[From the diaries by susanhu]
Depleted Uranium Bill Introduced into Congress
Washington, DC – Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), a medical doctor, on May 17 introduced legislation with 21 original co-sponsors in the House of Representatives that calls for medical and scientific studies on the health and environmental impacts from the U.S. Military’s use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in combat zones, including Iraq. The McDermott bill also calls for cleanup and mitigation of sites in the U.S. contaminated by DU.
“The need is urgent and imperative for full, fair and impartial studies,” McDermott said. “We may be endangering the health and lives of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. All we’ve gotten so far from the Pentagon are assurances. We need facts backed by science. We don’t have that today.”
Because of its density, the military uses DU as a protective shield around tanks, and in munitions like armor piercing bullets and tank shells. DU tends to spontaneously ignite upon impact, disintegrating into a micro-fine residue that hangs suspended in the air where it can be inhaled and falls to the ground to leach into the soil.
DU is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process; it is chemically toxic. and DU has low-level radioactivity. About 300 metric tons of DU munitions were fired during the first Gulf War, and about half that amount has been used to date in the Iraq War.
“I’ve been concerned about DU since veterans of the first Gulf War began to experience unexplained illnesses, commonly called ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ that remain mysterious,” McDermott said.
As I stated yesterday, I am late to the table on this topic. But am catching up quickly thanks to past diaries and links from plutonium page and others.
[On a personal note, I briefly mentioned DU to my spouse who tried to pooh-pooh the dangers and asked me if I believe the information from people on this site. Man, did that start a heated ‘conversation.’ I tried to explain how we Don’t Get Any Real News’ anymore from the MSM and that the information/news I read on Kos and Booman Tribune is more real than anywhere else. My spouse is a ‘couch-potato sports fanatic’ (which has been a problem for ‘us’ for awhile..) so I explained the “Dumbing Down of America” and televisions direct role in that. So if I cannot convince my own husband of the dumbing down process how can I even begin to save the world? Heh. Sheesh.]
