No subject

and be swallowed.  The effects would be local irritation just as in the 
bronchi and exposures of the same amount would be required. The stomach, 
caecum and rectum, where contents remain for longer periods than elsewhere 
would be most likely affected.  It is conceivable that ulcers and 
perforations of the gut followed by death could be produced, even without an 
general effects from radiation".  Verified adverse health effects from 
personal experience, reported by 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, cataracts, and night vision losses, (f) gum 
tissue and teeth 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.  Similar health effects also 
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 who made the DU.  
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 indicates that the 
uranium is mobile in the environment and is more evidence to support what we 
found during the DU tests in 1994 and 1995. Consequently we can not ignore 
the serious adverse health effects from DU exposures and these known effects 
substantiate the banning of DU munitions. 

As a result of the 1993 GAO report, congressional inquiries, our 
recommendations, and an increase in observed adverse health and environmental 
effects; I was recalled to active duty in the United States Army as Director 
of the Depleted Uranium Project.  I supervised the research to verify DU 
hazards and processing procedures and to develop the training and education 
and formal guidelines for management of DU contaminated equipment, 
facilities, and terrain. 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 radiac capable of 
finding and quantifying DU contamination.

The recommendations that I derived and issued, based on extensive research 
and first hand experience were:

1.  All DU contamination must be physically removed and properly
        disposed of to prevent future exposures.
2. Specialized radiation detection devices that detect and measure alpha 
particles,
beta particles, x-rays, and gamma rays emissions at appropriate levels from 
20 dpm up to 100,000 dpm and from .1 mrem/ hour to 75 mrem/ hour must be 
acquired and distributed to all individuals or organizations responsible for 
medical care and environmental remediation activities involving depleted 
uranium / uranium 238 and other low level radioactive isotopes that may be 
present.  Standard equipment will not detect contamination.
3. Medical care must be provided to all individuals who did or may have 
inhaled, 
ingested, or had wound contamination to detect mobile and sequestered 
internalized uranium contamination.
4. All individuals who enter, climb on, or work within 25 meters of any 
contaminated equipment or terrain must wear respiratory and skin protection.
5. Contaminated and damaged equipment or materials should not be
recycled to manufacture new materials or equipment.

The United States Army's own task performance standards for exposure to DU 
are very specific and require both respiratory and skin protection. They also 
state that quote 

"NOTE: Contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption" end 
quote.   







The specific task performance requirements are that individual can quote"

Evaluation Preparation
    HANDS-ON EVALUATION DATE:
    TASK TITLE  TASK NUMBER
    Respond To Depleted Uranium/Low Level Radioactive Materials (Dullram) 
Hazards (SL 1-4)    031-503-1017
ITEM    PERFORMANCE STEP TITLE  (CIRCLE ONE)
1   Identified possible hazards GO / NO GO
    NOTE: Method used depends on scenario selected  
2   Assumed field expedient respiratory protection cravat/handkerchief) 
immediately or donned protective mask as required   GO / NO GO
3   Warned others of DULLRAM hazard GO / NO GO
    a. Alerted other crew members or individuals within 50 meters of the 
possible DULLRAM hazard GO / NO GO
    b. Got out of vehicle and seek shelter if vehicle or munitions are on 
fire    GO / NO GO
4   Protected himself from contact with DULLRAM 
a. Administered first aid 
(1) Flushed open wounds with water. 
(2) Covered open wounds with field dressing. 
Did not attempt to remove any imbedded fragments 
b. Covered exposed skin within 50 meters of hazard (pulled down sleeves, 
bloused pants, put on MOPP gloves, and buttoned up coat) 
c. Sealed loose contamination on equipment surfaces GO / NO GO 



GO / NO GO 
GO / NO GO
5   Reported suspected contamination to supervisor  GO / NO GO
    Score the soldier GO if all performance measures are passed. Score the 
soldier NO GO if any performance measure is failed. If the soldier scores NO 
GO, show the soldier what was done wrong and how to do it correctly. Allow 
the soldier time to retrain and retest. 
    EVALUATOR'S NAME    UNIT:
    
SOLDIER'S NAME  STATUS: 
GO / NO GO

End quote.  It is very important to note that respiratory and skin protection 
must be worn by all individuals who are or may be exposed to DU 
contamination.  If this is required for United States Army personnel then it 
must required for all citizens of the world. Of special significance is that 
Army officials acknowledge that DU contamination will make water and food 
unsafe as specified during October 1943.  Consequently, it is apparent the 
use of DU munitions is simply too dangerous to use even by the U.S. Army's 
own safety standards.  

