[CPEO-MEF] Depleted Uranium in Rolling Stone

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Is The Pentagon Giving Our Soldiers Cancer?

by Hillary Johnson

Rolling Stone; October 2, 2003

U.S. military might relies on depleted uranium, which incinerates tanks
on impact. But soldiers and civilians alike say the radioactive ammo is
making them sick.


THE WEAPONS OF WAR ARE QUIETLY CHANGING. The U.S. military's deadliest
ammunition is
now packed with depleted uranium -- radioactive waste left over from
nuclear bombs and reactors. These so-called "hot rounds" penetrate
armored tanks like a needle pierces burlap, vaporizing steel in
hell-fires of 5,000 degrees Celsius. Unlike tungsten, the armor-piercing
metal used since World War II that "mushrooms" when it hits a target,
depleted uranium actually sharpens itself like a pencil as it bores into
tanks. Flaming radioactive particles shear off in every direction on
impact, igniting fuel tanks and whatever explosives the target might be
carrying. With virtually no public oversight, radioactive weapons have
replaced conventional weapons as the cornerstone of American military
might. Whenever U.S. troops go to war, depleted uranium supplies the
shock and awe.

...

for the entire story, see

http://feedthefish.org/blog/materials/johnson.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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