by the nuclear industry and also because it causes massive destruction when used in weapons. It is 20 percent heavier than steel and can therefore penetrate both steel and ••• concrete more easily than conventional weapons. It is enormously difficult to remove and its poisonous effects last billions of years.
Increasing numbers of scientists are arguing that its long term effects on the environAnd if it's so safe, why are British A roders putting on protectine
clothing to recover the dead and wounded in vehicles hit by American "friendly fire"?
The MoD and their friends in the Pentagon tried to use a 2002 study by the Royal Society to quell disquiet, by quoting it out of context. So for example that report argued that
"People living in areas where DU was deployed have a negligible risk of developing cancers as a result of inhaling DU resuspended in the air.
"But it is uncertain how much DU is inhaled in years following a conflict" and one eye as a result of exposure to DU
Campaigning both against the use of Depleted Uranium and for its immediate removal are demands that both the antiwar and the environmental movements need to be raising. As Roucke says
"The use of uranium munitions during warfare is a crime.. against humanity and should be considered a war crime.
"You cannot take solid radio-active waste, throw it in anybody's back yard and refuse to provide medical care and com plete the environmental clean up that is required to sustain the health and safety of the citizens of the earth"