[CPEO-MEF] DU and its effects

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Danger Dismissed: How the Pentagon downplays  the risks of depleted
uranium weapons

It Wins Wars -- But at What Cost?

Chapter 3: The Silver Bullet. 

The fight over depleted uranium weapons isn't about how well they work.
It's about how safe they are when the fighting is finished.

BY BOB EVANS  
Hampton Roads Daily Press (VA)
December 13 2004

The United States began developing depleted uranium weapons in the
1950s. But the first one wasn't fired in combat until the 1991 Persian
Gulf War.

It didn't take long for the weapons to show that the wait was worth it.

Soldiers on the battlefield were so impressed, they quickly began
calling depleted uranium "The Silver Bullet," in recognition of its
seemingly magical capabilities and exterior metallic color. They also
began calling it "DU."

Although the U.S. tank gunners firing the weapons had never used them
before - even in training - they were immediately able to hit and
destroy heavy Soviet-made Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles from two
miles away, military officials crowed in congressional hearings afterward.

...

This battlefield benefit might be in danger, though. A growing number of
medical researchers are finding evidence that the residue of depleted
uranium weapons might be deadly to our own troops.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du3,0,4750505.story?coll=dp-breaking-news 

-- 


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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