[Peace-discuss] dirty bombs

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

I find it astonishing that although United States and British military forces 
have willfully used uranium munitions spreading well over 400 tons of 
radioactive uranium, plutonium, neptunium, and americium throughout the 
United States, the Mideast, Europe, and Asia while ignoring all requests for 
medical care and clean up of environmental contamination that our current 
government officials have arrested and are detaining an individual who 
reportedly planned but has not actually used a dirty bomb consisting of 
explosives and radioactive materials.  There is something seriously wrong 
when those who have already willfully used "dirty bombs" or actually  
radioactive munitions are nit held accountable for their actions while one 
individual who has planned the use is held accountable.   A copy of my 
invited talk to delegates at the United Nations / UNESCO conference in 
Athens, Greece last year is included.   

dr. doug rokke

THE SCOURGE OF DEPLETED URANIUM
Dr. Doug Rokke, Ph.D.

presented during
"The Child: A Victim of War and a Messenger of Peace"
United Nations - UNESCO  International conference
May 24-25, 2001
Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT: Depleted uranium munitions have been used in combat because they 
are extremely effective. However, in winning these battles we have 
contaminated air, water, and soil. Consequently, children, women, and men 
have inhaled, ingested, or got wounds contaminated with uranium.  Uranium is 
a heavy metal and radioactive poison. In this paper Dr. Rokke, who was the 
health physicist originally tasked by the United States Army to clean up the 
DU mess, will discuss: What is du? How is DU used by the military? Where and 
when has du been used? What did we find immediately after Operation Desert 
Storm friendly fire and combat incidents?  How did the Depleted Uranium 
Project get started and what were it's objectives? What adverse health 
effects have been observed, recognized, treated, and documented? Based on all 
previous research and the Depleted Uranium Project what were the 
recommendations? What has occurred? What should happen next?  IN SUMMARY:  
MEDICAL CARE MUST BE PROVIDED TO ALL DU CASUALTIES. ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION 
MUST BE COMPLETED. DU MUNITIONS MUST BE BANNED.

RECENT EVENTS.

Medical evidence and especially the birth defects in children born to parents 
in areas with DU contamination is an issue of growing concern.  Depleted 
uranium (uranium 238) along with other contaminates of war have been 
implicated. Today, 10 years after the Gulf War, warriors and non-combatants 
are exhibiting serious adverse health effects from exposure to depleted 
uranium munitions contamination, Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, and 
released industrial chemicals.   While health effects are linked to complex 
exposures I would like to focus on Depleted Uranium or DU.  Today, United 
States, British, Canadian, and NATO officials continue to state specifically 
that there are no known adverse health effects in those of us in the U.S. 
Department of Veterans Affairs Depleted Uranium Medical project.  That is a 
lie as proven by our own medical records based on diagnosis of medical 
problems completed by our personal primary care physicians.   A press report 
from January 10, 2001 reported that  'Defense Secretary William Cohen stated 
that DU was no more dangerous than "leaded paint," and a U.S. Army briefer 
assured reporters "it was safe enough to eat".   I do not know of any 
physician that would insinuate that either lead paint or uranium is safe to 
eat. The children of the world have been poisoned by lead and now depleted 
uranium. While government officials continue to deny any relationship between 
uranium exposures and adverse health effects, uranium miners and casualties 
of war who were exposed to uranium contamination are exhibiting the same 
adverse health effects.  Although, the "Radiation Exposure and Compensation 
Act 0f 1990" was suppose to provide compensation payments to these Americans, 
a report on the front page of the March 27, 2001 New York Times described how 
these individuals were sick and waiting for payments because of inadequate 
budgetary allocations.  I find it very disturbing that while one portion of 
the U.S. government recognizes the serious adverse health effects of uranium 
exposure, U.S Department of Defense officials refuse to recognize the same 
health effects from exposures caused by wartime use of uranium munitions.   
Officials of the World health Organization released their anticipated report 
during April 2001.  While this report made specific recommendations, the 
authors of this report just as with other governmental agencies reports, did 
not consult with those of us who actually cleaned up the DU mess following 
ODS and completed the research as part of the Depleted uranium project.  I 
also find it astonishing that once more the authors of a report have ignored 
the facts that although medical care for all exposed individuals has been 
required since the war and environmental remediation had been also 
recommended or required that neither have been completed.   The WHO DU report 
also did not contact any of us who are confirmed DU casualties nor speak to 
our physicians about observed and diagnosed health effects of uranium (DU) 
exposures.   Once more the Los Alamos memorandum (March 1991) directives 
written by LTC M. Ziehmn, USMC, are fulfilled.    

