[Peace-discuss] DU Editorial

[Phil Stinard]

I read the DU Editorial and followed the link it gives to the International 
Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan at Tokyo:

www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm

This document is a stunning indictment of the war in Afghanistan and besides 
containing more in depth information on the military use of depleted 
uranium, also discusses the use of other WMD's such as cluster bombs and 
daisy cutters.  It also analyzes the involvement of Unocal and the reasons 
the U. S. gave for bombing and invading Afghanistan.

I wonder if Doug could comment on the WHO report on depleted uranium 
referenced in this document.  I checked the WHO site, and the report itself 
is divided into many large pdf documents, of which I only downloaded the 
executive summary.  They have a briefer summary provided as a "fact sheet" 
at:  http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/

In their fact sheet, they go to great lengths to downplay the toxicity of 
depleted uranium.  It includes such gems as:

"For the general population, neither civilian nor military use of DU is 
likely to produce exposures to DU significantly above normal background 
levels of uranium. Therefore, individual exposure assessments for DU will 
normally not be required. Exposure assessments based on environmental 
measurements may, however, be needed for public information and 
reassurance."

Any comments on this, or who could have written this, and why?

--Phil Stinard

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