The Question of depleted uranium (DU) bombing: battlefield Chernobyl? "Every man's death diminishes me. No man is an island entire unto itself, but every man is part of the main... ...therefore send not to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thou." John Donne Radiation scientists all around the world are becoming concerned at the intensive use of Tomahawk Cruise missiles and 30mm anti-tank bullets being deployed by NATO in Yugoslavia. Probably all 1500 plus Cruise missiles detonated there carry depleted uranium (DU) centres to penetrate tank armour and concrete more effectively (Uranium (atomic mass 238) is 1.7 times heavier than lead (atomic mass 207)). Their effect will be an ecological disaster lasting generations, and affecting all sides in the action. DU weapons were used in the Gulf War and to a lesser extent in Bosnia, where incidence of leukaemia subtypes, cancers, and birth defects have subsequently increased dramatically throughout the populations exposed. Moreover there are some 80,000 Gulf War veterans with symptoms identical to radiation sickness ("Gulf War syndrome"), including the tell-tale thyroid damage from radioactive iodine lodged in that gland after exposure, and emitting high energy gamma radiation. Perhaps media sources also already have library footage of calves being born in Bosnia with two heads? The half life of Uranium is 4.47 x 109 years, and its gamma emission is weak (48keV). So Uranium is not itself a highly radioactive material, and is not considered to be of great radiological significance. But its daughters (radium226 and radon222, the latter a radioactive gas) are extremely hazardous. Uranium is a very reactive metal, easily oxidising into U3O8 and UO2. On detonation these Uranium oxides are particularised with upto 80 percent conversion into tiny long lived glass beads of <1 micron to 5 microns, thereby passing easily via the bronchioles into the blood stream and the lymphatic system. One "hot" particle in the lungs is the equivalent of an X-ray every hour. The glass-encapsulated particulates can hang in the air and may through fire or wind be carried for hundreds of kilometres, staying airborne through electrostatic forces. This means that not only the areas heavily bombarded by Cruise missiles will receive a level of teratogenic irradiation to the indigenous population, to ground troops, aid workers, and to others, but that distant populations may also be affected. Particles from Cruise missile detonations in Northern Yugoslavia (Novi Sad, Belgrade) are likely to be borne by the variable Kasava winds characteristic of the Danube basin in most directions, that is both towards densely populated regions of Hungary, Germany and also towards Croatia. The detonations in Kosovo region by contrast will generate airborne particles carried by prevailing Northwest winds across Macedonia (only about 80 miles) and beyond into Northern Greece. The Chernobyl accident a decade ago also resulted in high local teratogenic and radiation sickness incidence, but the statistics were massaged by dilution strategems, e.g. distributing irradiated meat in wide geographic regions within the country. No such cover-up is possible in Kosovo. The media are have not so far mentioned this incipient ecological disaster, though RTS (Yugoslavian TV) has confirmed that radioactivity levels in Belgrade and Kosovo are now abnormally high. We understand that the number of NATO OA10- "Warthog" jets already in action over Kosovo are to be increased for anti-tank deployment against ground troops. According to Sara Flounders, co-director of the US International Action Centre the Warthog carries a GAU-8/a Avenger 30 millimetre cannon capable of firing 4,200 rounds a minute. Assuming the task is to knock out some 200 tanks and each tank requires one ten second burst (a conservative estimate) this alone would require 140,000 rounds. However that does not take into account the difficult terrain (i.e. it is not an open featureless desert like Iraq). It would be plausible to treble or quadruple that figure, suggesting that in the first few weeks of anti-tank action at least 500,000 rounds may be fired. There is also a gamma dose to those handling shells, and if tanks with DU armour are used the heads of the tank crew are being exposed to more than the whole body dose limit during their operation. During the Gulf War it fired 30mm rounds reinforced with depleted uranium, and there is no reason to believe these are not already being deployed again in Kosovo. A collaboration with Russia to remove DU from Cruise missiles was terminated when Russia argued with NATO's action, suggesting that the Cruise missiles have been fired with DU inserts. It is possible that Abrams