WHAT IS DU?

    Depleted uranium (DU) which is 99.8% by mass U-238 is made from uranium 
hexaflouride, the byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. Recent 
documents released by the U.S. Department of Energy state that a small 
proportion of other toxic heavy metals such as plutonium also are present.  
Although the 60 % of the ionizing radiation given off by gamma emissions from 
U-235 and U-234 was eliminated during the enrichment process, alpha particles 
at 4.2 Mev and 4.15 Mev that cause significant internal ionization with 
consequent cellular damage were proportionally increased.  The continuing 
incomplete statement that DU is 60% less radioactive than natural uranium 
simply ignores the serious internal damage caused by alpha emissions!    In 
addition daughter products emit beta particles and gamma rays that may cause 
further radiological damage. While DU may not be an external hazard it is a 
very serious internal hazard.  Consequent inhalation, ingestion, and wound 
contamination pose significant and unacceptable risks.  Also spent 
penetrators or fragments emit beta particles at 300 mrem/ hour and thus can 
not be touched or picked up without protection. 

HOW IS DU USED BY THE MILITARY?

    DU is used to manufacture kinetic energy penetrators- giant pencils or 
rods.  Each kinetic penetrator consists of almost entirely uranium 238.   The 
United States munitions industry produces the following DU munitions with the 
corresponding mass of uranium 238:
7.62 mm with unspecified mass
50 cal.  With unspecified mass 
20 mm with a mass of approximately 180 grams.
25 mm with a mass of approximately 200 grams.
30 mm with a mass of approximately 280 grams. 
105 mm with a mass of approximately 3500 grams.
120 mm with a mass of approximately 4500 grams.
Submunitions / land mines such as the PDM and ADAM whose structural body 
contain a small proportion of DU. 
    Many other countries now produce or have acquired DU munitions.  DU is 
also used as armor, counter weights, radiation shielding, and as proposed by 
the U.S. Department of Energy as a component of road and structural 
materials.  All of these uses are designed to reduce the huge U.S. Department 
of Energy stockpiles left over from the uranium enrichment process.
    It is important to realize that DU penetrators are solid uranium 238. 
THEY ARE NOT TIPPED OR COATED!!!!    During an impact at least  40 % of the 
penetrator forms uranium oxides or fragments which are left on the terrain, 
within or on impacted equipment, or within impacted structures. The remainder 
of the penetrator retains its initial shape. Thus we are left with a solid 
piece of uranium lying someplace which can be picked up by children.  DU also 
ignites in the air during flight and upon impact.  The resulting shower of 
burning DU and DU fragments causes secondary explosions, fires, injury, and 
death.   Simply: Who would want thousands of solid uranium pencils of masses 
between 180 and 4500 grams lying in your backyard? Who would want any uranium 
contamination of any type lying in your backyard?   

WHERE AND WHEN HAS DU BEEN USED?

    Photographic evidence of destroyed equipment and reports suggest that DU 
was used for the first time during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Physicians 
using medical laboratory tests have verified an internalized DU exposure in 
the individual who inspected that destroyed equipment.  The Persian Gulf War 
was the first significant use of DU in combat.  Pilots flying aircraft fired 
at least 850,950 rounds and another 9,640 rounds were fired by tank gunners 
for a total weight of 631,055 pounds or over 315 tons.  Recent conversations 
with the individual who managed all DU rounds suggest that this figure may be 
to low and that the actual quantity should be 25% greater or about 390 tons.  
Although warnings were issued to refrain from DU use the U.S. Marines fired 
DU munitions on three separate occasions during 1995 and 1996 while 
conducting operations in Okinawa and then did not tell the Japanese 
Government for over one year.   During 1995 the U.S. military also fired at 
least 10000 rounds of DU munitions in Serbia.  Recently U.S. forces fired at 
least 31000 rounds of thirty millimeter DU munitions into Kosovo or Serbia. 
DU munitions have been fired on ranges in Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, 
Florida, Maryland, Scotland, and Canada.  Astonishingly, the U.S.Navy fired 
DU on Vieques, Puerto Rico to prepare for Kosovo attacks. Vieques is 
currently a national and international issue with confirmed environmental 
contamination and documented adverse health effects similar to those observed 
in other DU casualties. Recently, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld 
decided to suspend Vieques operations. However, Secretary Rumsfeld must order 
complete environmental remediation and medical care for all affected children 
and others on Vieques. All military operations must be stopped forever. 

