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THE WAR ON THE ENVIROMENT

While the U.S. military celebrates its success against Afghanastan in its "War on Terror" lets examine the long term effects of the ammunition used on the land and the people. These weapons include Tomahawk missles, 30mm rounds fired from the A-10 Thunderbolts, the GAU-8 Avenger and Apache helicopters. They fire these munitions made of a armour piercing metal known as Uranium 238 or Depleted Uanium DU.
While the U.S. military celebrates its success against Afghanastan in its "War on Terror" lets examine the long term effects of the ammunition used on the land and the people. These weapons include Tomahawk missles, 30mm rounds fired from the A-10 Thunderbolts, the GAU-8 Avenger and Apache helicopters. They fire these munitions made of a armour piercing metal known as Uranium 238 or Depleted Uanium DU.

Uranium is a low-level waste that must be disposed of in a licensed depository. DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years. DU exposure can occur in several ways; inhaled, ingested and wound contamination. DUs when fired upon tanks causes the warhead to vaporize into small particles that can be inhaled, is water soluble and once in the soil DU remains unless intentionally decontaminated. Once in the body DU can cause kidney problems, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromasomal damage, birth defects and a host of cancers including lung, bone and leukemia.

DU was first tested in the 60's and 70's and heralded because of its armour piercing and relatively low cost to manufacture. Prior to the Gulf War the surgeon general and the Dept of Defense published reports that had serious concerns about the use of these munitions because they are both radioactive and toxic.

Despite these reports DUs were used for the first time on the country of Iraq in 1991during the Gulf War. As the troops returned home with symptoms of DU exposure, the military refused to acknowledge a problem or even study the effects of this exposure. In 1995 DUs were used again. This time at a much lower level in Bosnia and then again in 1999 in Yugoslavia. It wasnt until 15 European peace keepers who served in the Balkans died of leukemia suddenly that the concerns came to the forefront. Behind these cases the British Navy stopped its use of DUs.

Over 300 tons of DUs were used against Iraq during the Gulf War. With the cost to decontaminate the areas where DUs were used and the US governments reluctance to to stop using the cheap and effective munition, it may be several years before the truth on this matter is addressed. In the mean time the poorest country in the world, who can least afford to deal with this problem especially considering the UN sanctions is being poisoned daily while the richest, strongest nation in the world declares war on terrorism. Not only have they declared war on terrorism, but they have declared war on the enviroment.
 
 

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