- Hundreds of tonnes of depleted uranium used by Britain
and the United States in Iraq should be removed to protect the civilian
population, said the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific institution,
contradicting Pentagon claims it is not necessary.
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- The society's statement fuels the row over the use of
depleted uranium (DU), which is an effective tank destroyer and bunker
buster but is believed by many scientists to cause cancers and other severe
illnesses.
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- The society was incensed because the Pentagon had claimed
it that had the backing of the society in saying DU was not dangerous.
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- In fact, the society said, soldiers and civilians were
in short- and long-term danger. Children who were playing at contaminated
sites were especially at risk.
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- DU is most commonly used as super-effective armour plate
for tanks or as casing for rockets and bombs. It was adopted as a standard
weapon in the first Gulf war despite its slight radioactive content and
toxic effects. It was used again in the Balkans and Afghanistan by the
US.
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- Many campaigners suspect DU of causing the unexplained
cancers among Iraqi civilians, particularly children, that followed the
previous Gulf war. Chemicals released in the atmosphere during bombing
could equally be to blame.
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- Among those against the use of DU is Professor Doug Rokke,
a one-time US army colonel who is also a former director of the Pentagon's
DU project, and a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville
University, Alabama.
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- He has said a nation's military personnel cannot wilfully
contaminate any other nation, cause harm to persons and the environment
and then ignore the consequences of their actions. He has called on the
US and Britain to "recognise the immoral consequences of their actions
and assume responsibility for medical care and thorough environmental remediation".
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- Up to 2000 tonnes of DU have been used in the Gulf, much
of it in cities such as Baghdad, far more than in the Balkans.
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- Professor Brian Spratt, chairman of the Royal Society
working group on DU, said a recent study by the society had found that
most soldiers were unlikely to be exposed to dangerous levels of DU during
and after its use on the battlefield.
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- "However, a small number of soldiers might suffer
kidney damage and an increased risk of lung cancer if substantial amounts
of depleted uranium are breathed in, for instance inside an armoured vehicle
hit by a depleted uranium penetrator."
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- He said the study also concluded that the soil around
the impact sites of depleted uranium penetrators may be heavily contaminated.
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- "In addition, large numbers of corroding depleted
uranium penetrators embedded in the ground might pose a long-term threat
if the uranium leaches into water supplies."
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- The Guardian
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