Quello che segue e' il testo dell'intervento scritto di Carlo Pona per
la seduta di New York del Tribunale "Clark" del 10 giugno 2000:
---
CRIMINAL USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM
by Carlo Pona at the International Tribunal on US/NATO war crimes. New
York 10th June 2000
During the criminal aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO used
armor-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium. This was officially
confirmed in a letter from NATO Secretary General George Robertson to
the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Anyway during the aggression there
has been an unofficial confirmation by Major General Chuck Wald, the US
Department of Defense spokesman during the press briefing on the 3rd May
1999.
Depleted Uranium (DU) is essentially a byproduct of the cycle of
production of nuclear fuel and of the weapon-grade enriched uranium used
to build nuclear bombs. It is also used to produce plutonium.
US have retained stockpiles of DU since the inception of its nuclear
weapon program in the 1940’s. Because of the costs associated with
storing such an extraordinary quantity of material, estimated to be
something like 700,000 tons as UF6 which constitutes a very heavy burden
for the US-Department of Energy, the employment of DU in ammunitions
became a viable method to reduce storage costs. DU is 1.7 times denser
than lead and when fired by guns its kinetic energy is sufficient to
penetrate tank armour or concrete. The problem is that DU is both
radioactive and toxic.
To dispose of it as a nuclear waste is extremely expensive and hence the
Dept. Of Energy itself is promoting its commercial use in many ways.
They say that other uses of DU (including weapons) is a “benefit for
humanity”.
DU is used in ammunitions, countewieghts, shieldings, and now commercial
concrete (DUCRETE). DU munitions include the following: 7.62 mm, 20 mm
(180 grams), 25 mm (200 grams), 30 mm (280 grams), 105 mm (3500 grams),
and 120 mm (4500 grams) penetrators and the ADAM and PDM cluster bombs.
DU is also present also in the Cruise Tomahawk III missiles.
DU emits alphs, beta, gamma and X-ray radiations and may present a
hazard both externally and/or internally. The external radiation hazard
would arise from the close proximity to DU and is made up mainly of
beta, gamma and X-ray radiation. Tha main external radiation hazard from
DU is from contact with bare skin. The current dose limit to the skin
will be exeeded if the skin remains in contact continously with DU for
more than 250 hours per year.
DU is dangerous as a weapon, but it is more dangerous after it has been
fired because it becomes a very thin powder which contaminates for ever
the environment. Upon impact, indeed, the DU core partially vaporizes
producing uranium oxide in particulates of between 0.5 and 5 microns in
size. The aerosol can spread over several hundred miles, depending on
weather conditions.
The main internal radiation hazard is from the inhalation of these
insoluble oxides. The alpha and beta radiation from the retained
material over a long period of time could cause damage to the lung
tissue. The inhalation of 80 mg of insoluble DU would result in the dose
limit to the whole body being exeeded.
Upon ingestion, the uranium oxides are mostly metabolized to the uranyl
ion (UO2++), and, if solubilized in the blood, up to 90% of it may be
excreted by the kidney in the urine. Excretion takes approximately 3
days if DU is solubilised. When uranium arrives to other organs such as
bones, for example, it may not be excreted for ever. A particular case,
very frequent following the use of DU as a weapon is the case of
embedded fragments in the muscle of victims close to the battlefield. In
this case a small particle of DU can cause high level of DU in the urine
even for the rest of the life.
One “hot particle” in the lungs is equivalent, for the nearest cells, to
an X-ray every hour of every day for the rest of one’s life. The uranium
oxides goes into the soil as well. DU’s high toxicity presents ever more
danger to human health in the short time after exposure: the kidneys are
the target organ.
DU in soil is incorporated in vegetables, which, together with the
ruminant’s meat and milk, can represent a way to contaminate humans via
the food chain.
The International Criminal Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia, last week said
that there is no worldwide agreement on its hazard, and that DU is not
forbidden as a weapon.
Maybe they forget, by others things, or they want to forget, that the
National Lead Industries in New York State, have been shut down during
the 1980’s because they released accidentally into the environment only
375 grams of DU, the same amount which is contained in only one round
fired in Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Of course the US government denies,
followed by ICTY which confirms, there is nothing harmful about depleted
uranium that would prevent its use in battle situation anywhere.
