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Radioactive 'Silver Bullets' |
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By Cristina Hernández-Espinoza *
There is alarm about the environmental
and health effects of depleted uranium, an important part of the
munitions used in the U.S.-led war campaign against Iraq.
SAN FRANCISCO - The hundreds of tanks that
are leading the way for the invading forces in Iraq, part of the
largest U.S. offensive since Vietnam, are carrying a dangerous metal
that has triggered alarm among environmentalists around the world:
depleted uranium.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the United States debuted
this element, considered the champion of munitions. Known as the
"silver bullet", and for its high density and low cost,
it allows a tank to fire from a distance but achieve penetration
while remaining out of reach of enemy fire.
But in parallel to its formidable capacities
in war, depleted uranium is also blamed for some frightful environmental
impacts.
The Iraqis say the metal is responsible for
rendering their lands infertile and for increased rates of cancer,
childhood leukemia, spontaneous abortions and physical deformities.
There are U.S. veterans of the 1991 war who believe it is responsible
for the so-called Gulf Syndrome, a mysterious set of chronic diseases
they suffer.
According to the Pentagon (U.S. Defense Department),
during that operation -- Desert Storm -- the country's forces fired
320 tons of munitions from their A-10 fighter jets, some 50 tons
from the M1 Abrams tanks, and 11 tons from other tanks and AV-8
aircraft, the same type of armaments being utilized in Iraq this
time around, only with much greater firepower.
Depleted uranium, says the Pentagon, was played
a key role in the land battle launched against Iraqi forces that
ended in victory for the coalition of 33 nations on Feb 27, 1991.
History is expected to repeat itself 12 years later, though with
a much reduced coalition.
Richard Muller, professor of physics at the
University of California, Berkeley, explained to Tierramérica
that the most important trait of depleted uranium is its high density,
"much higher than iron," which allows it to penetrate
enemy targets.
Upon impact, said Muller, depleted uranium
not only does not explode -- as opposed to tungsten, which is also
used in missiles -- but rather heats up, and thus increases its
destructive penetrating power.
In its natural state, uranium is a radioactive
element, chemically toxic and abundant in nature. It is found in
water, soil, the air and in food.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the enriching
process in which natural uranium is used to produce fuel for nuclear
reactors and atomic weapon components.
It is said to be 40 percent less radioactive
than natural uranium, but of a similar chemical toxicity.
"The risk of exposure to depleted uranium
lies in its chemical toxicity, not its radiation," Steve Fetter,
a University of Maryland (United States) expert in nuclear weapons
and radiation, told Tierramérica.
When the metal burns upon penetrating the target
it produces uranium oxides, which are not very soluble in water
or in body fluids, Fetter noted. These oxides can remain highly
concentrated in the air and inhaled by people near the attack site.
They also endure in the soil and can be ingested, for example, by
children playing on the ground.
Depleted uranium was used by military forces
in the conflicts in the Balkans over the past decade. A report by
the European Parliament estimates that around three tons of the
metal were used in Bosnia and 10 tons in Kosovo in land-air attacks.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
investigated the presence of uranium in Kosovo in 2000, in Serbia-Montenegro
in 2001 and in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2002.
The first two missions found remnants of depleted
uranium and "the metal's presence in bio-indicators, like moss
and lichens, an din the air," but at such low levels that it
cannot be considered a significant risk to the human population,
Pekka Haavisto, director of the UNEP depleted uranium assessment
program, told Tierramérica.
The results of the Bosnia-Herzegovina mission
are expected to be released soon.
But Haavisto pointed out that "there is
still a great deal of scientific uncertainty about the potential
contamination of water sources." Not all remnants of the metal
have been removed from the battle areas, and there are many several
meters deep in the earth, meaning that there is a danger of contaminating
aquifers and surface water sources, said the UNEP official.
Studies of the presence of depleted uranium
in the Persian Gulf region have been few. The International Atomic
Energy Agency investigated the area in 2002 but the results of that
mission have yet to be publicized.
Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations
are stepping up their global campaigns to denounce the potential
effects of depleted uranium on the Iraqi population, and in the
United States, the complaints of Gulf War veterans are multiplying.
"I wasn't warned about depleted uranium,
or about its possible risks," states Doug Rokke, a doctor who
says he is a victim of Gulf War Syndrome, expressed in damage to
his respiratory and renal systems and vision problems.
Rokke, a member of the U.S. Navy's preventive
medicine command, was sent to the Persian Gulf in 1991 with just
one mandate: make sure the troops returned home alive. He prepared
soldiers to respond to possible nuclear, biological or chemical
attacks. However, he says, he returned home with his own health
compromised.
Serving as the Pentagon director of the depleted
uranium project in 1994-1995, Rokke oversaw the clean-up of contaminated
military vehicles. He says the authorities were aware of the possible
health effects but that he and his team were only provided surgical
masks and gloves for protection.
The Pentagon has systematically denied the
charges, and specialized agencies have reported not to have found
significant health effects that can be attributed to the metal,
including the World Health Organization (WHO).
During the 1991 Gulf War, acknowledges the
Pentagon, depleted uranium oxides may have been inhaled by soldiers
or entered their bodies through wounds.
However, a report from the National Academy
of Sciences Institute of Medicine concludes that there is little
or no conclusive evidence of an association between uranium exposure
and renal dysfunction or lung cancer.
Available information is still insufficient,
say some experts. According to the University of Maryland's Fetter,
"it wasn't until 1994-1995 that they conducted medical tests
of the veterans." If they had taken urine samples within 24
hours of exposure, the debate would have been resolved, he adds.
The U.S. Defense Department concludes that
depleted uranium has not caused harm to the health of Gulf War veterans,
but says those who have imbedded fragments in their bodies -- difficult
to remove due to their small size or the danger of the procedure
itself -- should be subject to ongoing medical observation.
Fetter says that of the more than 100 U.S.
soldiers who suffered direct exposure to depleted uranium, just
50 percent are alive today.
Twelve years later, the U.S. troops and Iraqi
civilians and soldiers alike have reason to fear the effects of
the latest deployment of "silver bullets".
* Cristina Hernández-Espinoza
is a Tierramérica correspondent.
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