[ RadSafe ] On-Line Posting to Senator Rosa Franklin, Washington State Senate

[Roger Helbig]

Bob,

I principally see "exposure to depleted uranium" as a trumped up cause because DU is not swirling around in clouds in Iraq and Afghanistan nor wafted high in the atmosphere as asserted by Busby.  If you deliberately misrepresent the characteristics of the material in order to get political action, then the action itself is suspect.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been extensively querying veterans about DU exposure and has carefully monitored those veterans from the Gulf War who still have fragments of DU embedded in their bodies.  Truly exposed veterans are being treated.  Veterans like Douglas Rokke never were actually exposed in the manner claimed and I strongly suspect neither were Gerard Matthew of the NY National Guard who was sent to the quack Asaf Durakovic who is probably measuring naturally occurring uranium found in every one of us nor Melissa of Connecticut (I can't readily recall her name .. I have Matthew's military records).

The issue, thus, is not proper treatment of soldiers and civilians exposed to DU in the course of war, but one of pure politics aimed at smearing the United States in the worst vein possible.  I do not support that even though I also do not support the current Administration.  I think that Depleted Uranium would be a non-issue if it were solely evaluated on technical criteria without shrill rhetoric pushing the politicians.

Roger 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Wilsons" <pnwnatives at gmail.com>
To: "Roger Helbig" <rhelbig at california.com>
Cc: "radsafelist" <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2006 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] On-Line Posting to Senator Rosa Franklin, Washington State Senate


Roger

Putting all the anti-war rhetoric aside, and sticking with the facts, I 
believe what I consider harm and the learned scientific community appear 
to view as harm, is different.  I happen to think that if there is a 
change however slight to the human anatomy, then there is harm.  Some 
harm is detectable and some is not.  There seems to be a great deal said 
about denial of any affects from exposure to depleted uranium, but very 
little about why that is.  Exposure to depleted uranium, smoke from the 
expended artillery shells, bad food, and an endless number of other 
things have effects.  The greater the exposure, the greater the effect.  
There is a point in which the effect is great enough that it is actually 
detectable.  That point is not necessarily the same as the point in 
which cancer or death occurs.  It can be a point in which it causes 
interference with other bodily functions and reduces the quality of 
those functions, such as impeding the healing of an open wound. The fact 
of the matter is that there is a lower threshold  at which the effect 
measurable. There is a threshold at which the certainty of death is a 
certainty, and a range in between.  I believe that hard medical evidence 
should be used to make decisions.  Unfortunately as you say the measure 
seems to be on cancer, birth defects, death, sterility etc.  These are 
pretty severe impacts on a person, or possibly their off spring. That 
does not seem like a reasonable gage by which to go by, but I am unaware 
of any lessor gage that seems to be used.  

I simply would like to see the exposure to depleted uranium treated like 
any other medical condition that, when a person receives medical 
attention they benefit from it and they receive it when it is 
warranted.  That to me is a medical decision.

Bob


Roger Helbig wrote:
> Bob,
>
> I still don't see why you as a retired nuclear worker are siding with the scientific know nothings.  You have a legislative report with a flat out lie in it.  Does that not concern you?  Do you want legislation in this area dominated by people with a warped agenda who butcher the scientific facts?  There is more than adequate research to show that no one has been harmed by depleted uranium beyond the wounds created when individual soldiers were hit by DU fragments.  None of those soldiers with DU in their bodies has developed cancer or fathered children with birth defects.  The whole anti-DU crusade is a myth which has only gained steam because it has appealed to scientific know-nothing peace activists and because people believe that if Abu Ghraib happened that the US could in fact sow Iraq and Afghanistan with radioactive materials as part of its war strategy.  This is pure nonsense and you know it.  You know that use of DU is not a form of genocide.  You know that the cannon cocker on the tank who fired the DU round at an Iraqi tank did not commit a war crime.  You know that there is no international treaty banning the use of DU, that DU is not a weapon of mass destruction, and that it is not considered a chemical weapon.
>
>   
>