more. DU remains radioactive longer than the age of the earth  ( estimated at 4.5 billion years. )      The long-term effects from over a decade of DU exposures are emerging in Southern  Iraq. They are devastating. The increased  quantities of radio-active material ( including non-depleted uranium), used in Afghanistan are 3 to 5 times greater than Iraq 199.  In Iraq 2003 they are already estimated to be 6 to 10 times 1991 and will travel through a larger area and affect many more people, babies and unborn.  Countries within a 1000 mile radius of Baghdad and Kabul are being affected by radiation poisoning , that includes the Capital, New Delhi, where the ruling elite lives.  The reported coming of an AIDS epidemic last year in India , down wind, may have a relationship to DU bombing in Afghanistan.  If we think cancer is a problem now wait until more DU is released in wars against terror and for regime change, on mistaken Intelligence reports.      More than 500 tons of DU munitions have been dispensed in Afghanistan.  Professor Yagasaki calculated that 800 tons of DU is the atomicity equivalent to 83,000 Nagasaki bombs in a paper presented at the World Uranium Weapons Conference in Hamburg in October 2003 ( 5 months ago ).  The amount of DU used in Iraq in 2003 is equivalent to nearly 250,000 Nagasaki bombs  ( Busby and Leuren Moret have calculated that 1900 tons of DU is equivalent to 60 TBq of Alfa and Beta particulate activity).      We need not ennumerate the DU munition types used in Iraq 199, Kosovo  1999, Afghanistan 2001-04 and Iraq 2003.  They have been dispensed by all air / ground and sea systems on innocent civilians.  DU burns intensely and is very hard.  It releases Uranium Oxide.  The aerosol contains particles of 0.5-5 microns in size, once they are in the air or dust they are inhaled or ingested, including from contaminated soil.  Once in the lungs one such particle is equivalent to having one XRay per hour, for life.  Because it is impossible to remove, the victim is gradually irradiated.  Still births, birth defects, leukemia, damaged central nervous systems and other cancers have been common in children born since 1991. Child leukemia has risen 600 % in areas of Iraq as  reported by the Netherland Visie Foundation.  Beyond just the health consequences, DU munitions are in fact, weapons of Silent Mass Destruction in so far as the consequences of their usage are vast, indiscriminate and violate all Human Rights Conventions . Tora Bora , Kabu , Paktia , Karises or underwater supply tunnels have been contaminated forever. All this has been documented in a comprehensive paper  Uranium wars : The Pentagon steps up its use of Radio-active Munitions, by Marc W. Herold to whom this paper owes sincere acknowledgement.      In another paper Dr Mohammed Daud Miraki, Director Afghan DU Recovery Fund, quotes George W Bush , we will smoke them out, condemning the unborn, the living and the future generations of Afghans and the neighbouring people to a pre-determined, death sentence. After the destruction of our village, I realised that the Americans had sentenced us all to death. When I saw my deformed grandson I realised my hopes for the future have vanished   This time we are part of the invisible genocide brought on by America a silent death from which we will not escape ( Jooma Khan of Laghman province..March 2003.)  Similar stories are repeated from Paktita province of  Jelly Babies. Pregnant women are afraid of  giving birthThis is the legacy of US ushered liberation, freedom and democracy.  DU is cheap for the US, utilising nuclear waste, cheaper than titanium and tungsten, not for the liberated (non-DU is still cheaper as it is the uranium feedstock, pre-enrichment).        The Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC), Washington DC, and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (1991) - Steve Fetter and Frank Von Hippel have reported on extensive research by Field teams of the UMRC in Afghanistan.  Testimonies of fathers and mothers are horrifying   What else do the Americans want ? They killed us , they turned our new-borns into horrific deformations, and they turned our farm lands into grave-yards, and destroyed our homes.   On top of all this their planes fly over and spray us with bullets.. we have nothing to lose ..we will fight them the same way we fought the previous invaders (Sayed Gharib at Tora Bora).       Radiological dispensing devices or warfare is the latest of the weapons of the new millenium, but it singes even those who use it , as shown in the after effects of the tests at home ground in the US, where evidence of cognitive damage during early infancy have been compiled.  For us in Eurasia, Pakistan and India we have a new health epidemic to drain  our scarce resources.       As world citizens we need to focus on a new scourge, the reality of the PNAC - Rebuilding Americas Defenses, Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century.       The  Report notes that ,  Much has been written in recent years about the need to transform the conventional armed forces of the United States to take advantage of the Revolution in Military Affairs. Our military requires a dramatic transformation , lest we lose our ability to fight the future unconventional wars .. some may be fought in cyberspace, others under water or in outer space . And some even within our bodies.       Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol and others are some of the men representing contemporary power centers, who define US policy. History indicates that the men who define US military policy from the shadows , are worthy of our attention.  GENETIC BOMBS        When creating genetic-bombs or weapons to target specific groups; genetic profiles are subtler and more accurate than the coarse pseudo category called race.  