WHAT DID WE FIND IMMEDIATELY AFTER OPERATION DESERT STORM FRIENDLY FIRE AND 
COMBAT INCIDENTS?

    I was assigned to the ODS DU assessment team as the health physicist and 
medic by Headquarters Department of the Army in Washington, D.C.  What we 
found can be explained in three words:  "OH MY GOD".  According to official 
documents each uranium penetrator rod could loose up to 70 % of it's mass on 
impact creating fixed and loose contamination with the remaining rod passing 
through the equipment or structure to lie on the terrain.  On-site impact 
investigations showed that the mass loss is about 40% which forms fixed and 
loose contamination leaving about 60% of the initial mass of the penetrator 
in the solid pencil form. We found that standard radiacs will not detect his 
contamination.  Equipment contamination included uranium fragments, uranium 
oxides, other hazardous materials, unstable unexploded ordnance, and 
byproducts of exploded ordnance.  U.S. Army Materiel Command documents sent 
to us during ODS stated the uranium oxide was 57% insoluble and 43 % soluble 
and at least 50% could be inhaled. In most cases except for penetrator 
fragments, contamination was inside destroyed equipment or structures, on the 
destroyed equipment, or within 25 meters of the equipment.  However during 
the 1994 and 1995 Nevada tests we found DU contamination out to 400 meters 
from a single incident. After we returned to the United States we wrote the 
Theater Clean up plan which reportedly was passed through U.S. Department of 
Defense to the U.S. Department of State and consequently to the Emirate of 
Kuwaiti. Today, it is obvious that none of this information regarding clean 
up of extensive DU contamination ever was given to the Iraqi's. Consequently, 
although we knew there were and still are substantial hazards existing within 
Iraq they have been ignored by the United States and Great Britain for 
political and economic reasons.   Iraqi, Kosovar, Serbian, and other 
representatives have asked numerous times for DU contamination management and 
medical care procedures but this information has not been provided.  Although 
residents of Vieques, who are U.S. citizens, also have asked for medical care 
and completion of environmental remediation DOD officials still refuse to 
complete these essential actions. 


HOW DID THE DEPLETED URANIUM PROJECT GET STARTED AND WHAT WERE IT'S 
OBJECTIVES?  

    The probable health and environmental hazards of uranium contamination 
were known before the Gulf War.  A United States Defense Nuclear Agency 
memorandum written by LTC Lyle that was sent to our team in Saudi Arabia 
stated that quote "As Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), ground combat units, 
and civil populations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq come increasingly 
into contact with DU ordnance, we must prepare to deal with potential 
problems.  Toxic war souvenirs, political furor, and post conflict clean up 
(host nation agreement) are only some of the issues that must be addressed.  
Alpha particles (uranium oxide dust) from expended rounds is a health concern 
but, Beta particles from fragments and intact rounds is a serious health 
threat, with possible exposure rates of 200 millirads per hour on contact." 
end quote.

    This memorandum, the reports that we prepared immediately after the Gulf 
War as a part of the depleted uranium assessment project to recover DU 
destroyed and contaminated U.S. equipment, the previous research, and other 
expressed concerns led to the publication of a United States Department of 
Defense directive signed by General Eric Shinseki on August 19, 1993 to quote:

"1.  Provide adequate training for personnel who may come in contact with 
depleted uranium equipment.
2.  Complete medical testing of personnel exposed to DU contamination during 
the Persian Gulf War.
3. Develop a plan for DU contaminated equipment recovery during future 
operations."