tanks will also be deployed. A single 120mm shell from this tank contains 3kg. of U-238 (111MBq of activity). The use of Warthogs with 30mm DU Thunderbolt shells threatens to make a nuclear wasteland of Kosovo. Moreover, unlike the sparsely populated areas of the Gulf deserts such as Al Hajarah, where some 940,000 rounds of DU shells were fired most of which still lie there, the Kosovo region is heavily populated and occupies a much smaller geographic area. Some 2 million people originally inhabited Kosovo: these and the 2.2 million in Macedonia and similar numbers in Greece and Albania are the numbers at immediate risk. Together with the vicinal populations of Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia as well as the inhabitants of Yugoslavia itself, it is possible that around 20 million civilians could be exposed to this radioactivity. Every day the NATO bombing continues this risk is proportionally increased. Apart from this the cluster bombs, also widely used in the action, will be a continuing threat for years ahead (see report of late detonations at Ramd and Dhiqar in the Guardian 4 May 1999) Nine epidemiological studies have now shown there is no safe lower limit for ionising radiation exposure to humans (Goffman, 1990). Decades ago, R.F. Sievert of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm established in 1950 that "there is no known tolerance level for radiation". Moreover the long half life of Uranium, when slowly converted into its daughters, ensures that the radioactivity will last for many generations. "Uranium released into drinking water, or incorporated in food and human tissue will eventually plague the world as as radium and its other disintegration products" Rosalie Bertell, No immediate Danger, 1985 p. 31 Death rates may be mitigated somewhat by pre-treatment in high static magnetic fields (Barnothy, 1964). Our estimates of ultimate fatalities within Yugoslavia and vicinal territories: Alltime dose commitment of the NATO action: 3kgUOx x 80% x 1500 Cruise missiles = 3600kg UOx Equivalent at 37MBq/kg = 133,200MBq = 13.3 x 1010Bq Populations exposed say 20 million If one gram of radium undergoes 3.7 x 1010 disintegrations a second, (equivalent to 3.7 1010 Bequerels/sec) then the ongoing activity in the entire region is equivalent to ~4 grams of radium applied to 20 million people. Assuming that radiation-induced cancer deaths = dose commitment x lifetime fatal cancer-yield, one might expect a six-fold increase in cancers, leukaemias and dose related birth defects. This sort of increase is already being seen in Iraq and Bosnia. Among the short and long term health effects of inhaled or ingested depleted uranium particles are kidney and liver problems, immune system disfunction, reproductive problems, birth defects and cancers. The Depleted Uranium Case Narrative is available on the Internet at http://www.miltoxproj.org. Public Misinformation about DU Depleted Uranium is a disinformation term to cover a minute isotope adjustment. Uranium, which is a radioactive metal, exists in three forms, known as isotopes. These isotopes are uranium-238, uranium-235 and uranium-234 and, in naturally occurring uranium, are found in the ratio 99.3% U-238; 0.7% U-235; 0.006% U-234. U-238 has a low level of radioactivity whereas U-235 and U-234 are far more radioactive. However when used in weapons it burns to form very small particles of radiative uranium oxides which blow in the wind, can be ingested on food or inhaled by people and enter the bloodstream. It then, like other heavy metals such as lead and mercury, gets absorbed by body organs where its radiation (mainly alpha) continues to irradiate body cells, causing cancer to start. On detonation these Uranium oxides are particularised with up to 80 percent conversion into tiny long lived glass beads of <1 micron to 5 microns, thereby passing easily via the lungs into the blood stream and the lymphatic system. One "hot" particle in the lungs is the equivalent of an X-ray every hour. The glass-encapsulated particulates can hang in the air and may through fire or wind be carried for hundreds of kilometres, staying airborne through electrostatic forces. Uranium in an 'enriched' form is used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It is called enriched becuse the concentration of U235 has been artificially enhanced from that found in naturally occurring uranium. The by-product of this enrichment process is depleted uranium. The manufacture of DU involves the removal of virtually all U234 and reducing the U235 content to a low level. Typically, by weight, DU contains 99.7% U238, 0.2% U235 and 0.00007% U234. There are some pieces about it at http://www.pgs.ca/pages/iraq91.htm including "Depleted Uranium" links in the text and a Pentagon map of DU expenditure in Iraq. U238 armor piercing ammunition has been issued to NATO, in 30mm air-cannon bullets and as cores to advanced cruise missiles and smart bombs. Although U238 is very inactive, the first two breakdown products are very active (234Th and 234Pa) - and even when chemically purified by manufacture, the decay chain equilibrium is restored within 3 months - so these more active decay products are always effectively present. The Albany Incident There was an interesting incident in Albany, NY when "DU" penetrators were being machined there. It was picked up by random environmental monitoring and identified. This led to the whole machining operation being shut down for causing I think it was 250 gm calculated total contamination of the air around Albany. Iraq got something like 300 tons. Yugoslavia and Kosovo have already received more munitions than used in the whole Iraq war! Some western doctors have been to Iraq, witnessed the condition of children, and heard from a British trained Iraqi pediatric oncologist how childhood leukaemia has increased 600% in Southern Iraq. The Berlin incident A quotation from Eric Hoskins' report "With its Uranium Shells Desert storm may have sown death", Peace Courier 1993, 6 Feb. "Several months ago, when the medical director of the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Institute arrived in Berlin carrying with him one of these 'mildly' radioactive DU penetrators retreived from Iraq, he was immediately arrested by the German Authorities and charged with illegally 'releasing ionising radiation'. The DU penetrator he was carrying, its radioactivity confirmed by two independent German laboratories, was quickly sealed in a lead-lined box." There are no such lead-lined boxes in Iraq. According to foreign doctors: "Iraqi children are playing with these bullets as toys, unaware of their dangerous effects'. In one case observed by a foreign doctor, a child in the Iraqi city of Basra was seen playing with several depleted uranium penetrator shells, having made hand-puppets out of them. Another child, who was known to have handled several shells, subsequently developed leukaemia. (Ref. Hoskins, E and Philo G, McLaughlin G, The first casualties of war New Statesman 1993 29 Jan. pp16-17.) Each 30mm cannon slug emits approximately 15 millirems per hour of gamma rad. at the surface. The US has invested large sums of money in recovering contaminated US vehicles from Iraq and disposing of them as nuclear waste but nothing has been done to recover the one million DU rounds fired into Iraq and Kuwait by Coalition forces.(Ref.The Medical Educational Trust background paper No. 14, Oct. 1993) DU weapons were used in the Gulf War and to a lesser extent in Bosnia, where incidence of leukaemia subtypes, cancers, and birth defects have subsequently increased dramatically throughout the populations exposed. Moreover there are some 80,000 Gulf War veterans with symptoms identical to radiation sickness ("Gulf War syndrome"), including the tell-tale thyroid damage from radioactive iodine lodged in that gland after exposure, and emitting high energy gamma radiation. Media sources already have library footage of calves being born in Bosnia with two heads. Many similarly deformed babies are being born by veteran-s wives - born with virtually no arms, extended torso and deformed club feet. This means that not only the areas heavily bombarded by Cruise missiles will receive a level of teratogenic irradiation to the indigenous population, to ground troops, aid workers, and to others, but that distant populations may also be affected. Particles from Cruise missile detonations in Northern Yugoslavia (Novi Sad, Belgrade) are likely to be borne by the variable Kasava winds characteristic of the Danube basin in most directions, that is both towards densely populated regions of Hungary, Germany and also towards Croatia. The detonations in Kosovo region by contrast will generate airborne particles carried by prevailing Northwest winds across Macedonia (only about 80 miles) and beyond into Northern Greece. The Chernobyl accident a decade ago also resulted in high local teratogenic and radiation sickness incidence, but the statistics were massaged by dilution strategems, e.g. distributing irradiated meat in wide geographic regions within the country. No such cover-up is possible in Kosovo. The disgraceful cover-up by the BBC and others The BBC have made strenuous efforts and resorted to a number of strategems to avoid mention of DU in their coverage of the NATO action in Yugoslavia. Along with other world Green Party Groups we intend to bring their conduct before the relevant War Tribunal, where