The group with ADHD ( the Edison Gene) uniquely share common inherited variations in their dopamine regulating genes regardless of  race, geography or ethnicity.  Thus anybody whos part of a group with a shared genetic profile may be at risk in the future.        A virus or bacteria may attack only a particular type of person, killing, disabling  or sterilising only those of a particular gene profile. Threatening a particular type would be sufficient political black-mail.        Wolfowitz, Kristol and their colleagues suggested that the Pentagon should be thinking about not just germ warfare of which they have plenty of capabilities,  but gene warfare.        Genetic terra-forming could replace diplomacy, or it could change the face of politics if an organism got loose that killed all the people of a particular minority community who tend to vote for a particular political party.        According to the PNAC,  Genetically targeted weapons could change world politics for ever, and the report notes, advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific geno-types may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool        To conclude 4th generation micro-nukes, with their war-head composition, were deliberated upon and decided at the US Airforce Strategic Command Headquarters at the Offutt Airforce Base, Nebraska, between the top  Corporates /weapon manufacturers and the US military brass.  The former not only have prior knowledge of numbers and types of all types of nuclear weapons, but the locations of the planned and approved targets, globally.       This meeting took place on Hiroshima Day, 6th August, 2003, and to reiterate, the aim was to define a new generation of nuclear weapons to be used on a pre-emptive basis against rogue enemies and terrorist organisations.  (mini-nukes have an explosive capacity between one-third and six times a Hiroshima bomb).        In this Strangelovian logic, nuclear weapons are now viewed as a means to ensuring peace and security against non-existent WMDs.  AT A GLANCE:  1. In the 2003 war, the IraqiS were subjected to the Pentagons radioactive arsenal, mainly in the urban centers, unlike in the deserts in 1991.  The aggregate effects of illnesses and long term disabilities and genetic birth defects will be apparent only 2008 onwards.  2. By now, half of all the 697,000 US soldiers involved in the 1991 war have reported serious illnesses.  According the American Gulf War Veterans Association, more than 30% of these soldiers are chronically ill, and receiving disability benefits from the Veterans Administration. 3. The number of disabled veterans is shockingly high . They are in their mid-thirties and should have been in the prime of health. 4. Near the Republican Palace where US troops stood guard and over 1000 employees walked in and out, the radiation readings were the hottest  in Iraq, at nearly 1900 times background radiation levels. 5. At a roadside stand, selling fresh bunches of parsley, mint, and onions, children played on a burnt out Iraqi tank  just outside Baghdad, the Geiger counter registered 1000 times normal background radiation. 6. The Pentagon and the United Nations estimate that the US and Britain used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of armor piercing shells made of DU during attacks in March-April 2003, far more than the 1991 Gulf War (this does not include air dispensed DU munitions and missiles), wrote the Post Intelligencer. 7. An otherwise useless by-product of  the uranium enrichment process, DU is attractive to military contractors because it is so cheap and often offered for free by the Government. 8. The long term effects, as Dr Asaf Durakovic elaborates, after the early neurological symptoms are cancer, and related radiation illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, joint and muscle pain, neurological and/or nerve damage, mood disturbances, auto-immuno deficiciencies, lung and kidney damage, vision problems, skin rupture, increase in miscarriages, maternal mortality and genetic birth defects/deformation. 9. For years the US government described the Gulf War Syndrome as a post traumatic stress disorder.  It was labelled as a psychological problem or simply as mysterious unrelated ailments much in the same way as health problems of Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange poisoning.          ( With acknowledgements to Sara Flounders, for 1-9 above, Coordinator of the DU education program ).              I  also gratefully acknowledge the facts learnt  from evidence led by scientists/papers presented and accepted by  the International Criminal Tribunal on  Afghanistan, at Tokyo on 13-16 Decembe, 2003 and earlier at the World Depleted Uranium Weapons Conference, Hamburg 16-19 October, 2003, by Leuren Moret, whose continuing contribution to this cause against  Silent Wepons of Mass Destruction (SWMD),  in defense of humanity, deserves our support. Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat may be contacted at vbhagwat@bom7.vsnl.net.in. Reproduced from: http://www.thepowerhour.com/articles/du_effects.htm     Gulf War Veterans and Depleted Uranium   Prepared for the Hague Peace Conference, May 1999 By Dr. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., G.N.S.H.   