07 December 2007

Speedlinking: lowlevel radiation update

Railcars With Radiation Markings Worry Galt Family
News10.net - Sacramento,CA,USA
... turned out to have been concrete and rebar from Sacramento Municipal Utility's former Rancho Seco Nuclear Plant, and contained low-level radiation. ...
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Firm Wants to Process Waste in Tenn.
Houston Chronicle - United States
A Utah nuclear waste company has proposed bringing 20000 tons of low-level radioactive garbage from Italy to Tennessee for processing, burning and recycling ...
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Nuke junk welcome in Utah, guv says
Salt Lake Tribune - United States
At the meeting, energysolutions will describe plans for the Italian waste and presumably explain the company's view that burying low-level waste is no ...
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Uranium Concentrations in Port Hope, Ontario
Government of Canada Newsroom (press release) - Ottawa,ON,Canada
The Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Office of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited is managing this initiative. Health Canada officials will assess the ...
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Blood Flow in Cervical Tumors Can Predict Outcome
HealthNewsDigest.com - New York,NY,USA
The level of red blood cells has long been thought to influence the response of tumors to radiation therapy and chemotherapy. ...
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Do cancers soar with CT scans?
Hindu - Chennai,India
The effect of low level radiation on living beings continues to be controversial (The Hindu, July 14, 2005). ACR declared that certain conclusions and ...
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Google Blogs Alert for: low level radiation

THE CHICKEN BUSINESS John the farmer was in the fertilized egg ...
By JR(JR)
The shortwave radiation entering the climate system depends on the Sun's irradiance and the Earth's reflectance. Often, studies replace the net sunlight by proxy measures of solar irradiance, which is an oversimplification used in ...
GREENIE WATCH - http://antigreen.blogspot.com/

The WiFi Blues
By pel(pel)
Saturating an entire city with WiFi adds to the existing burden of nonionizing radiation. That burden, called electrosmog by some, consists of long-term exposure to low-level concentrations of nonionizing radiation from familiar sources ...
nqcustf - http://xpbxtby.blogspot.com/

Wireless :: RE: is wireless harmful?
By Richard Cardona
Stewart claimed in the programme to have found evidence that low-level radiation from devices such as mobile phones and Wi-Fi could damage health, and called for a review. The claims prompted a council body in north London to call for ...
CapMac Forums - http://www.capmac.org/phpbb2/

Cell Phones Can Damage Your Eyes
By laure(laure)
Mercola's Comment: Electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from cell phones is a topic that provokes a good deal of controversy. Many experts believe that the radiation is too low-level to cause harm. However, they often base this on an ...
laure - http://lauremontelli.blog.com/

The WiFi Blues
By jyzpzc(jyzpzc)
Saturating an entire city with WiFi adds to the existing burden of nonionizing radiation. That burden, called electrosmog by some, consists of long-term exposure to low-level concentrations of nonionizing radiation from familiar sources ...
ggizjbycitw - http://rfrkywpmwfw.blogspot.com/

Friends of the Earth
By Be Friends(Be Friends)
Low Level Radiation Campaign N-Base - information service on the nuclear industry No new nukes! - opposing construction of new nuclear power stations in the UK Nuclear Control Institute - US centre for preventing nuclear proliferation ...
Help Your Environment - How ? - http://bethefriend.blogspot.com/

Do cancers soar with CT scans?
By Dr.K S Parthasarathy(Dr.K S Parthasarathy)
Low level radiation The American College of Radiology (ACR), the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) reacted to the NEJM paper with predictable alacrity. ...
My articles - http://ksparth.blogspot.com/

Cellphones can cause eye damage: Dr. Mercola
By Lady Broadoak(Lady Broadoak)
Electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from cell phones is a topic that provokes a good deal of controversy. Many experts believe that the radiation is too low-level to cause harm. However, they often base this on an examination of ...
LadyBroadoak Visionary Planetary... - http://ladybroadoak.blogspot.com/

50 Things Youre Not Supposed To Know
By xco(xco)
34 Most Doctors Don't Know the Radiation Level of CAT Scans. 35 Medication Errors Kill Thousands Each Year. 36 Prescription Drugs Kill Over 100000 Annually. 37 Work Kills More People Than War. 38 The Suicide Rate IsHighest Among the ...
Blame It On The Voices - http://blameitonthevoices.blogspot.com/

10 Steps to be Safe from Cell Phone Radiation
By TechDune
Buy a phone with a low SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) : he SAR level is the way to measure the radio frequency of mobile phone. If SAR level is low, it will generate less radiation. So, whenever you purchase your mobile phone see the ...
TechDune - http://www.techdune.com

Google Web Alert for: low level radiation

Risks of low-level radiation higher than thought - 04 December ...
Radon gas seeping into homes might cause more genetic damage and cancer than anyone realised, says a US team.

Help this man fulfill his mission to have US vets birthed deformed children

Bud Deraps, an 82 year old WWII Navy veteran, speaks out against Depleted Uranium - Warning! Graphic Content


(Roger Helbig is an Air Force "committee" for disinfo, info you should know when reading the comments.)