Mary Robinson said recently that it was not inconceivable that NATO and their allies might also find themselves indicted for war crimes. Our lavbraotory sent numerous e-mails faxes and letters to the BBC bothat Llandaff and London presenting the concerns about the use of DU in Yugoslavia. The staff involved included: Kathryn Allen, political unit, BBC TV Llandaff Marcus Ryder, producer, Counterblast, BBC TV London Mina Panic, researcher, BBCTV London Aled Eirug, head of NCA BBCTV Llandaff Rachel Buchanan, BBC Helen Hughes, BBC Livetime (but put out a very brief soundbite around 11.30pm) Richard Wilson, environment correspondent, BBCTV London Felicity Evans, BBC Good Evening Wales. All these staff members and others will be indicted for suppressing the DU story , and thereby jeopardising civilian populations in Europe and possibly even in the UK. Their delicate dance of avoidance included: a) not returning phone calls to their voice mail. b) claiming they would forward messages onward c) arguing that thery were under the supervision of London and could therefotre not report DU news in Wales. d) pretending to take footage in a makeshift studio in BBCTV Centre, then not using the clips e) offering to produce a larger programme after the Welsh Assembly elections were over, thereby sidelining the Green Party's opposition to NATO bombs f) pretending to cover demonstrations in Cardiff but not screening the event g) claiming that they could not cover an event on 3 April because of Welsh Assembly election rules, even though these did not come into force until 6 April h) not asking any questions about DU use at NATO or Pentagon briefings j) claiming they cannot use the story because they cannot prove that DU is being used in Kosovo, when this has been admitted on TV by NATO in the early stages of the action. This conduct by the BBC taken together is against the public interest. The media generally have not so far mentioned this incipient ecological disaster, though RTS (Yugoslavian TV) has confirmed that radioactivity levels in Belgrade and Kosovo are rising rapidly and are now abnormally high. We understand that the number of NATO OA10- "Warthog" jets already in action over Kosovo are to be increased for anti-tank deployment against ground troops. According to Sara Flounders, co-director of the US International Action Centre the Warthog carries a GAU-8/a Avenger 30 millimetre cannon capable of firing 4,200 rounds a minute. Assuming the task is to knock out some 200 tanks and each tank requires one ten second burst (a conservative estimate) this alone would require 140,000 rounds. However that does not take into account the difficult terrain (i.e. it is not an open featureless desert like Iraq). It would be plausible to treble or quadruple that figure, suggesting that in the first few weeks of anti-tank action at least 500,000 rounds may be fired. During the Gulf War it fired 30mm rounds reinforced with depleted uranium, and there is no reason to believe these are not already being deployed again in Kosovo. A single 120mm shell contains 3kg. of U-238 (111MBq of activity). The use of Warthogs with 30mm DU Thunderbolt shells threatens to make a nuclear wasteland of Kosovo. Moreover, unlike the sparsely populated areas of the Gulf deserts such as Al Hajarah, where some 940,000 rounds of DU shells were fired most of which still lie there, the Kosovo region is heavily populated and occupies a much smaller geographic area. Some 2 million people originally inhabited Kosovo: these ansd the 2.2 million in Macedonia and similar numbers in Greece and Albania are the numbers at immediate risk. Together with the vicinal populations of Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia as well as the inhabitants of Yugoslavia itself, it is possible that around 20 million civilians could be exposed to this radioactivity. Every day the NATO bombing continues this risk is proportionally increased. Nine epidemiological studies have now shown there is no safe lower limit for ionising radiation exposure to humans (Goffman, 1990). Decades ago, R.F. Sievert of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm established in 1950 that "there is no known tolerance level for radiation". Moreover the long half life of Uranium, when slowly converted into its daughters, ensures that the radiaoactivity will last for many generations. "Uranium released into drinking water, or incorporated in food and human tissue will eventually plague the world as as radium and its other disintegration products" Rosalie Bertell, No Immediate Danger, 1985 p. 31 Death rates may be mitigated somewhat by pre-treatment in high static magnetic fields (Barnothy, 1964). Further reading: Bertell R. (1985) No Immediate Danger: Prognsis for a radioactive Earth, Woman's Press, London. An old but good primer on the issue of low level radiation Dr Chris Busby (1995) -Wings of Death-, Green Audit, Aberystwyth. Expounds the second strike hypothesis of weak irradiation damage at well below present PELs. (tel. for details: 00 44 1970 611226) Catalinotto et al., (1997) Metal of Dishonour, The detailed Pentagon cover-up over DU weapons, by a team of scientific experts.