Source of Exposure: Uranium metal is autopyrophoric and can burn spontaneously at room temperature in the presence of air, oxygen and water. At temperatures of 200-400 degrees Centigrade, uranium powder may self-ignite in atmospheres of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Oxidation of uranium under certain conditions may generate sufficient energy to cause an explosion (Gindler 1973). Friction caused by bullet or missile entry into a tank or armored car, for example, can cause the uranium to ignite, forming a concentrated ceramic aerosol capable of killing most personnel in the vehicle. Depleted uranium was used extensively in place of tungsten for ordnance by the US and UK in the Gulf War. There is no dispute of the fact that at least 320 tons of depleted uranium (DU) was "lost" in the Gulf war, and that much of that was converted at high temperature into an aerosol, that is, minute insoluble particles of uranium oxide, UO2 or UO3 , in a mist or fog. It would have been impossible for ground troops to identify this exposure if or when it occurred in war, as this would require specialized detection equipment. However, veterans can identify situations in which they were likely to have been exposed to DU. Civilians working at military bases where live ammunition exercises are conducted may also have been exposed. Uranium oxide and its aerosol form are insoluble in water. The aerosol resists gravity, and is able to travel tens of kilometres in air. Once on the ground, it can be resuspended when the sand is disturbed by motion or wind. Once breathed in, the very small particles of uranium oxide, those which are 2.5 microns   [ one micron = one millionth of a meter ]   or less in diameter, could reside in the lungs for years, slowly passing through the lung tissue into the blood. Uranium oxide dust has a biological half life in the lungs of about a year. According to British NRPB   [ National Radiation Protection Board ]   experiments with rats, the ceramic or aerosol form of uranium oxide takes "twice as long" or about a two year biological half life in the lungs, before passing into the blood stream. [Stradling et al 1988] Because of coughing and other involuntary mechanisms by which the body keeps large particles out of the lungs, the larger particles are excreted through the gastro-intestinal tract in feces. The uranium compounds which enter the body either through the wall of the gastro-intestinal tract or the lungs, can be broken down in the body fluids, and tetravalent uranium is likely to oxidize to the hexavalent form, followed by the formation of uranyl ions. Uranium generally forms complexes with citrate, bicarbonates or protein in plasma, and it can be stored in bone, lymph, liver, kidney or other tissues. Eventually this uranium which is taken internally is excreted through urine. Presence of depleted uranium in urine seven or eight years after exposure is sufficient evidence to substantiate long term internal contamination and tissue storage of this radioactive substance. Uranium is both a chemical toxic and radioactive hazard: Soluble uranium is regulated because of its chemical toxicity, measured by damage to the kidney and tubules. Uranium is a heavy metal, known to cause uranium nephritis. Insoluble uranium, such as was released in the Gulf War, is regulated by its radiological properties, and not its chemical properties. Because of its slow absorption through the lungs and long retention in body tissues, its primary damage will be due to its radiological damage to internal organs rather than chemical damage to the renal system. Obviously, both types of damage occur simultaneously, therefore it is a matter of judgment which severe damage, radiological or chemical, occurs at the lowest dose level. However, with the lengthening of the time during which the contaminant resides in the body and the low overall dose, the risk of cancer death becomes greater than the risk of significant damage to the renal system. Uranium decays into other radioactive chemicals with statistical regularity. Therefore, in its natural and undisturbed state, it always occurs together with a variety of other radioactive chemicals, some of the best known being thorium, radium, polonium and lead. Natural uranium in soil is about 1 to 3 parts per million, whereas in uranium ore it is about 1,000 times more concentrated, reaching about 0.05 to 0.2 percent of the total weight. Depleted uranium concentrate is almost 100 percent uranium. More than 99 percent of both natural and depleted uranium consists of the isotope U-238. One gram of pure U-238 has a specific activity of 12.4 kBq, which means there are 12,400 atomic transformations every second, each of which releases an energetic alpha particle. Uranium 238 has a half life of 4.51 E+9 (or 4.51 times 10 to the 9thpower, equivalent to 4,510,000,000 years). Each atomic transformation produces another radioactive chemical: first, uranium 238 produces thorium 234, (which has a half life of 24.1 days), then the thorium 234 decays to protactinium 234 (which has a half life of 6.75 hours), and then protactinium decays to uranium 234 (which has a half life of 2.47E+5 or 247,000 years). The first two decay radioisotopes together with the U 238 count for almost all of the radioactivity in the depleted uranium. Even after an industrial process which separates out the uranium 238 has taken place, it will continue to produce these other radionuclides. Within 3 to 6 months they will all be present in equilibrium balance. Therefore one must consider the array of radionuclides, not just uranium 238, when trying to understand what happened when veterans inhaled depleted uranium in the Gulf War. It should be noted that uranium 235, the more fissionable fraction which was partially removed in enrichment, makes up only 0.2 to 0.3 percent of the depleted uranium, whereas it was 0.7 percent of natural uranium. It is this deficit which enables one to use analytical methods to identify the uranium found in veteran's urine as depleted and not natural uranium. The U 235 was extracted for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactor fuel. Depleted uranium is considered nuclear waste, a by-product of uranium enrichment. The difference in radioactivity between natural and depleted uranium is that given equal quantities, depleted uranium has about half the radioactivity of the natural mixture of uranium isotopes. However, because of the concentration of the uranium in the depleted uranium waste, depleted uranium is much more radioactive than uranium in its natural state. Uranium and all of its decay products, with the exception of radon which is a gas, are heavy metals. Unlike some other heavy metals which are needed in trace quantities by the human body, there is no known benefit to having uranium in the body. It is always a contaminant. Ingesting and inhaling some uranium, usually from food, is inescapable however, in the normal Earth environment, and we humans basically take in, on average, 5 Bq per year of uranium 238 in equilibrium with its decay products. This gives an effective radiation dose equivalent to the whole body of 0.005 mSv. Using a quantitative measure, we normally ingest about 0.000436 g a year.