    It is thus indisputable that United States Department of Defense 
officials were and are still aware of the unique and unacceptable hazards 
associated with using depleted uranium munitions. Consequently, I was 
recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army as the DU Project Director and 
tasked with developing training and environmental management procedures.  The 
project included a literature review; extensive curriculum development 
project involving representatives from all branches of the U.S. Department of 
Defense and representatives from England, Canada, Germany, and Australia; and 
basic research at the Nevada Test Site located 120 miles northwest of Las 
Vegas, Nevada, to validate management procedures.  The products of the DU 
project included: Three training curricula: (1) Tier I: General Audience, (2) 
Tier II: Battle Damage and Recovery Operations, (3) Tier III: Chemical 
Officer / NCO; Three video tapes: (1) "Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness", 
(2) "Contaminated and Damaged Equipment Management", and (3)  "Operation of 
the AN/PDR 77 Radiac Set"; the draft Army Regulation: "Management of 
Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities"; an 
United States Army Pamphlet specifying "Handling Procedures for Equipment 
Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities" and a 
redesigned radaic capable of finding and quantifying DU contamination.  
Although, these products were completed, approved, and ready for distribution 
by January 1996, U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense, British, German, 
Canadian, and Australian officials have disregarded repeated directives and 
have not implemented or only have implemented portions of the training or 
management procedures. The training curriculum and management procedures have 
not been given to all individuals and representatives of governments whose 
populations and environment have been exposed to DU contamination as verified 
by U.S. General Accounting Office investigators in a report published during 
March 2000 and through personal conversations. 

WHAT ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED, RECOGNIZED, TREATED, AND 
DOCUMENTED? 