(details, and long review on http://www.amazon.com) Goffman JW, Radiation Induced Cancer from Low-dose Exposure: an independent analysis. Committee for Nuclear Responsibility Inc. San Francisco, CA ====================================================== Copy of letter from Alan Casson, Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit, Ministry of Defence, Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB Tel. direct dial 0171 218 4462, switchboard 0171 218 9000 Fax 0171 218 4489 Ref. D/GVIU/9/1 dated 16 March 1998 To Rabbi Dr Michael Hilton, Menorah Synagogue, Cheshire Reform Congregation, 198 Altrincham Road, Manchester M22 4RZ Dear Rabbi Hilton, Thank you for your letter of 20 February 1998 to the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr George Robertson. I have been asked to reply on the Minister's behalf. In your letter you asked whether the West had used 'radioactie weapons' during the Gulf War, and asked for an assurance that such weapons would not be used in any future conflict. During Coalition operations against Iraq in 1991, UK forces used a new 120 mm tank round (known as CHARM 1) in its Challenger 1 tanks which contained a depleted uranium (DU) core. This ammunition was brought into service by MOD because of its unique capability as a kinetic penetrator against the most modern types of Main Battle Tank armour. Our current assessment is that UK forces fired fewer than 100 DU tank rounds against Iraqi military forces during hostilities. Additional rounds were fired earlier during work-up training. The quantity of DU ammunition fired by US forces during the Gulf War was, we believe, considerably greater than that fired by UK forces. Uranium, which is a radioactive metal, exists in three forms, known as isotopes. These isotopes are uranium-238, uranium-235 and uranium-234 and, in naturally occurring uranium, are found in the ratio 99.3% U-238; 0.7% U-235; 0.006% U-234. Uranium in an 'enriched' form is used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It is called enriched becuse the concentration of U-235 has been artificially enhanced from that found in naturally occurring uranium. The by-product of this enrichment process is depleted uranium. The manufacture of DU involves the removal of virtually all U-234 and reducing the U-235 content to a low level. Typically, by weight, DU contains 99.7% U-238, 0.2% U-235 and 0.00007% U-234. U-238 has a low level of radioactivity whereas U-235 and U-234 are far more radioactive. There are two types of hazard posed by DU; a radiation hazard, although DU is a low specific activity material as defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which means that the level of radioactivity is low, and a chemical toxicity hazard which is similar to that posed by other heavy metals, such as lead. DU is also a pyrophoric material. When a DU projectile strikes a hard target (such as a heavily armoured Main Battle Tank), the uranium burns to form various oxides. DU has the potential to cause adverse health effects if ingested, inhaled (for example, from DU dust in the vicinity of a target, such as a tank which has been hit by a DU projectile), or absorbed (for example, from embedded DU shrapnel). There are no immediate plans to withdraw DU-based tank ammunition from service. Indeed, the new operational round for Challenger 2, known a CHARM 3, which is due to enter service in 1999, will also contain a DU core. No satisfactory alternative material currently exists to achieve the levels of penetration required to defeat modern Main Battle Tanks. Although research is being conducted into alterntive materials, none has so far demonstrated significant potential. Attached to your letter was an article from 'The Universe' which implied that DU dust in the Gulf, created by the use of DU-based munitions by UK and US forces, is affecting the health of Iraqi children. Most of the DU ammunition used by UK and US forces was fired into sparsely populated desert regions. Nevertheless, the Government acknowledges that some Iraqi personnel (both military and civilian) may have been exposed to DU and to the products of DU combustion during or immediately following the Gulf War, but we have no information regarding any Iraqi casualties which may have resulted from such exposure. I