[UNSCEAR 1988, 58-59] This is a mixture of soluble and insoluble compounds, absorbed mostly through the gut. Regulatory limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection [ICRP] assume that the maximum permissible dose for members of the public will be the one which gives the individual 1 mSv dose per year. This is in addition to the natural exposure dose from uranium in the food web. Assuming that this dose comes entirely from an insoluble inhaled uranium oxide, and using the ICRP dose conversion factor for uranium 238 in equilibrium with its decay products, one can obtain a factor of 0.84 mSv per mg, or a limit of intake of 1.2 mg (0.0012 g) per year for the general public. This would give an added radiation dose of 1.0 mSv from uranium, and an increase of almost 2.75 times the natural uranium intake level. Nuclear workers would be allowed by the ICRP maximum permissible level, to reach an annual dose of 20 mSv, comparable to an intake of 24 mg of uranium, 55 times the normal yearly intake. The US has not yet conformed to the 1990 international recommendations which were used for this calculation, and it is still permitting the general public to receive five times the above general public amount, and the worker to receive 2.5 times the above occupational amount. The US may have used its domestic "nuclear worker" limits during the Gulf War, if it used any protective regulations at all. The military manual discusses the hazards of depleted uranium as less than other hazardous conditions on an active battle field! The maximum dose per year from anthropogenic sources can be converted to the maximum concentration permissible in air using the fact that the adult male breathes in about 23 cubic metres of air in a day [ICRP 1977]. The maximum permissible concentration in air for the general public would be: 0.14 microgram per cu metre, and for workers: 2.9 micrograms per cu m assuming the Gulf War situation of continuous occupancy rather than a 40 hour work week, and an 8 hour day. It is common in the US and Canada to refer to 2000 pounds as a "ton", whereas the British "ton" is 2240 pounds. Both are roughly 1000 kg. Just in order to understand the scale of the ceramic uranium released in Desert Storm, at least 300 million grams were "lost", and breathing in only 0.023 g would be equivalent to the maximum permissible inhalation dose for a nuclear worker to receive in a year under the 1990 recommendations of ICRP.   Medical Testing for Depleted Uranium Contamination: Potential testing includes:   chemical analysis of uranium in urine, feces, blood and hair;   tests of damage to kidneys, including analysis for protein, glucose and non-protein nitrogen in urine;   radioactivity counting; or   more invasive tests such as surgical biopsy of lung or bone marrow. Experience with Gulf War veterans indicates that a 24 hour urine collection analysis shows the most promise of detecting depleted uranium contamination seven or eight years after exposure. However, since this test only measures the amount of depleted uranium which has been circulating in the blood or kidneys within one or two weeks prior to the testing time, rather than testing the true body burden, it cannot be directly used to reconstruct the veteran's dose received during the Gulf War. However, this seems to be the best diagnostic tool at this time, eight years after the exposure. Feces tests for uranium are used for rapid detection of intake in an emergency situation, and in order to be useful for dose reconstruction, must be undertaken within hours or days of the exposure. Blood and fecal analysis are not advised except immediately after a known large intake of uranium. Whole body counting for uranium, using the sodium iodide or hyper pure germanium detectors, is designed to detect the isotope uranium 235, the isotope of uranium partially removed from depleted uranium. For lung counting, again it is the uranium 235 which is detected, and the minimum detection limit is about 7.4 Bq or 200 pCi. Since normally humans take in only 5 Bq per year, this is not a very sensitive measure. Seven or eight years after the Gulf War exposure, this method of detection is most likely useless for veterans. Routine blood counts shortly after exposure, or during a chelating process for decontamination of the body are useful. This is not a search for uranium in blood, but rather a complete blood count with differential. This is done to discover potentially abnormal blood counts, since the stem cells which produce the circulating lymphocytes and erythrocytes are in the bone marrow, near to where uranium is normally stored in the body. The monocyte stem cells in bone marrow are known to be among the most radiosensitive cells. Their depletion can lead to both iron deficient anemia, since they recycle heme from discarded red blood cells, and to depressed cellular immune system, since monocytes activate the lymphocyte immune system after they detect foreign bodies. Hair tests need to be done very carefully since they tend to reflect the hair products used: shampoos, conditioners, hair coloring or permanent waves. Pubic hair would likely be the best material for analysis. I