Today, eleven years after the extensive use of depleted uranium munitions 
during the Gulf War, followed by use of DU in the Balkans; on Vieques, Puerto 
Rico in preparation for combat use in the Balkans, in Okinawa, and on many 
military installations around the world; visual evidence, personal 
experience, and published reports verify that:

1. Medical care has not been provided to all DU casualties.
2. Environmental remediation has not been completed.
3. Contaminated and damaged equipment and materials have been recycled to
manufacture new products.
4. Training and education has only been partially implemented.
5. Contamination management procedures have not been distributed and
implemented.  The denials about DU hazards although obvious were and still 
are guided by the infamous Los Alamos memorandum 
(http://www.spidersmill.com/gwvrl/los_alamos.htm) that was sent to our team 
in Saudi Arabia during March 1991. The author of this memorandum acknowledged 
serious health and environmental hazards but wrote that we should only report 
those findings that would permit the continued use DU munitions.  IN OTHER 
WORDS LIE!   

If we use DU munitions again in areas already contaminated or any new 
location then we will cause additional health problems and environmental 
contamination.   Consequently, as a scientist, educator, and military officer 
who was given the responsibility by United States Army officials to clean up 
the DU mess; I must issue the following recommendation to the citizens of the 
world.

As the military and civilian leaders of the United States and Great Britain 
contemplate preemptive attacks on the nation of Iraq; the citizens of the 
world, all humanitarian agencies, the United Nations, and all concerned law 
abiding governments of the world must raise a unified voice to ban the use of 
depleted uranium munitions and force those nations that have used depleted 
uranium munitions to recognize the immoral consequences of their actions and 
assume responsibility for medical care and thorough environmental 
remediation.  A nation's military personnel  cannot willfully contaminate any 
other nation, cause harm to persons and the environment then ignore the 
consequences of their actions.  To do so is a crime against GOD and 
humanity!!!  WE MUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR GOD AND THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD 
--- BAN DU !!!

PART 2: George Angus Parker's comments

My name is George Angus Parker. I am a British Gulf Veteran. 

The above warning issued by Professor Doug Rokke is a chilling reminder that 
war is nothing more than a monument to the incompetence of politicians and 
their advisors.  His concerns regarding the misuse of depleted nuclear waste 
(Depleted Uranium - DU) as a weapon of conventional warfare are those of a 
very knowledgeable scientist, who has witnessed and made actual measurements 
to support his assertions.  As evidence of that fact the reader should be 
aware that many of the documents and training films pertaining to depleted 
uranium munitions currently used by the US and UK armed forces, were produced 
by him and members of his team. 

None of his measurements and reports of actual contamination should have been 
news to the US or UK authorities. They had known for many years that using 
depleted uranium ammunition would lead to considerable contamination of both 
the environment and mankind. As early as the 1940's powdered uranium was 
considered for use against German agricultural and industrial targets as an 
area contamination/denial weapon. The idea was a product of the Manhattan 
Project headed by J. R. Oppenheimer. It was abandoned because of the obvious 
long-term health consequences for the civilian population and the 
environment. 

As late as July 1990 (one month before Iraq invaded Kuwait) official reports 
warned against using DU as an antitank weapon. It was reported that the 
public outcry regarding the use of such a controversial weapon on a 
conventional battlefield would likely make it impossible to ever use it 
again. Obviously, those in positions to authorise the use of depleted uranium 
were well aware of the consequences.

