IRAQ: NGOs call for investigation of Use of Depleted Uranium in War by Jim Wurst, UN Wire United Nations Foundation 5:16pm 1st Jun, 2003   30.5.2003    UNITED NATIONS -- The United States and United Kingdom, as the occupying powers in Iraq, "must take action immediately to prevent further civilian exposure" to depleted uranium left over from the invasion of Iraq this year, Charles Sheehan-Miles of the nongovernmental Nuclear Policy Research Institute http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/ said yesterday.    The institute is calling on the occupying forces to cordon off tanks damaged by so-called DU munitions, begin a cleanup of contaminated equipment, establish long-term monitoring of "migration of DU into the environment" and allow independent research "to address the health problems" in Iraq, Sheehan-Miles said at a news conference.    DU is used primarily in shells for Abram tanks and for cannons mounted on anti-tank aircraft, said Sheehan-Miles, who served on the crew of an Abrams tank in the 1991 Gulf War. He said that in that war, the anti-Iraq forces fired approximately 320 tons of DU munitions, and that smaller amounts were used in the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s. It is not known how widely DU was used in this year's war in Iraq, he added.    DU is pyrophoric, he said, "meaning that when it impacts a hard target, it ignites spontaneously, burning through the armor of a tank, causing catastrophic damage." When it burns, DU turns into particles small enough to be inhaled.    "The greatest risk is when DU enters the body, either through ingestion, inhalation, wound contamination or in the form of shrapnel,” said Sheehan-Miles. Children are at particular risk since they often play in and around the burned-out tanks, he added.    A key difference between the 1991 and 2003 wars in Iraq is that this year, "DU was heavily used in highly populated urban areas," while in the first war, the fighting took place mostly in the desert, he said.    Yesterday was also the second international day of protest against the use of DU weapons. According to the organizer, the U.K.-based Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, demonstrations took place in Yugoslavia, Greece, Ireland, Germany and Finland, as well as 15 events planned in the United Kingdom and 10 in the United States.    "Despite Pentagon protests that depleted uranium is perfectly safe to use, the science says otherwise," said Sheehan-Miles. "We regard the repeated statements by Pentagon spokesmen that there is no need and no plans to clean up depleted uranium as irresponsible given the risks involved."    "There is significant evidence" that risks exist, he said, including research by the U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and by Iraqi physicians who have "reported in detail increases in malignancies, leukemia and birth defects in the years since the 1991 Gulf War."    The use of DU became controversial after the 1991 war and the Balkans conflicts. While studies conducted by international agencies have found health risks associated with the remnants of DU and called for further study, most have not gone as far as NGOs in saying DU causes cancers and other diseases.    In March, the U.N. Environment Program released a report indicating that DU from weapons used in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994-95 has contaminated drinking water and air. In April, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said the agency was ready to conduct initial environmental field studies in Iraq as soon as conditions allow, calling for particular attention to assessing sites targeted with weapons containing DU.    The World Health Organization in April published Depleted Uranium: Sources, Exposure and Health Effects, a report containing a number of recommendations regarding DU and human health. Those recommendations included monitoring children who might have been exposed to DU and cleaning up "impact zones … in the same way as if any other heavy metal waste had contaminated the soil. Such sites should be cordoned off until cleanup takes place." Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item