am sorry I cannot be more helpful. Yours sincerely Alan Casson It is strange that the UK Government does not admit to the fact that the UK Gulf War Vets were also exposed to the DU and are now ill. The recent study of whether there was a Gulf War Syndrome carried out by Prof Wesseley did not take into account exposure to DU. We must not forget people engaged on machining these weapons and the exposure to the local populations. Also the contamination of the UK firing ranges and exposure of local populations. DU in Wales, England and other parts of the UK. Information for anti-NATO activists! The MOD is decommissioning its plant at Llanishen, nr Cardiff and has already sent DU waste back to AWE Aldermaston for storage. Manufacturing of DU shells probably takes place at Radway Green near Crewe , with development at Fort Halstead near Sevenoaks in Kent. DU has also been imported from the US to Royal Ordnance factories at Wolverhampton and Chorley in Lancashire. I understand there is a firing range at Castle Martin near Pembroke and a regular test-firing range started in 1980 at Eskmeals in Cumbria and Kircudbright in 1981. Firing of DU by the MOD has also occurred at West Freugh near Stranraer, White Sands, New Mexico, Aberdeen, Maryland in the US and Gramat in France. US nuclear waste is polluting British soil and inland waters with DU In July 1993 radiation reports revealed serious contamination outside the controlled area at Eskmeals, and grass and soil samples at Kirkudbright were 'well above acceptable limits' The firings result in the accumulation of radioactive waste at these sites, currently (1993) 91 cubic metres at Eskmeals estimated to rise to 468 cubic metres by 2030. At Kirkudbright there is considered to be no nuclear waste as DU shells (about 4,000 upto 1993) are fired into the Solway Firth. DU bomb accidentally detonates in Scotland At Kirkudbright a misfiring on 13 Nov. 1989 involved a DU shell exploding ino fragments on hitting a stone bank. This resulted in a local concentration of 1,692 mg/kg, well exceeding the MOD's normal limit of 72 mg/kg and upper limit of 300 mg/kg. DU emits ionising radiation, both alpha and gamma, and it is carcinogenic. Each slug emits approximately 15 millirems per hour of gamma rad. at the surface. The US has invested large sums of money in recovering contaminated US vehicles from Iraq and disposing of them as nuclear waste but nothing has been done to recover the one million DU rounds fired into Iraq and Kuwait by Coalition forces.(Ref.The Medical Educational Trust background paper No. 14, Oct. 1993) DU Weapons threaten nuclear non-proliferation treaty A briefing paper to the delegations to the 1990 non Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee Governments concerned about the future of nuclear weapons must be alerted to the dangerous proliferation of a new class of radioactive weapons first used in warfare by U S aircraft and US and British tanks in the Gulf War.These weapons are made from depleted uranium (DU)(1) Depleted Uranium is a radioactive and chemically toxic nuclear waste product that has been manufactured into an armor-piercing projectile known as the depleted uranium penetrator. At least fourteen countries including the US, the UK, France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Behrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, and Taiwan now have DU penetrators in their arsenal.(2) Other sources assert that the weaponry has proliferated to Iraq, Oman, Jordan, Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. The US Department of Defense estimates approximately 315 tons (630,000 pounds) of depleted uranium were fired in the Gulf in 1991. This firing resulted in the release of large amounts of DU dust which contaminated thousands of tanks, vehicles and land. Depleted uranium dust can be transported by wind or water and can enter the human body via wound contamination or injection (as in fragments), inhalation or ingestion. Depleted uranium has a half life of 4 1/2 billion years. Among the short and long term health effects of inhaled or ingested depleted uranium particles are kidney and liver problems, immune system disfunction, reproductive problems, birth defects and cancers. A March 2, 1998 report released by Swords to Plowshares, the Military Toxics Project, and the US National Gulf War Resource Center details how hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans may have been exposed to DU radioctive dust in the Gulf War. The Depleted Uranium Case Narrative is available on the Internet at www.miltoxproj.org. Since the Gulf War battlefields remain contaminated with depleted uranium, the health of today's civilians, as well as that of future generations, is at risk. The