For whatever reason, it was decided that DU would be used against Iraq and 
the warnings issued by physicists, physicians and good intentioned 
environmental scientists were to be ignored. That decision alone marks the 
Gulf conflict of 1991 as the biggest political cock-up (military term) of 
modern times. Bigger even than the first use of atomic bombs against the 
already defeated Japanese, marking the end of W.W.II. 

Ironically, before the start of the ground war phase of Operation Desert 
Storm the British Ministry of Defence issued a warning to British ground 
forces. It stated that care should be taken to avoid areas were DU had been 
used. Probably for reasons of operational efficiency that warning was not 
permitted to reached the front line troops. Would an infantry man be so 
willing to take up his personal weapon and engage the enemy at close 
quarters, if he had been warned that the burning tank only feet away was 
belching radioactive dust? I think not! Particularly if he was made aware 
that the dust would not only endanger his life but also those of any children 
he fathered at a later date.

I am not qualified to write with the same authority as Professor Rokke on the 
technical aspects of DU environmental contamination because his actual 
experience and scientific knowledge of the subject is considerable.  However, 
as a former vice chairman of Gulf Veterans association, I can comment on the 
official resistance to fully investigate the depleted uranium contamination 
of Gulf War Veterans.  The reluctance and obstruction of attempts made by 
veterans who sought and still seek official investigations into this matter, 
has uncovered a trail of deceit and lies that shook the beliefs of many. 
Serving Queen and Country by placing oneself in harms way in support of the 
ideals, freedom, truth, and justice, no longer has the same attraction. 

It was the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (UK charity) who 
on advice from independent scientists initiated the clinical testing of 
veterans looking for Depleted Uranium. After encountering and defeating every 
dirty trick in the political obstruction book, the findings have now been 
published in a peer reviewed US medical science journal, the August 2002 
issue of Military Medicine. Dr Assaf Durakovic the principle author, is 
himself a Gulf Veteran and was formerly a Colonel in the US Army Medical 
Corp. He was professor of nuclear medicine at George Town University School 
of Medicine and was part of the United Nations quick response to nuclear 
incidents. 

As you can plainly see, the credentials of those learned scientists and 
physicians currently issuing grave warnings regarding the future use of 
Depleted Uranium, are impeccable. The fact that Professors Rokke and 
Durakovic committed what is best described as professional suicide when they 
decided to speak out on these issues only adds to the growing honour and 
international standing of these fine gentlemen. Few other scientists have 
lived up to the words of Robert Oppenheimer, the man initially responsible 
for the abuse of nuclear material in warfare. He wrote:

"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma 
in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to 
doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors."-J. 
Robert Oppenheimer, Life, 10 October 1949

As veterans and human beings we owe Doug Rokke, Assaf Durakovic and others a 
great debt, considerably more than we owe to J. R. Oppenheimer. Even though 
as you can see above, he begged others to undo his injustice.

With all sincerity I can say that witnessing the pain and suffering of ill 
Gulf Veterans and their families, has had a dramatic effect on the way I view 
future military deployments by the US and UK. Things witnessed and endured 
have opened my eyes to the realities of the relationship between my country's 
government (together with the civil service) and members of the armed forces. 
Rather than valued members of society owed a debt of honour for defending the 
state, I am now aware that armed forces personnel are considered as 
disposable items. Something to be used abused and then discarded when broken. 
Further more, when made ill by the use of politically sensitive weapons such 
as DU they are an expensive embarrassment to be silenced when voicing 
concerns.

It is my sincere and heart felt belief that until such time as the UK and US 
governments can properly care for ill and dying veterans of war, they should 
refrain from deploying members of the armed forces over seas. 

As for the contention should we invade Iraq again, this time to overthrow the 
government of that country? I contest the rational, competency and therefor 
the relevance of the question. My reasons are clearly explained above.  

George Angus Parker
Formerly Sgt with the 1st Field Laboratory Unit, Biological-warfare Detection 
Unit. Porton Down.

(Foot note: On reflection, perhaps there are good reasons to revisit the 
battlefields of Kuwait and Iraq. To scrape our nuclear waste from their soil 
and beg forgiveness from the Gods of the common people.)