am not aware of good standards against which to test the Uranium content of hair, or how the analysis would differentiate between the various uranium isotopes. Testing of lymph nodes or bone on autopsy would be helpful. However, invasive biopsies on live patients carry no benefit for the patient and are usually not recommended because of ethical considerations about experimentation on humans. If a veteran is recommended for bronchoscopy for medical reasons, it would be advisable to also take tissue samples for analysis for depleted uranium. When chelation processes have been initiated the rate of excretion of uranium in urine will be increased and there is a risk of damage to kidney tubules. Therefore careful urine analysis for protein, glucose and non-protein nitrogen in important. Some researchers have also reported specifically finding B-2-microglobulinuria and aminoaciduria in urine due to uranium damage.   Relating Depleted Uranium Contamination with Observed Health Effects in Veterans: There are two ways of documenting the radiological health effects of a veteran's exposure to depleted uranium. The first, and the one usually attempted in a compensation argument, would be to reconstruct the original dose and then appeal to regulatory limits or dose-response estimates available in the scientific literature. This methodology is not recommended for the Gulf War veterans, because the uranium excretion rate seven or eight years after exposure cannot be used to estimate the original lung and body burden of depleted uranium. Moreover, no dose-response estimates for the chronic health effects of such exposure are available from the literature, as will be seen later in this paper. Recognized dose-response estimates for radioactive materials are unique to fatal cancers (and even these are disputed). It is not clear whether regulatory limits for exposure to ionizing radiation apply in a war situation, or, if they do, whether the veteran should be considered to have been "general public" or a "nuclear worker". Beyond this, the question of whether international or US standards should be used for a multinational situation needs to be addressed. The second methodology would require ranking veterans on an ordinal scale for their original exposure, based on their current excretion rate of depleted uranium. This involves the reasonable assumption that the original contamination, although not precisely measurable, was proportional to the current excretion rate. The analysis of a 24 hour urine sample, for example, could be rated on a specific research scale as having "high", "medium" or "low" quantities of the contaminate. By collecting detailed health and exposure data on each veteran, one can use biostatistical methods to determine firstly, whether any medical problems show an increase with the ordinal scale increase in exposure, determined through urine analysis; and secondly, whether there is a correlation between the descriptive accounts of potential depleted uranium exposure and the assigned ordinal scale determined on the basis of the urine analysis. Using Non-Parametric Statistics one could determine the statistical significance of various medical problems being depleted uranium exposure related. This would undoubtedly eliminate some medical problems from consideration and highlight others. It could point to future research questions. It could also provide a fair method of dealing with the current suffering of the veterans using the best scientific methodology available at this time. Risk estimates based on radiation related cancer death are obviously unable to provide a reasonable response to current veteran medical problems.   Known Occupational Health Problems Related to Uranium Exposure: In Volume 2 of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health, under uranium alloys and compounds, page 2238, it reads: "Uranium poisoning is characterized by generalized health impairment. The element and its compounds produce changes in the kidneys, liver, lungs and cardiovascular, nervous and haemopoietic systems, and cause disorders of protein and carbohydrate metabolism....... Chronic poisoning results from prolonged exposure to low concentrations of insoluble compounds and presents a clinical picture different from that of acute poisoning. The outstanding signs and symptoms are pulmonary fibrosis, pneumoconiosis, and blood changes with a fall in red blood count; haemoglobin, erythrocyte and reticulocyte levels in the peripheral blood are reduced. Leucopenia may be observed with leucocyte disorders (cytolysis, pyknosis, and hypersegmentosis). There may be damage to the nervous system. Morphological changes in the lungs, liver, spleen, intestines and other organs and tissues may be found, and it is reported that uranium exposure inhibits reproductive activity and affects uterine and extra-uterine development in experimental animals. Insoluble compounds tend to be retained in tissues and organs for long periods."   Human and Animal Studies on Uranium Exposure: In a study of uranium toxicity by the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR 1998], released for public review and comments by 17 February 1998, exposure times were divided into three categories: acute, less than 15 days; intermediate, 15 to 365 days; and chronic more than a year. Most of the Gulf War Veterans would have had chronic duration exposure from the point of view of the length of time the material remained in the body. However, this ATSDR division was based of the duration of the presence of the external source of contamination, not its residence time in the body, therefore it would, in most cases be considered intermediate duration exposure. There is very little human research available to clarify the effects of intermediate duration exposure to humans. It should not be assumed that lack of research implies lack of effect on that particular system. It should also be noted that although one or more papers may exist for acute and chronic duration exposures, these do not necessarily cover the questions which one might like to raise. No comments on the quality or extent of the research is implied by this table.   