[ RadSafe ] DU Discussed in Chemical & Engineering News

[Roger Helbig]

>From a chemistry professor friend who asked that I send this on to RADSAFE.  The writer is one of the many who have become influenced by Rokke and friends .. he is not a rabid committed activist that I know .. I have never seen any other postings about DU by him.

Roger

----- Original Message ----- 

Pass this along to Radsafe.  It's from the 3-27-06 issue of Chemical and 
Engineering News.  I may try to send them something, but I am already embroiled in 
another issue of chemical interest.  Perhaps there are ACS members on Radsafe 
who did not see this:

Military use of depleted uranium

In his letter "Nuclear Fuel Retrieval," James Ingemanson states, "Our current 
policy utilizes a small portion of mined uranium and buries the remainder for 
eternity" (C&EN, Dec. 5, 2005, page 7). Reality is more complicated than 
that. Even though the United Nations Subcommission on the Promotion & Protection 
of Human Rights declared depleted uranium (DU) to be a weapon of mass 
destruction and against international law, our military continues to use DU (natural 
uranium after U-235 is removed) in its weapons, with predictable ghastly 
consequences, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the half-life of U-238 and the 
microscopic aerosols formed upon explosive impact of the DU-containing shells, it comes as no surprise that both civilian and military populations in these areas are 
being subjected to a frightening health hazard.

Since space does not permit appropriate coverage of this topic, I encourage 
readers to search "depleted uranium" on the Internet and to express their 
concern to your senators and representatives.

Frank De Haan
Sun Valley, Calif.