United Nations Human Rights commission in Geneva has taken up the issue of depleted uranium weaponry through its Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.The Sub-commission adopted resolution in 1996 and 1997 (resolution 1996/16 and 1997/36), which included depleted uranium weaponry among "weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction", incompatible with international humanitarian or human rights law. In 1997 the UN appointed Mm. Clemencia Forero de Castellanos (Columbia) Rappoteur to take over the study of DU and other weapons of "mass or indiscriminate destruction". The report is due in the Sub-Commission 1998 summer session. Besides being a threat to human rights, DU weapons may impose on a nation a burden of health care costs and contamination of the environment that is expensive to address. In the United States, the price of clean-up of 152,000 pounds of depleted uranium fragments and dust on 500 acres of Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana has been estimated at $4 to $5 billion dollars.(3) In addition to causing dire and costly health and environmental damage, depeleted uranium can be modified to make an atomic bomb of plutonium 239. Depleted Uranium penetrators purchased in sufficient quantities by any country could be disassembled and the DU diverted for breeding weapons grade plutonium in a nuclear power reactor that had been suitable adapted. Therefore it is critical to the success of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation TReaty, that depleted uranium weapons be considered for their potential to become a plutonium bomb as well as their intrinsic capability of being 'weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction". Thus, depleted uranium weapons' development, production, stockpiling, testing, sale and or transfer, as well as use, must be banned. (1) During the process of making fuel for nulear weapons and nuclear power plants, the fissionable isotope Uranium 235 is seperated from uranium. The remaining uranium, which is 99.8% uranium 238, is misleadingly called 'depleted' uranium. As a result of more than fifty years of uranium enrichment, the US department of Energy currently maintains a stockpile in excess of 1.1 billion pounds radioctive uranium waste. (2) The depleted uranium case narrative, by Dan Fahey, Swords to Ploshare, March 1998, p.67 The report is available on the Internet at www.miltoxpoj.org,http://www.gulfwe.org/ngwrc,http://www.rama-usa.org/ or http://ww.globaldialog.com/~kornkven/. For copies of the Military Toxics Project in the USA at(207) 783-5091. Depleted uranium case narrative p.50. This paper has been prepared by the Military Toxics Project. MTP is a national network of groups working to lean up military pollution, safeguard the tranportation of hazardous materials, and advance pollution prevention at US Dept. of Defense installation. Through its Depleted Uranium campaign MTP provides outreach and unites people affected by the production, testing, and use of DU for military purposes; and demands cleanup, health care, compensation and the end of DU munitions use worldwide to help ensure the survival of future generations. For more information contact MTP at 60 Pine Street, Suite 2, Lewiston, ME. 04240 USA Phone (207)783-5091 Fax. (207)783-5096 email miltoxpr@Ime.mnet, Website www.miltoxproj.org. Further reading: Barnothy, M. (1964) Reduction of radiation mortality through pretreatment, In: Biological effects of magnetic fields, Plenum Press, NY, pp127-131) Bertell R. (1985) No Immediate Danger: Prognsis for a radioactive Earth, Woman's Press, London. An old but good primer on the issue of low level radiation Busby C,. (1995) Wings of Death, Green Audit, Aberystwyth. Expounds the second strike hypothesis of weak irradiation damage at well below present PELs. (tel. for details: 00 44 1970 611226) Catalinotto et al., (1997) Metal of Dishonour, The detailed Pentagon cover-up over DU weapons, by a team of scientific experts.(details, excerpts, and long review on http://www.amazon.com) Goffman JW, Radiation Induced Cancer from Low-dose Exposure: an independent analysis. Committee for Nuclear Responsibility Inc. San Francisco, CA Prof. Seigwart-Horst Gunther, Eine Dokumentation der Folgen des Golfkrieges, 1993-1995. In English, French and German, an account of the consequences of DU in the Gulf Wars. Preface by Tony Benn ($10, 82pp) ISBN 894484-805-7. Further info: Ahrlman@t-online.de and website http://www.ahrlman.com/guenther.htm. Authors of this paper include Roger Coghill, MA (Cantab.) C. Biol. MI Biol. MA (Environ. Mgt.), Dr Chris Busby, and Alasdair Philips MI Agr. Eng. among other contributors Radiation Biologist, Director, Coghill Research Laboratories.