[ RadSafe ] False and Misleading Information about Depleted Uranium

[roger helbig]

To the Editor of the Fiji Post

You have the following posted on line -- It is false and
misleading

Depleted Uranium:

Depleted uranium is a heavy metal used on American and
other weaponry since the first Gulf War. Depleted uranium
gives weaponry a harder surface and improved penetration.
It is radioactive, and the radioactivity has a half-life of
4.5 billion years. 325 tonnes of depleted uranium were
dropped in the First Gulf War. -- this may be reasonably
accurate

800 to 1000 tons were dropped in the Afghanistan bombing,

this is false - there is no DU in any bomb, so it is
impossible to have dropped 800 to 1000 tons in bombing
Afghanistan 

and between 1000 and 2000 tonnes were dropped in the
invasion of Iraq. 

DU was used, but again, it was not dropped.  DU kinetic
energy penetrators are fired out of cannons - tank cannons
and aircraft cannon on two aircraft - the A-10 Warthog tank
killer and the Marine Corps AV-8 Harrier Jump Jet - the
A-10 fires about 600 rounds per minute, but based on the
extensive research of the UN Environmental Programme in
Boznia-Herzegovina, most of these are still intact inside
their aluminum shrouds so nowhere near this amount of
actual uranium hit an armored target and disintegrated.

There is controversy about the health effects of depleted
uranium. But the scientific evidence is growing that the
impacts can be devastating and can alter genetic
structures.

The scientific evidence is showing that the "controversy"
was started by Saddam Hussein's propaganda machine and
carried on by supposedly well meaning, but scientifically
ignorant people like your writer who repeat myths and
misleading statements and make them fact.  No amount of
retelling, however, can change a lie to fact.

Of the 700,000 American soldiers deployed in the first Gulf
War, 240,000 of them are now on permanent disability, many
suffering from the mysterious “Gulf War Syndrome”. 

The Gulf War Syndrome has been found to have nothing to do
with depleted uranium.  There also are varying degrees of
disability and I am quite sure that there are not 240,000
100% disabled soldiers from the Gulf War

It is said that 378 American soldiers died in the Gulf War.
But 11,000 veterans of that war have died since the war
ended. 

This is drawn from an article by a pretend journalist Bob
Nichols.  As of 1997, 4,312 male and 194 female
servicemembers who served in the Gulf War had died of all
causes.  This includes automobile accidents and old age,
and no, not all Gulf War service members were young since
thousands of reservists were recalled and served.

These are soldiers who were young and in good health at the
beginning of the war. 

(this is misleading -- see above)

There is an alarming rate of birth defects of children of
Gulf War veterans. 

This is not true.  There has been no higher rate of birth
defects in veterans of the Gulf War than in the surrounding
populace.

In a small US government study, 67 per cent of children
born of Gulf War vets had serious illnesses or birth
defects; uranium was found in the fathers’ semen which then
was transmitted to the mothers of their babies.

This is completely false.  There is no evidence of uranium
in father's semen.  Uranium does not congregate in semen.

There is some evidence that Saddam Hussein used some
chemical weapons in that war, and that usage may play a
role in the Gulf War Syndrome. Further, there is no firm
evidence of a link between depleted uranium and the Gulf
War Syndrome. 

But the scientific evidence is moving strongly in that
direction.

This is unequivocably false.  Scientific evidence has shown
that there is NO connection between depleted uranium and
the symptoms collectively referred to as the Gulf War
Syndrome.

It is noteworthy that parallel symptoms and birth defects
are found in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq—the places
where depleted uranium has been used. 

This is false.  The UN Environmental Programme did
extensive testing in Boznia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and
found no such evidence.  DU was not even used in
Afghanistan and the entire claim of birth defects is based
on the writings of Mohammed Daud Miraki, an Afghan
con-artist who lives in Chicago.  Some of his claimed DU
birth defect photos have been proven to be of Harlequin
Icthyosis, an extremely rare, generally fatal, genetic skin
disease.

In each of these places, as with the American veterans, the
birth defects now happening rival the birth defects that
have been occurring in Chernobyl since its tragic radiation
leak.

The most common birth defect resulting from Chernobyl was a
higher rate of abortion because the mothers feared
propaganda like this.

I would really like to see my comments posted and your
publication more carefully fact check future submissions on
this subject.  I would also appreciate your sending these
comments to the writer.

GOUDZWAARD - Paths to Hope in Troubled Times
2-Sep-2008

BOB GOUDZWAARD, a former member of the Dutch Parliament, is
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Social Philosophy at
the Free University of Amsterdam. Both within and outside
of his extensive political career, Goudzwaard has been
deeply involved in international development issues. He is
past chair of the Dutch Royal Society for Political
Economics and former co-President of the European
Ecumenical Commission, operating in Brussels. Most recently
he chaired a two-year consultation between the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World
Council of Churches. Goudzwaard has authored numerous books
and is a frequent public speaker in North America. He
serves as a consultant to the Center for Public Justice in
Washington D.C. and Citizens for Public Justice in Toronto,
and as an Associate of the Institute for Christian Studies,
Toronto.

http://fijidailypost.com/opinion.php?date=20080902

Sincerely,

Roger W Helbig

For factual information about uranium, radiation, etc.
including the UNEP report from Boznia-Herzegovina go to 
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DUStory/ and read
Message 76 which has links to these reports