Health Effects which have been associated with inhalation of uranium: The more soluble compounds of uranium, namely, uranium hexafluoride, uranyl fluoride, uranium tetrachloride, uranyl nitrate hexahydrate, are likely to be absorbed into the blood from the alveolar pockets in the lungs within days of exposure. Although inhalation products also are transported through coughing and mucocilliary action to the gastro-intestinal tract only about 2 percent of this fraction is actually absorbed into the body fluids through the intestinal wall. Therefore all of the research papers on acute effects of uranium refer to these soluble uranium compounds via inhalation. The main acute effect of inhalation of soluble uranium compounds is damage to the renal system, and the main long term storage place of these compounds in the body is bone. These research findings do not apply easily to the insoluble uranium compounds to which the Gulf Veterans were exposed when the depleted uranium ordnance was used in battle. The uranium compound used for ordnance was uranium 238 and limited amounts of its decay products. Particles of these compounds smaller than 2.5 microns are usually deposited deep in the lungs and pulmonary lymph nodes where they can remain for years. According to research done in the UK by the NRPB, ceramic uranium is formed when uranium ignites through friction, as happened in the Gulf War. In this form, it is twice as slow to move from the lungs to the blood than would be the non-ceramic uranium. Of the portion of inhaled uranium which passes through the gastro-intestinal tract, only 0.2 percent is normally absorbed through the intestinal wall. This may be an even smaller portion for ceramic uranium. This fraction of the inhaled compound can, of course, do damage to the GI tract as it passes through because it emits damaging alpha particles with statistical regularity. The residence time of the insoluble uranium compounds in the GI tract (the biological half life) is estimated in years. [ibid.] The chemical action of all isotopic mixtures of uranium (depleted, natural and enriched) is identical. Current evidence from animal studies suggests that the chemical toxicity is largely due to its chemical damage to kidney tubular cells, leading to nephritis. The differences in toxicity based on the solubility of the Uranium compound (regardless of which uranium isotope is incorporated in the compound) are more striking: water soluble salts are primarily renal and systemic chemical toxicants; insoluble chemical compounds are primarily lung chemical toxicants and systemic radiological hazards. Once uranium dioxide enters the blood, hexavalent uranium is formed, which is also a systemic chemical toxicant. It is important to note that there is no scientific evidence which supports the US Veteran Administration claim that the insoluble uranium to which the Gulf War Veterans were exposed will be primarily a renal chemical toxicant. Yet this is the criteria which the VA proposes for attributing any health problems of the Veteran to depleted uranium. Intermediate and chronic exposure duration to insoluble uranium is regulated in the US by its radiological property. The slow excretion rate of the uranium oxide allows for some kidney and tubule repair and regeneration. Moreover, because of the long biological half life, much of the uranium is still being stored in the body and has not yet passed through the kidneys. The direct damage to lungs and kidneys by uranium compounds is thought to be the result of the combined radiation and chemical properties, and it is difficult to attribute a portion of the damage to these separate factors which cannot be separated in life. There is human research indicating that inhalation of insoluble uranium dioxide is associated with general damage to pulmonary structure, usually non-cancerous damage to alveolar epithelium. With acute duration exposure this can lead to emphysema or pulmonary fibrosis (Cooper et al, 1982; Dungworth, 1989; Saccomanno et al, 1982; Stokinger 1981; Wedeen 1992). Animal studies demonstrate uranium compounds can cause adverse hematological disturbances (Cross et al. 1981 b; Dygert 1949; Spiegel 1949; Stokinger et al 1953). Important information from a chart developed by ATSDR [referenced earlier] is reproduced here, the reader will find all of this information and the references in the original document.   Availability of Human or Animal Data for the Presence of a Particular Health Effect after Exposure via Inhalation to Insoluble Uranium       Effect on body system studied: Effects of acute duration exposure (less than 15 days) Effects of intermediate duration exposure (15 days to 1 year) Effects of chronic duration exposure (more than 1 year) Respiratory Human Studies: rales, slight degeneration in lung epithelium; hemorrhagic lungs [1] Animal Studies: severe nasal congestion, hemorrhage; gasping in 100 percent [2] Animal Studies: slight degenerative changes in lung;[3] pulmonary edema; hemorrhage; emphysema; inflamation of the brochi; bronchial pneumonia; alveoli and alveolar interstices; edematous alveoli; hyperemia and atelectasis.; lung lesions; minimal pulmonary hyaline fibrosis and pulmonary fibrosis. [2] Animal Studies: minimal pulmonary fibrosis [3] Lung cancer in dog [3] Hepatic     Animal Studies: moderate fatty livers in 5 of 8 animals that died; focal necrosis of liver.[3] Animal Studies: increased bromo-sulfalein retention [2] Hematological Animal Studies: increased macrophage activity; increased plasma prothrombin and fibrinogen.