[ RadSafe ] Google Alert - depleted uranium

[Maury Siskel]

Hi Roger, I sent the following ltr to the editor of the Suislaw News:
________
Dear Editor,
Re: Working for peace; Posted: Friday, Dec 12th, 2008. The efforts being 
made by Florence resident, Carrie Nicholson, are really great. Such 
personal committments are the stuff from which improved international 
understandings can be made. I hope that she will learn more, however, 
about depleted uranium (DU) munitions. This kind of ammunition is not a 
coating applied to bombs or bullets -- DU is the complete munition used 
with great effectiveness against tanks and other armored military 
vehicles. The radioactivity of these projectiles is so low as to pose no 
health hazard on battlefields; inhalation of remanents from the impact 
of such a projectile hitting a tank can be toxic. However, the real 
concern of a tank crew hit by such a projectile is that such a hit is 
fatal and will involve no concern with inhaled dust. These munitions do 
not explode in the usual sense; they are extremely heavy rods which melt 
the tank armor allowing penetration to destroy the interior of the tank 
and its occupants. Many governments and anti-war groups exaggerate the 
effects of DU as a means of attracting operating money -- DU is not a 
source of deformed births or other weird imaginary radioactive monsters. 
Similarly, there are no DU bombs. DU is employed solely as projectiles 
fired at tanks. Carrie Nicholson can find a wealth of correct 
information about DU munitions without the bogus emotional claims of 
health impacts that simply are not correct. I'd be pleased to furnish 
online references that would be helpful to her and to other readers of 
the Siuslaw News.
Sincerely,
Dureader
_____________

I wish folks better qualified than I am would respond to such items and 
hope what I've said is not too far off base. It would be neat if some 
professional HP would write a note to Carrie Nicholson with a couple 
good links to info on DU. All that can be done is to continue exerting 
some pressure opposing the misinformation -- I'm sure she has access to 
good stuff -- it all comes down to beliefs and once formed those are 
very hard to change.
Best,
Maury&Dog  (Maury Siskel  maurysis at peoplepc.com)
=========================
Roger Helbig wrote:

>Here is a story about an innocent young woman corrupted by watching "Invisible War" and meeting "D'Amacio Lopez" of IDUST at a Friends Meeting House in Costa Rica - no wonder they get 121 votes in the UN First Committee or so they say - they stoop at nothing to spread their anti-DU propaganda lies all over the world - who pays for this?
>
>Story
><http://www.thesiuslawnews.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=1802&
>page=72>  By Ryan Cronk Siuslaw News
>Siuslaw News - Florence,OR,USA
>The use of depleted uranium weapons is not a topic normally brought up in
>everyday conversations, but when Carrie Nicholson first learned about it,
>...
>
>
>  
>