------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 17 May 1999 12:03:54 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Dr. Rosalie Bertell on Canada's role in producing depleted
uranium weapons
"CANADIAN URANIUM IS BASICALLY PROVIDING THE
MATERIAL FOR THESE WEAPONS. And I really would ask
you to make this an issue in the front / centre and STOP IT NOW
AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN !!
-- Dr. Rosalie Bertell
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.interlog.com/~nealm/index.htm
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT -[prepared by Janet M. Eaton] of remarks
by: DR. ROSALIE BERTELL speaking on DEPLETED
URANIUM [DU] WEAPONS and CANADA'S central ROLE in
the PRODUCTION of these weapons.
Dr. Bertell was one of nine prominent Canadians speaking at: An
Unjust and Illegal WAR: Leading opponents of the War against
Yugoslavia speak out: A public meeting held at Convocation Hall
at the University of Toronto May 6 1999.
Dr. Rosalie Bertell is one of the world's leading authorities on
health effects of low level radiation. For a decade she worked for
the US National Cancer Institute and for 30 years has been in the
forefront of research on the effects of low level radiation on human
health. In 1984 she founded the International Institute of Concern
for Public Health in Toronto.
For further background on Dr. Bertell see : "Dr. Rosalie Bertell - A
Great Humanitarian & Scientist" http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11275
All the best, Janet M. Eaton, PhD
================================================
Audio Transcript:
I'd like to talk about a little known factor in this war and that is the
kind of ammunition which is being used. It's called Depleted
Uranium [DU] but don't let that fool you - it doesn't mean it's
harmless. Depleted Uranium is basically radioactive waste. It's the
waste from uranium enrichment. When the uranium is taken out of
the ground most of it is Uranium 238 but they like the fissioning of
235 which is less than 1 percent of the whole - so when they do
uranium enrichment they basically try to increase the proportion of
the uranium 235 that fissions and the rest of the uranium, and a lot
of it, is considered waste.
For a long time in 70's there was an effort to declare this waste -
scrap metal and use it in our refrigerators and stoves and bicycles
and automobiles and many of us were out there protesting this and
we actually won and they stopped talking about that but very
quietly on the side they gave this uranium free of charge to
weapons manufacturers.
And what they discovered was its more dense than lead which
means it so goes through a tank or an armored car, or a bullet proof
vest. It's what's called auto pyrophoric which means it can burst
into flame and when it does it becomes an aerosol and also - you
know how when you make pottery if you put in a kiln and fire it
you get a glass - well that's what happens to uranium when you
ignite it in battle.
This was actually used for the first time by the Russians in
Afghanistan but on a very small scale. The first time used on a very
large scale was in Iraq in Gulf War and it was used extensively by
the US and the UK. According to the Pentagon 400,000 American
veterans were exposed to this depleted uranium aerosol in the Gulf
War. About 200,000 of these men and women have sought medical
care since the war and about 115,000 have been diagnosed as
having Gulf War Syndrome. Now one would think in the United
States of America given this new weapon and this massive exposure
and these sick veterans that they would have tested the veterans for
Depleted Uranium.
I was in Washington DC 10 days ago and I found that not one
American veteran had been tested for Depleted Uranium in the 9
years since Iraq war. We actually have tested some of the veterans
here in Canada and we have found Depleted Uranium in their urine
at quite a high level and remember this is 9 years after their
exposure which means that the amount that they are now excreting
is nothing compared to what the original dose was.
There has been quite a dispute, which some of you may know, since
the war is on in Kosovo whether or not Depleted Uranium
ammunition was being used. In a sense this adds to the problem but
you should know that every Cruise missile contains Depleted
Uranium ballast and when that missile impacts that ballast is again
aerosolized into very small particles of uranium glass that can be
breathed in and it will stay in body 10 years or more and it keeps
irradiating the tissue around it wherever it is in the body!!
Canada has been an international leader against land mines but this
depleted uranium is worse than land mines and it will stay around
for thousands of years after the war is over. It is incorporated into
the farm land; it can be picked up by the vegetables; the schrapnel
can be handled by children ; it stays around ; it doesn't disappear;
and because it's an aerosol it can travel as much as 50 - 60 km from
the point of release.
THIS IS CHEMCIAL AND RADIOLOGICAL WARFARE - IT'S
OUTRAGEOUS - IT'S A VERY SERIOUS VIOLATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS!!
I think this talk about chemical warfare in Iraq and violation of
Human Rights in Serbia is outrageous - because if anyone is waging
chemical and radiological warfare and violating human rights it's
NATO !!
In 1996 this issue was brought before the Human Rights Tribunal in
Geneva and the Tribunal condemned it as warfare. They actually
called Depleted Uranium a weapon of mass destruction. I think it
might be better called a weapon of indiscriminate destruction but
they didn't really have a term for it. I say indescriminate because it
will by choice affect women and children. Women have tisses that
are more radioactively sensitive like the breast and uterine tissue.
Children are closer to the ground; they're growing; they'll
incorporate more uranium into their bones when they grow and
they also have a longer life span so that the cancers that have a
longer latency can be expressed. So it selects out women and
children
Anyway it was condemned by United Nations Human Rights
Commission and they have appointed a rapporteur to prepare a
brief for the United Nations. It's not completed yet.
The World Health Organization has sent a team into Iraq to look at
the aftermath of war but they just went in last fall and they expect
to spend two years in study.
So I think you can see that the forces for good here are slow
compared to the extent at which this is being used and the rapidity
with which it is being used not only in Iraq but Bosnia and Kosovo .
So I would call this to your attention- and I would ask you to make
this known.
It's largely Canadian uranium that's being used!!
Canada has a policy that its uranium cannot be used in Nuclear
Bombs!
That policy does not extend to these DU weapons. So you really
have to complain loudly about this !
Canada also sends its uranium down to Paducah, Kentucky to be
enriched and it does not ask for the return of the waste. If that
waste stays in US for 30 days by US law it becomes US uranium.
SO CANADIAN URANIUM IS BASICALLY PROVIDING THE
MATERIAL FOR THESE WEAPONS.
And I really would ask you to make this an issue in the front /
centre and STOP IT NOW AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN !!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
RADIO COGNITO - CIUT 89.5 FM
http://www.interlog.com/~nealm/index.htm
REAL AUDIO PROGRAMS
An Unjust and Illegal WAR: public meeting held at Convocation
Hall at the University of Toronto May 6 1999. Leading opponents
of the War against Yugoslavia speak out:
Ad-Hoc Committee to Stop Canada's Participation in the War on
Yugoslavia [EMAIL PROTECTED] 416-922-STOP
[PEN-L:6940] (Fwd) Dr. Rosalie Bertell on Canada's role in producing deplet
ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224] Mon, 17 May 1999 20:33:54 -0500