[3] A (increased percentage myeloblasts and lymphoid cells in bone marrow; decreased RBC; increased plasma prothrombin and fibrinogen; increased neutrophils ; decreased lymphocytes) Animal Studies: lengthened blood clotting time, decreased blood fibinogen [2] Gastro-intestinal Human Studies: anorexia, abdominal pain, diarrhea, tenesmus or ineffective straining, and pus and blood in stool [1]   Animal Studies: anorexia; vomited blood; ulceration of caecum.[1],[6] Renal Human Studies: proteinuria, elevated levels of NPN, aminoacid nitrogen/creatinine, abnormal phenol-sulfonphthalein excretion. Increased urinary catalase; diuresis.[1] Animal Studies: Proteinuria, glucosuria and polyuria; severe degeneration of renal cortical tubules 5-8 days post exposure. [2] Animal Studies: diuresis, mild degeneration in glomerulus and tubules. [3] proteinuria, increased NPN.[3] minimal microscopic lesions in tubular epithelium [1] Animal Studies: slight azotemia [4] slight degenerative changes [3] minimal microscopic lesions [1], [5],[6] tubular necrosis and regeneration [6] Cardiovascular       Musculo-skeletal   Animal Studies: severe muscle weakness; lassitude [3 with F].   Endocrine       Metabolic       Dermal       Ocular Animal Studies: conjunctivitis [2] Animal Studies: eye irritation [2]   Body Weight   Animal Studies: 26 percent decrease inMetabolicght; 14 percent decrease at 22 mg / cu m air; [1], [3] 12 percent decrease at 2.1 mg/cu m air.[2] 2.9 to 27.9 percent decreased body weight guinea pig [6]   Other Systemic   Animal Studies: weakness and unsteady gate, [1] minimal lymph node fibrosis.[3] rhinitis [1] Animal Studies: minimal lymph node fibrosis [3] lung cancer (dog) [3] Mortality Animal Studies: 20 percent for dogs at 2 mg per cu. m air [2] Animal Studies: 10 percent rat and guinea pig [4] 17 percent dog [4] 60 percent rabbits [3] 67 percent rabbits [4] Animal Studies: 4.5 percent mortality dog [3]     Uranium tetrafluoride, UF4 , insoluble in water.   Uranium hexafluoride, UF6 , soluble in water, highly chemically toxic.   Uranium dioxide, UO2 , insoluble in water, highly toxic and spontaneously flammable, used in ordnance in place of lead in the Gulf War. (Also called uranium oxide.)   Uranium trioxide, UO3 , insoluble in water, poisonous, decomposes when heated. (Also called uranium oxide.)   Uranyl Chloride, UO2Cl2 , uranium oxide salt.   Uranium Nitrate, UO2(NO3)2.2H2O , soluble in water, toxic and explosive.   With respect to ORAL exposure, there is no human data but a great deal of animal data. This was not as likely a pathway in the Gulf War as was inhalation, but possible contamination of food and water can not be totally ignored. DERMAL exposure was researched in humans only in the acute duration of exposure case. Animal studies on dermal exposure include acute, intermediate and chronic duration of exposure, and immunologic/lymphoreticular and neurologic effects.   Mortality Within 30 Days of Exposure: The lowest acute duration lethal dose observed, with exposure to the soluble uranium hexafluoride, was 637 mg per cu metre of air. No acute dose deaths were found using insoluble compounds. Since there were acute deaths in the Iraqi tanks in persons not directly hit, one can assume concentrations of uranium aerosol were greater than this amount. It should also be noted that it was the radiation protection units of the military which designated these contaminated tanks off bounds. They were acting because of radiological (not chemical) properties of the aerosol. The intermediate duration exposure, 15 to 365 days, dose level for mortality with insoluble uranium oxide, was 15.8 mg per cu metre of air. With soluble uranium hexachloride it was much lower, 2 mg per cu metre air. The dose resulting in lung cancer in the dog study, with chronic duration inhalation of the insoluble uranium oxide, was 5.1 mg per cu metre air, for 1 to 5 years, 5 day a week and 5.4 hours a day.   Systemic Damage: Damage to body organs occurred with intermediate or chronic exposure at doses as low as 0.05 mg per cu metre air. A generally sensitive indicator of exposure seems to be loss of body weight. However this finding is somtimes attributed to the unpleasant taste of the uranium laced food given to animals. There is also damage to the entrance portals: respiratory and gastro-intestinal systems; and the exit portals: intestinal and renal systems. Uranium oxide was associated with fibrosis and other degenerative changes in the lung. It was also associated with proteinuria, and increased NPN (non-protein nitrogen) and slight degenerative changes in the tubules. The more severe renal damage was associated with the soluble compounds uranium tetrafluoride and uranium hexafluoride (not thought to have been used in the Gulf War ordnance). Focal necrosis of the liver was only associated with uranium oxide. This may be a clue to one of its storage places in body tissue. Uranium oxide is also associated with hematological changes, lymph node fibrosis, severe muscle weakness and lassitude at intermediate or chronic dose rates in 0.2 to 16 mg per cu metre air. None of the uranium research dealt with the synergistic, additive or antagonistic effects potentially present in the Gulf War mixture of iatrogenic, pathological, toxic chemical and electromagnetic exposures.   