[CPEO-MEF] URANIUM, SEDIMENT: "The Navy's Use of Depleted Uranium in America's Coastal Waters Threatens Humans, Wildlife"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The Navy's Use of Depleted Uranium in America's Coastal Waters Threatens Humans, Wildlife

By Dahr Jamail 
Truthout 
November 7, 2016

Earlier this month, Truthout reported [3] that the U.S. Navy is knowingly introducing toxic metals and chemicals into the environment during its war game exercises.

Sheila Murray with the Navy Region Northwest's public affairs office, when asked what the Navy was doing to mitigate environmental contamination from the large numbers of Depleted Uranium (DU) rounds it left on the seabed off the Pacific Northwest Coast claimed current research "does not suggest short- or long-term effects" from the release of DU to the environment that could result in its uptake by marine organisms."

She also said that DU rounds "are extremely stable in sea water and pose no greater threat than any other metal."

In response to this, Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist and winner of the 2015 Rachel Carson Prize environmental award for her work on DU and heavy metal contamination, told Truthout, "The U.S. Navy representative's views exhibit an alarming level of amnesia."

She said this because Murray's statement has been one that has been recycled by the Navy for years. Reuters reported in January 2003 that the Navy confirmed its use of DU shells in arms tests off the Washington State coast, at which time the Navy claimed, "The DU rounds dissolve so slowly that they would not contribute to naturally occurring (radiation) levels ... and do not pose a significant risk."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.alternet.org/environment/navys-use-depleted-uranium-americas-coastal-waters-threatens-humans-wildlife

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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