    Deliberate denial and delay of medical screening and consequent medical 
care of U.S. friendly fire casualties who inhaled, ingested, and had wound 
contamination and all others with verified or suspected internalized uranium 
exposure limits recognition and verification of health effects.  Although we 
recommended immediate medical care during March 1991 and many times since 
then the United States Department of Defense, the British Ministry of 
Defense, and consequently the United States Department of Veterans Affairs 
are still reluctant to provide thorough medical screening and necessary 
medical care.  Dr. Bernard Rostker wrote to me in a letter dated March 1, 
1999 that physicians and health physicists at the completion of the ground 
war decided that medical screening and care for uranium exposures was not 
required. Actual documents refute this! Today, individuals are sick 
(including me) and others are dead who were denied medical care even though I 
requested it in a letter dated May 21, 1997 which was sent to the Office of 
Surgeon U.S. Army Materiel Command and forwarded to Dr. Rostker.  
    Verified adverse health effects from personal experience, physicians, and 
from personal reports from individuals with known DU exposures include: (a) 
Reactive airway disease, (b) neurological abnormalities, (c) kidney stones 
and chronic kidney pain, (d) rashes, (e) vision degradation and night vision 
losses, (f) gum tissue problems, (g) lymphoma,  (h) various forms of skin and 
organ cancer, (I) neuro-psychological disorders, (j) uranium in semen, (k) 
sexual dysfunction, and (l) birth defects in offspring.
    Today, health effects have been documented in uranium processing facility 
employees of and residents living near Puducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio; 
Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington.  
Employees at uranium manufacturing or processing facilities in New York, 
Tennessee, Iowa, Massachusetts, and the four corners area of southwest 
Colorado also have repeatedly reported health effects similar to those 
reported by verified Gulf War DU casualties.  Iraqi and other humanitarian 
agency physicians are reporting the same health effects in exposed 
populations.  Scottish scientists recently verified that residents of the 
Balkans were excreting uranium in their urine.  This suggests that depleted 
uranium (U-238) is mobile and contaminating, air, water, and soil just as 
specified in the October 1943 letter to General Leslie Groves.    Today, 
verifying correlation between uranium exposures and adverse health effects, 
except in only in a few cases, may not be possible because of deliberate 
delays in required screening, a radio-bioassay. Screening involves the 
collection and analysis of urine, fecal, and throat samples within 24 hours 
of exposure. Today, months or years after exposure, only a small fraction of 
the sequestered uranium will be detected. That is why WHO scientists 
recommended immediate testing of exposed populations. This detectable 
fraction represents only the mobile or soluble portion. A recent autopsy in 
Canada has revealed that sequestering is occurring and that the mobile 
fraction may not be representative of what is actually present.  Even when 
verified medical evidence attributing adverse health effects to DU exposures 
is available official recognition and documentation is limited.  For example 
during 1994 and 1995 United States Department of Defense medical personnel at 
an U.S. Army installation hospital removed, separated, and hid documented 
diagnoses (including my own) from affected individuals and other physicians. 
Some medical records were retrieved during the fall of 1997, but, probably 
too late for many individuals. Today, this practice continues and 
consequently exposed individuals are not receiving adequate and effective 
medical care.  This includes individuals whose required medical care has been 
requested and ordered many times. This will continue as long as the United 
States, British, Canadian, NATO,  and other governments are permitted to 
ignore the emerging evidence and deny medical care to all individuals who 
have been or may have been exposed to depleted uranium (uranium 238), other 
isotopes, and other contaminants created as result of depleted uranium 
munitions use.  The criteria describing exposures requiring medical screening 
within 24 hours of exposure and consequent medical care were specified in a 
message from Headquarters Department of the Army dated October 14, 1993.  
These exposures included:
"a.  Being in the midst of smoke from DU fires resulting from the burning of 
vehicles uploaded with DU munitions or depots in which DU munitions are being 
stored.
b. Working within environments containing DU dust or residues from DU fires.
c. Being within a structure or vehicle while it is struck by DU munitions." 
These guidelines must be applicable to all exposed individuals with care 
independent of military or civilian status. They must be implemented 
now!!!!!!!!
    Medical care must be planned and completed to identify and then alleviate 
actual physiological problems rather than placing an emphasis on 
psychological manifestations and continued testing. Children and others are 
sick and deserve care for the complex exposures that have resulted in health 
problems.  Medical care for known uranium exposures should emphasize (concern 
in parentheses):
 a. neurology (heavy metal effects)
 b. ophthalmology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
 c. urology (heavy metal effects and crystal formation)
 d. dermatology (heavy metal effects)
 e. cardiology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
 f. pulmonary (radiation, particulate, and heavy metal effects)
 g. immunology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
 h. oncology (radiation and heavy metal effects)
 i. gynecology (radiation, neurological, and heavy metal effects)
 j. gastro-intestinal (systematic effects)
 k. dental (heavy metal effects)
 l. psychology (heavy metal effects)
Many individuals with known exposures still have not received requested care. 
As stated on March 10, 2001 by Dr. Michael KilPatrick, U.S. Department of 
Defense, only 60 individuals (including myself) are receiving minimal medical 
care from physicians assigned to the Baltimore Maryland Department of 
Veterans Affairs Depleted Uranium program. That includes only a fraction of 
over 350 individuals with verified exposures.   Today, I  and others must 
take antibiotics and steroids to control medical problems.  It is impossible 
to get proper care and treatment. IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ASSESSMENT 
FOR THOSE WITH VERIFIED EXPOSURES AND HEALTH PROBLEMS THEN YOU CAN SAY DU DID 
NOT CAUSE ANY ADVERSE HEALTH PROBLEMS BECAUSE YOU NEVER SAW ANY HEALTH 
EFFECTS.  SO MUCH FOR MEDICAL SCIENCE WHEN A COVER-UP IS DIRECTED BY 
POLITICIANS TO LIMIT LIABILITY.
The cover-up started with the infamous Los Alamos memorandum sent to our team 
in Saudi Arabia during March 1991.  This memo told us to be sure that we 
should only report our findings so DU munitions could always be used.  IN 
OTHER WORDS LIE! A letter sent to General Leslie Groves during 1943 is even 
more disturbing.  In that memorandum dated October 30, 1943, senior 
scientists assigned to the Manhattan Project suggested that uranium could be 
used as an air, water, and terrain contaminant.  According to the letter sent 
by the Subcommittee of the S-1 Executive Committee on the "Use of Radioactive 
Materials as a Military Weapon" to General Groves (October 30, 1943) 
inhalation of uranium would result in "bronchial irritation coming on in a 
few hours to a few days".  This is exactly what happened to those of us who 
inhaled DU dust during Operation Desert Storm and in U.S. soldiers in the 
Balkans. 
The subcommittee went on further to state that "Beta emitting products could 
get into the gastrointestinal tract from polluted water, or food, or air.