Potential US Government administration of radio-protective substances to combat military: It is obvious that the US had some expectation of the health effects related to using depleted uranium ordnance in the Gulf War. This is evident based on military research and manuals. They would also have had access to information on chemical and biological agents which could protect against some of the harmful side effects. These agents might also "confuse" the toxicology of this exposure. Some potential radio-protective agents are thiols (also called mercaptans, these are organosulfur compounds that are derivatives of hydrogen sulfide), nitroxides (used as a food aerosol and an anesthetic), cytokines (non-antibody proteins released by one cell population, e.g T-lymphocytes, generating an immune response), eicosanoids (biologically active substances derived from arachidonic acid, including the prostaglandins and leukotrienes), antioxidants and modifiers of apoptosis (fragmentation of a cell into small membrane bound particle which are then eliminates by phagocytes). Just in case this is the reality and not merely a suspicion, it would be good to examine the after effects of exposure to ceramic depleted uranium in Iraqi veterans and in the survivors of the El Al crash at Shipol Airport, Amsterdam. It is unlikely that these two populations were given any protective agents.   Proposal for assisting the Gulf War veterans: In keeping with the above findings, it is proposed to undertake an analysis of both questionnaire and clinical data for a sample of each of the following populations: US, Canadian and British Gulf War veterans or civilian base workers exposed to DU; US, Canadian and British military personnel not exposed to DU; Iraqi Veterans exposed to DU; Iraqi Veterans not exposed to DU; and firemen and civilians exposed to the El Al crash.   Sampling strategy and sample size to be determined: Each participant should complete a questionnaire [See draft questionnaire in Appendix A] covering general background variables, exposure profile and medical problems and symptoms. Each participant will agree to collect a 24 hour urine sample for analysis, and to take 500 mg blue-green algae (Spirulina) 48 hours before beginning the collection. This is a mild chelating agent. Each participant will agree to the analysis of this data for the benefit of all exposed persons, and to the release of the results of the analysis without identifying characteristics for individuals. All questionnaire data will be entered into computer using Epi Info Software (WHO) and transferred on disc to the Biostatistical Support Unit of the University of Toronto for analysis.   Research Hypotheses to be tested: (to be written as a null hypothesis) There will be a high correlation between the questionnaire exposure estimates and the level of depleted uranium found in urine. Medical problems related to damage of the blood and/or hepatic systems will show an association with exposure data and urine sample analysis for depleted uranium.   Preliminary work to be accomplished:   Identification of principal investigators for each identified study group.   Development of a Grant Proposal, including the null hypotheses and protocols.   Development of a budget for each population study group.   Agreement of the Research team to undertake the study.   Raising of funds or assignment of costs for the study.   Identification and training of data entry processors for each group.   Benefits for Participants: In addition to the general benefits to be obtained by clarifying the health effects of exposure to this toxic material, especially in the ceramic form experienced in the Gulf War, each participant testing positive for DU in a urine analysis will be assisted to enter a chelating process to remove as much as possible of the contaminant from the body.   References: ATSDR 1998: "Toxicological Profile for Uranium" Draft for Public Comment, US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Ragistry, September 1997. Cooper JR, Stradling GN, Smith H, et al 1982. "The behaviour of uranium 233 oxide and uranyl 233 nitrate in rats. International Journal of Radiation Biology and Related Studies in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine. Vol 41(4): 421-433. Cross FT, Palmer RF, Busch RH et al, 1981. "Development of lesions in Syrian golden hamsters following exposure to radon daughters and uranium dust". Health Physics Vol 41:1135-153. Dungworth DL. 1989 "Non-carcinogenic responses of the respiratory tract to inhaled toxicants." In: Concepts in Inhalation Toxicology. Editors: McClellan RO, and Henderson RF. Hemisphere Publ. Corp. New York NY. Dygert HP 1949. Pharmacology and Toxicology of Uranium Compounds. Pages: 647-652, 666-672, and 673-675. McGraw Hill Books Inc. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, Third (Revised) Edition. Technical Editor: Dr. Luigi Parmeggiani, published by the International Labour Organization in 1983 (ISBN: 92-2--103289-2) Geneva, Switzerland. Gindler JE, 1973. "Physical and Chemical Properties of Uranium." In: Uranium, Plutonium and Transplutonic Elements" Editors: Hodge et al. New York NY: Springer Verlag; 69-164. ICRP 1991: Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Publication, accepted in 1990 and reported in Publication 60. Pergamon Press, UK. Saccamanno G, Thun MJ, Baker DB, et al 1982. "The contribution of uranium miners to lung cancer histogenesis renal toxicity in uranium mill workers". Cancer Research Vol. 82 43-52. Spiegel CJ, 1949. Pharmacology and Toxicology of Uranium Compounds. McGraw Hill Book Co.Inc. Stokinger HE, Baxter RC, Dygent HP, et al 1953. In: Toxicity Following Inhalation for 1 and 2 Years. Editors: Voegtlin C and Hodge HC. Stokinger HE, 1981. Uranium. In: Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology. Vol 2A, 3rd Edition. Editors:Clayton CD and Clayton FE. John Wiley and Sons, New York NY, 1995-2013. Stradling GN, Stather JW, Gray SA, et al. "The metabolism of Ceramic Uranium and Non-ceramic Uranium Dioxide after Deposition in the Rat Lung." Human Toxicology 1988 Mar 7; Vol 7 (2): 133-139. UNSCEAR: United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reports to the UN General Assembly. Wedeen RP, 1992. "Renal diseases of Occupational Origin". Occupational Medicine Vol 7 (3):449. Reproduced from: http://www.ccnr.org/du_hague.html

The US Government’s Usage of
Atomic Bombs - Domestic - WTC
By Ed Ward, MD

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