Numerous independent experts say depleted uranium is deadly and will
pollute endlessly those areas struck by the ammunitions. The Military
Toxic Project, a non-governmental organization that has been tracking
depleted uranium for years, has published an update. Dan Fahey, the
author, draws primarily on declasified government documents and public
statements, concluding with a sort of rough indictement of
irresponsability. During the Kosovo war, the Pentagon brought out a RAND
corporation think tank study to prove once again that DU is harmless.
Once more independent experts protested. As a consequence the WHO was
asked to investigate. A fact sheet on DU was announced as in the work,
and then it was cancelled.
An initial UN mission to Yugoslavia in May produced a report of serious
contamination by DU. The report’s sponsor, the UNEP’s director, Klaus
Toepfer, suppressed it, under pressure from Washington. the UNEP’s
Balkan Task Force produced a big study in October, but the section on DU
was dramatically reduced in the final version. The task force had tried
to involve the WHO, but the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not allow
it. Measurements were done using Geiger counters incapable of detectin
the particular alpha radiation and nothing was found. In the meantime,
in August, the WHO announced that a generic study of DU was under way.
Last March it become known that the study was under the responsability
of an electro-magnetic field expert who has delegated it to a British
geologist. Faced with the IAEA’s opposition to studying radiation and
health, the WHO has opted to study DU only as a heavy metal pollutant.
There is no surprire that under this situation, the ICTY would say that
there is no international agreement on the hazard from DU.
NATO admitted of having fired 31,000 of such rounds over a small area of
Kosovo. We know now that DU has been used as well outside Kosovo up to
Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Yugoslav Ministry for Development, Science
and Environment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in a comprehensive
report “Consequences of NATO Bombing on the Environment of FRY” has
stressed the use of DU even outside Kosovo in seven sites in Serbia and
one in Montenegro.
It is not the first time US/NATO used DU in the battlefield. It happened
already surely in Iraq (1991-the total amount ranging from 300 to 700
tons) and Bosnia (1995). US Army is almost routinely using DU on the
small island of Vieques, offshore Puerto Rico: in April 1999, the US
Navy accidentally fired hundreds of DU rounds. Similar events happened
in Japan, where Marines fired DU bullets on an uninhabited island,
prompting apologies from US defense officials and recently in South
Korea.
The Department of Defense itself published a lot of books and essays
regarding DU from which it justifies the concern about its use. They
admit DU is a chemical and radiological hazard.
DU is also one of the possible causes of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS), which is affecting thousands of US and British veterans, and for
the increase of genetic malformations among the newborn in South Iraq.
Many Iraqi pedriatic oncologists claim that childhood leukaemia has
risen 600% in the areas where DU was used. Stillbirths, births or
abortion of fetuses with monstrous abnormalities, and other cancers in
children born since 1991 have also been found. Also
UN itself in 1996 in the framework of the Subcommission on Preservation
of Minorities, “urged all States to curb the production and spread of
weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effects”, including
explicitly, among others, depleted uranium.
The recent NATO confirmation of DU use in Kosovo, complete with a map,
alarmed somehow the public opinion, exspecially in Italy, because the
most exposed area is right the area where there are the Italian KFOR’s
soldiers. One more at the press conference, the head of the BTF mission,
Pekka Haavisto declared that there is no reason for serious concern.
BUT: the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, the main coordinator of
aid to Kosovo, has quietly decided to refrain from sending pregnant
staff to Kosovo, to offer those assigned there the option of going
elsewhere and to put a note into the personnel files of those sent there
– to facilitate compensation claims for illnesses that might develop
from DU contamination.
The German and Dutch Governments, whose occupation zones coincide with
the areas hit, have ordered their soldiers not to eat anything outside
their post, especially not from the sorrounding countryside. Dutch
soldiers had to hand in all clothing and equipment, which was shipped
back to the Netherlands sealed in heavy-duty plastic. The government
claims asbestos contamination, but a Dutch military source points to DU,
noting that the vehicles, also sent back, ended up in a radiation
decontamination plant.
And, as far as Italy is concerned, there is the news that two Italian
soldiers sent to the Serbian part of Bosnia, bombed with DU ammunitions
by NATO in 1995, in the framework of the “peace force” SFOR, have died
of leukaemia. In this case there have been arguments because the time
enlapsed between exposure to DU and the death seems to be too short:
only a couple of years. An important Italian oncologist has said in a
popular TV documentary that in some cases it cannot be excluded a very
short time of occurrence for cancer.
In conclusion, we cannot have any doubt that using DU as a weapon is a
war crime and that DU must be banned for ever.
