International Conference against DU (incl. Bertell, Hooper & Busby)

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

How's this for a nice, unbiased conference & media report ?!

Veterans misled about depleted uranium poisoning, say experts 
WebPosted Tue Nov 14 08:32:42 2000 
MANCHESTER, U.K. - Canada's veterans who think they were poisoned in the
1991 Gulf War and in the Balkans can't trust the government when it says
they're fine, said scientists at an international conference last week. 
Many veterans think they are being made sick by their exposure to depleted
uranium, a nuclear waste product used in some weapons used by NATO
countries. 
The Department of National Defence says tests it performed show no
contamination. 
But when CBC showed the test results to scientists at the International
Conference against Depleted Uranium in Manchester, U.K., they all said the
testing was inaccurate, and the results are useless. 
"They've not looked with the right instrumentation," said Dr. Malcolm
Hooper, an adviser to Britain's Gulf War veterans. "They've not reported
accurately their own results and they've used the wrong paradigm to
interpret the data." 
All of which is to say that the tests done on 85 urine samples - which DND
says show the soldiers had less uranium in their systems than people in the
general population have - are wrong from start to conclusion. 
The labs doing the testing weren't properly equipped to detect depleted
uranium at all, said Hooper. Whole uranium occurs in the body naturally, and
is easier to detect than depleted uranium. 
"They're incompetent tests," said Rosalie Bell, a Canadian epidemiologist.
"Our military men deserve better than that." 
Dr. Chris Busby, another epidemiologist from Wales, says the tests and their
conclusions are being "economical with the truth." 
But that doesn't surprise Hooper, who says many governments are hoping to
avoid the costs of providing compensation packages to people poisoned by
depleted uranium. 


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