Depleted uranium: the ongoing danger in
Kosovo
By KATHRYN CASA
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
Ethnic Albanians may be returning to a homeland poisoned by
radioactivity from weapons NATO says it fired in the refugees
defense.
Observers estimate the U.S. military used weapons containing tons
of depleted uranium in the NATO bombing campaign aimed at ousting Serbian
forces from Kosovo. And as cleanup and rebuilding efforts get underway in the
war-ravaged areas of Yugoslavia, the risk of contamination is renewed.
On April 21, a NATO spokesman confirmed to a Japanese newspaper
that DU weapons were being used in Yugoslavia. The principal delivery system
was the U.S. militarys A-10 Warthog attack aircraft, which fires 300
rounds per minute. One out of every four rounds contains 275 grams (nearly
two-thirds of a pound) of DU.
At that rate, the use of Warthogs with DU shells threatens
to make a nuclear wasteland of Kosovo, Sara Flounders of the
International Action Center in New York said in a statement in April. The
Pentagon is laying waste to the very people -- along with their children --
they claim to be saving.
Depleted uranium -- DU -- the cheap, plentiful toxic by-product of
the uranium enrichment process, is used to strengthen and protect tanks such as
the M-1 main battle tank. It is also used in munitions including those fired by
the AV-8 Harrier and the A-10 Warthog. The tank, the Harrier and the Warthog
were deployed by the United States in the Yugoslav theater. Indeed, in their
battlefield debut in the Gulf War, DU weapons proved highly effective: More
than 1,000 Iraqi tanks and other vehicles were destroyed by DU rounds, some
fired from as far as two miles away or through sand berms. Friendly fire
incidents involving M1A1 tanks proved that DU rounds could pierce depleted
uranium armor (NCR, Aug. 25, 1995).
But while DU might be a soldiers dream on the battlefield,
it can become a nightmare during the postwar cleanup and rebuilding period.
When DU ignites, it is transformed into a fine spray containing toxic
heavy-metal elements and radioactive particles that are potential carcinogens
if inhaled or ingested by humans, according to scientific studies.
Although the Pentagon claims DU does not pose a health risk to its
troops, a sub-commission of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 1996 adopted
a resolution classifying DU munitions as weapons of mass destruction and
indiscriminate effect and urged all member states to curb their
production and proliferation.
Now its conventional
What Boylan calls the offspring of nuclear weapons is
now considered conventional weaponry. Its a fundamental part of our
arsenal now, Boylan, a Gulf War veteran, told NCR in a phone
interview in late June. Theyve developed it as a munition for
almost all systems. ... Its a conventional weapon of mass
destruction.
Neither the Pentagon nor NATO will specify how many rounds of DU
weapons were fired in Yugoslavia or where they were fired, but military
analysts say theres no question DU was used. Its standard
issue, Chris Hellman, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information,
a Washington-based group that monitors Pentagon policy and planning, told the
Boston Phoenix newspaper last spring. If the A-10s are used, DU
will be used.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Campbell in a July 6 interview
said, We dont have the number of rounds, but I was told the use of
it was limited. There are no plans right now to clean up the effects of DU in
Yugoslavia. We dont feel it poses significant health risks.
Observers fear ordnance used to destroy bridges over the Danube
and other rivers in Serbia and Kosovo contained DU, heightening concerns that
the substance has infiltrated major European waterways. In June, the Regional
Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization, reported that the Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade had
surveyed the remnants of exploded bombs and claims to have established
the presence of uranium.
When armaments with depleted uranium are used, they produce
uranium oxides ... as well as the gases radium and radon, among others. Oxide
particles are from 0.5 to 5 microns in size and can be carried by the wind over
several hundred kilometers. Depending on the wind direction, these particles
can be spread to neighboring countries, the report states.
Air samples taken in Macedonia in April by Bulgarias
National Institute for Health Protection revealed background levels of
radioactivity eight times higher than usual, the report went on. While noting
that the increased level is still within the maximum allowed concentration, the
agency said the situation needed to be continually monitored.
As cleanup and rebuilding efforts get underway in Kosovo and
Serbia, the risk increases of further disturbing DU particles, renewing grave
health dangers not only for the Kosovar refugees, but anyone within range of
airborne DU particles, including other civilians, NATO soldiers, humanitarian
aid workers and journalists.
I see pictures of people going back there, Boylan said
of Kosovo, and I think, Oh, no.
Depleted uranium, or U-238, is produced when uranium is enriched
for use in atomic bombs and nuclear fuel. Consequently, there is tons of the
stuff around, and its much cheaper than alternatives such as tungsten.
Because it is extremely dense -- 1.7 times as dense as lead -- it has been used
in munitions ranging from 150 millimeter special artillery rounds down to 7.62
millimeter and .50 caliber rounds. Theyve got it down for bullets
now, said one observer. In combat vehicles like the M1A1 Abrams tank,
its used as protective plating. It also is used as ballast in cruise
missiles.
Some 15 countries are known to possess weapons systems that
contain depleted uranium, but only the United States and Britain say they have
used them, and only the United States is known to have used them in
Yugoslavia.
Depleted uranium is a misnomer, according to Doug Rokke, a
physicist who in 1991 headed a DU cleanup team in Saudi Arabia and in 1994
cowrote DU education and training materials for the military. Calling it
depleted uranium makes it sound like theres no hazard,
Rokke said in an interview. The word depleted gives the
connotation of no problem.
When a shell tipped with DU hits its target, the DU burns,
releasing uranium oxide into the air. Minute particles smaller than 5
micrometers are considered dangerous from even 50 meters, and can be inhaled
into the body, where they will release radiation during the life of the person
who inhaled them, according to John Catalinotto, editor of the 1997 book
Metal of Dishonor.
In pregnant rats it was found to accumulate in the placenta and
fetus, and resulted in decreased litter size. The 1996 study concludes that
strong evidence exists to support detailed study of DU
carcinogenicity. Depending on the human dosage received, Rokke said,
inhaled particulates can cause lung damage. DU that has been ingested settles
in the bones, thyroid and kidneys, he said.
Military protocols recommended in 1991 that a soldier exposed to
DU undergo testing within 24 hours of exposure. If testing is not done in 30
days, Rokke continued, the only evidence of DU will be what remains mobile in
the body. But by that time, studies have shown, a substantial amount of DU has
lodged itself, or gone into residence, elsewhere in the body. Yet
few Gulf War veterans have been tested for DU, and only in June -- some nine
years after exposure -- did the Defense Department announce that it would
conduct an internal study of 22 of the more than 100 soldiers known to have
embedded DU fragments as a result of friendly fire during Operation Desert
Storm.
Dont test, dons tell
Rokke, who since the Gulf War has been plagued by kidney problems
after his own level of uranium measured 5,000 times that considered
permissible, said of the militarys approach to the issue: If we
test them we might find problems. If we find problems and verification of
exposure, were liable. Its clear as a bell.
The training procedures Rokke helped develop in 1994, including
four videotapes and three tiers of educational training for soldiers, still
have not been put into place.
A June 1995 U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute technical
report, Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium
Use, states: When DU is indicted as a causative agent for Desert
Storm illness, the Army must have sufficient data to separate fiction from
reality. Without forethought and data, the financial implications for long-term
disability payments and health care costs would be excessive.
National Catholic Reporter, July 16,
1999
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