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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la seduta di New York del Tribunale "Clark" del 10 giugno 2000:
---
CRIMINAL USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM
by Carlo Pona at the International Tribunal on US/NATO war crimes. New
York 10th June 2000
During the criminal aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO used
armor-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium. This was officially
confirmed in a letter from NATO Secretary General George Robertson to
the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Anyway during the aggression there
has been an unofficial confirmation by Major General Chuck Wald, the US
Department of Defense spokesman during the press briefing on the 3rd May
1999.
Depleted Uranium (DU) is essentially a byproduct of the cycle of
production of nuclear fuel and of the weapon-grade enriched uranium used
to build nuclear bombs. It is also used to produce plutonium.
US have retained stockpiles of DU since the inception of its nuclear
weapon program in the 1940’s. Because of the costs associated with
storing such an extraordinary quantity of material, estimated to be
something like 700,000 tons as UF6 which constitutes a very heavy burden
for the US-Department of Energy, the employment of DU in ammunitions
became a viable method to reduce storage costs. DU is 1.7 times denser
than lead and when fired by guns its kinetic energy is sufficient to
penetrate tank armour or concrete. The problem is that DU is both
radioactive and toxic.
To dispose of it as a nuclear waste is extremely expensive and hence the
Dept. Of Energy itself is promoting its commercial use in many ways.
They say that other uses of DU (including weapons) is a “benefit for
humanity”.
DU is used in ammunitions, countewieghts, shieldings, and now commercial
concrete (DUCRETE). DU munitions include the following: 7.62 mm, 20 mm
(180 grams), 25 mm (200 grams), 30 mm (280 grams), 105 mm (3500 grams),
and 120 mm (4500 grams) penetrators and the ADAM and PDM cluster bombs.
DU is also present also in the Cruise Tomahawk III missiles.
DU emits alphs, beta, gamma and X-ray radiations and may present a
hazard both externally and/or internally. The external radiation hazard
would arise from the close proximity to DU and is made up mainly of
beta, gamma and X-ray radiation. Tha main external radiation hazard from
DU is from contact with bare skin. The current dose limit to the skin
will be exeeded if the skin remains in contact continously with DU for
more than 250 hours per year.
DU is dangerous as a weapon, but it is more dangerous after it has been
fired because it becomes a very thin powder which contaminates for ever
the environment. Upon impact, indeed, the DU core partially vaporizes
producing uranium oxide in particulates of between 0.5 and 5 microns in
size. The aerosol can spread over several hundred miles, depending on
weather conditions.
The main internal radiation hazard is from the inhalation of these
insoluble oxides. The alpha and beta radiation from the retained
material over a long period of time could cause damage to the lung
tissue. The inhalation of 80 mg of insoluble DU would result in the dose
limit to the whole body being exeeded.
Upon ingestion, the uranium oxides are mostly metabolized to the uranyl
ion (UO2++), and, if solubilized in the blood, up to 90% of it may be
excreted by the kidney in the urine. Excretion takes approximately 3
days if DU is solubilised. When uranium arrives to other organs such as
bones, for example, it may not be excreted for ever. A particular case,
very frequent following the use of DU as a weapon is the case of
embedded fragments in the muscle of victims close to the battlefield. In
this case a small particle of DU can cause high level of DU in the urine
even for the rest of the life.
One “hot particle” in the lungs is equivalent, for the nearest cells, to
an X-ray every hour of every day for the rest of one’s life. The uranium
oxides goes into the soil as well. DU’s high toxicity presents ever more
danger to human health in the short time after exposure: the kidneys are
the target organ.
DU in soil is incorporated in vegetables, which, together with the
ruminant’s meat and milk, can represent a way to contaminate humans via
the food chain.
The International Criminal Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia, last week said
that there is no worldwide agreement on its hazard, and that DU is not
forbidden as a weapon.
Maybe they forget, by others things, or they want to forget, that the
National Lead Industries in New York State, have been shut down during
the 1980’s because they released accidentally into the environment only
375 grams of DU, the same amount which is contained in only one round
fired in Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Of course the US government denies,
followed by ICTY which confirms, there is nothing harmful about depleted
uranium that would prevent its use in battle situation anywhere.
Numerous independent experts say depleted uranium is deadly and will
pollute endlessly those areas struck by the ammunitions. The Military
Toxic Project, a non-governmental organization that has been tracking
depleted uranium for years, has published an update. Dan Fahey, the
author, draws primarily on declasified government documents and public
statements, concluding with a sort of rough indictement of
irresponsability. During the Kosovo war, the Pentagon brought out a RAND
corporation think tank study to prove once again that DU is harmless.
Once more independent experts protested. As a consequence the WHO was
asked to investigate. A fact sheet on DU was announced as in the work,
and then it was cancelled.
An initial UN mission to Yugoslavia in May produced a report of serious
contamination by DU. The report’s sponsor, the UNEP’s director, Klaus
Toepfer, suppressed it, under pressure from Washington. the UNEP’s
Balkan Task Force produced a big study in October, but the section on DU
was dramatically reduced in the final version. The task force had tried
to involve the WHO, but the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not allow
it. Measurements were done using Geiger counters incapable of detectin
the particular alpha radiation and nothing was found. In the meantime,
in August, the WHO announced that a generic study of DU was under way.
Last March it become known that the study was under the responsability
of an electro-magnetic field expert who has delegated it to a British
geologist. Faced with the IAEA’s opposition to studying radiation and
health, the WHO has opted to study DU only as a heavy metal pollutant.
There is no surprire that under this situation, the ICTY would say that
there is no international agreement on the hazard from DU.
NATO admitted of having fired 31,000 of such rounds over a small area of
Kosovo. We know now that DU has been used as well outside Kosovo up to
Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Yugoslav Ministry for Development, Science
and Environment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in a comprehensive
report “Consequences of NATO Bombing on the Environment of FRY” has
stressed the use of DU even outside Kosovo in seven sites in Serbia and
one in Montenegro.
It is not the first time US/NATO used DU in the battlefield. It happened
already surely in Iraq (1991-the total amount ranging from 300 to 700
tons) and Bosnia (1995). US Army is almost routinely using DU on the
small island of Vieques, offshore Puerto Rico: in April 1999, the US
Navy accidentally fired hundreds of DU rounds. Similar events happened
in Japan, where Marines fired DU bullets on an uninhabited island,
prompting apologies from US defense officials and recently in South
Korea.
The Department of Defense itself published a lot of books and essays
regarding DU from which it justifies the concern about its use. They
admit DU is a chemical and radiological hazard.
DU is also one of the possible causes of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS), which is affecting thousands of US and British veterans, and for
the increase of genetic malformations among the newborn in South Iraq.
Many Iraqi pedriatic oncologists claim that childhood leukaemia has
risen 600% in the areas where DU was used. Stillbirths, births or
abortion of fetuses with monstrous abnormalities, and other cancers in
children born since 1991 have also been found. Also
UN itself in 1996 in the framework of the Subcommission on Preservation
of Minorities, “urged all States to curb the production and spread of
weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effects”, including
explicitly, among others, depleted uranium.
The recent NATO confirmation of DU use in Kosovo, complete with a map,
alarmed somehow the public opinion, exspecially in Italy, because the
most exposed area is right the area where there are the Italian KFOR’s
soldiers. One more at the press conference, the head of the BTF mission,
Pekka Haavisto declared that there is no reason for serious concern.
BUT: the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, the main coordinator of
aid to Kosovo, has quietly decided to refrain from sending pregnant
staff to Kosovo, to offer those assigned there the option of going
elsewhere and to put a note into the personnel files of those sent there
– to facilitate compensation claims for illnesses that might develop
from DU contamination.
The German and Dutch Governments, whose occupation zones coincide with
the areas hit, have ordered their soldiers not to eat anything outside
their post, especially not from the sorrounding countryside. Dutch
soldiers had to hand in all clothing and equipment, which was shipped
back to the Netherlands sealed in heavy-duty plastic. The government
claims asbestos contamination, but a Dutch military source points to DU,
noting that the vehicles, also sent back, ended up in a radiation
decontamination plant.
And, as far as Italy is concerned, there is the news that two Italian
soldiers sent to the Serbian part of Bosnia, bombed with DU ammunitions
by NATO in 1995, in the framework of the “peace force” SFOR, have died
of leukaemia. In this case there have been arguments because the time
enlapsed between exposure to DU and the death seems to be too short:
only a couple of years. An important Italian oncologist has said in a
popular TV documentary that in some cases it cannot be excluded a very
short time of occurrence for cancer.
In conclusion, we cannot have any doubt that using DU as a weapon is a
war crime and that DU must be banned for ever.
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
la tua agenda sul web - per te e per i tuoi amici
Organizza on line i tuoi appuntamenti .
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
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