Speedlinking: recent depleted uranium posts

Google News Alert for: depleted uranium

Scientists say depleted uranium levels still exist
Capital News 9 - Albany,NY,USA
COLONIE, NY -- NL Industries left in its wake depleted uranium that cost the Army Corps of Engineers nearly $200 million in taxpayer money to clean up. ...
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Uranium found in residents and workers near former National Lead's ...
Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA
ualbany science professor John Arnason compared depleted uranium laden dust to particles found on battlefields and test ranges where depleted uranium ...
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SP: why did the Netherlands vote against an international enquiry ...
Vlaardingen SP - Belgium
At the same time, the SP will be joined by Labour colleagues in organising a hearing on the effects of depleted uranium on health. ...
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Missing uranium turns up in North Fort Worth residence
Pegasus News - Dallas,TX,USA
3) when a cylinder full of depleted uranium fell off a truck near the Texas Motor Speedway. Police were quickly alerted to the unfortunate mis-location of ...
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The plight of Iraqi refugees
Al-Ahram Weekly - Cairo,Egypt
During the occupation, the atrocities of the US- UK have become only too well known -- cluster bombing, white phosphorus, and the use of depleted uranium. ...
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Radioactive container found in Tarrant County
WFAA - Dallas,TX,USA
They were looking for a device used to X-ray machinery that contained depleted uranium. The device fell off a truck on Monday. After an extensive search, ...
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Google Blogs Alert for: depleted uranium

Box containing depleted uranium found!
By Toni
I mean really, "bounced off the truck"! Can someone explain why this box was being transported in the back of a pickup truck? Box containing depleted uranium found FORT WORTH — A box containing depleted uranium that [...]
Bear Creek Ledger - http://bearcreekledger.com

Fears over Iran's and Syria's nuclear programs may be justified ...
For those who have been asleep to the debate over the controversial use of DU weapons, DU stands for depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is, simply put, the waste material left over from the nuclear fuel rods used in nuclear power plants ...
GNN Blogs - http://www.gnn.tv

Depleted uranium poison from NL site lingers
By CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD...(CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD...)
"There's never been a careful study of a population known to be exposed to depleted uranium," said David Carpenter of the Institute for Health and the Environment at UAlbany. "Somebody needs to step in and really answer the question, ...
CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE... - http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/

Study: Depleted Uranium Clean-Up Incomplete
When the federal government cleaned up depleted uranium on and around the former National Lead Industries site in Colonie, it left some behind.
CBS 6-Albany, New York : Local News - http://www.cbs6albany.com

Decades Later, Residents Still Deal with Repercussions of Uranium ...
Twenty years after the former NL Munitions factory in Colonie closed down, and after the federal government spent $190 million on a clean-up of the site, a new study says some residents and former workers still have depleted uranium in ...
CBS 6-Albany, New York : Local News - http://www.cbs6albany.com

Poison from NL site lingers
New study shows people who lived near or worked at former munitions factory in Colonie have depleted uranium in their bodies.
timesunion.com: Health Headlines - http://timesunion.com/life

911Video.org: Leuren Moret at the 2007 Vancouver 9/11 Truth ...
By Campaign for Cooperation in Space
Leuren Moret at the 2007 Vancouver 9/11 Truth Conference -- "Depleted Uranium: 61 years of Uranium Wars" V911, DU, radiation.
INTERNATIONAL CITIZENS 9/11 WAR... - http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/911/

What Are We Doing To Our Own?
By Holly S.
Bud Deraps, an 82 year old WWII Navy veteran, speaks out against Depleted Uranium - Warning! Graphic Content Submitted by Holly S. to US Politics & Gov't | Note-it! | Add a Comment.
Care2 News Network - http://www.care2.com/news/

Gary Brandl, Aussie antiwar protestor, on depleted uranium in Iraq
By stŠ¾pwar
Gary has recently been camping out in Parliament Square in solidarity with Brian Haw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cKqMyLZV-8&feature=related.
iraqwar.mirror-world.ru (en)... - http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/tiki-index.php


05 December 2007

Crosspost: Who owns the skies?

I don't know what to make of chemtrails and I've been reading about them, looking at pictures and videos of them for a LONG time. I know they've found barium in residues that have been found where they have been spraying.

This article/blog raises a real good point: Who owns the skies?

Her connecting the dots with HAARP raises some more real good points.

Chemtrail Clouds and Electromagnetic Energy

Posted by Sopan Greene on December 4, 2007

PUBLIC LAW 95-79 [P.L. 95-79] TITLE 50, CHAPTER 32, SECTION 1520 “CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAM” “The use of human subjects will be allowed for the testing of chemical and biological agents by the U.S. Department of Defense, accounting to Congressional committees with respect to the experiments and studies. The Secretary of Defense [may] conduct tests and experiments involving the use of chemical and biological [warfare] agents on civilian populations [within the United States].” -SOURCE- Public Law 95-79, Title VIII, Sec. 808, July 30, 1977, 91 Stat. 334. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 91, page 334, you will find Public Law 95-79. Public Law 97-375, title II, Sec. 203(a)(1), Dec. 21, 1982, 96 Stat. 1882. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 96, page 1882, you will find Public Law 97-375

From BariumBlues.com:

I live in Duluth, Minnesota and photographed this extraordinary energy display from my back yard at midday (12:57 PM) January 21, 2003. It lasted 7 minutes.

These aerosol clouds were glowing, shimmering and colorful. They appeared to be vibrating dramatically with a force or energy such as I’ve never seen before. Needless to say, it wasn’t the wind. Nor was it the effect of light on ice crystals. (Please look at the series of photos which follow after you read this.)

This was the most startling event that I’ve witnessed since I started documenting the chemtrails phenomenon. It erased any lingering doubts about the possibility of an electromagnetic component to the aerosol-related operations. Electromagnetic radiation of some type appears to be key to some of these operations. I’ve continued on occasion to observe other instances of highly anomalous electromagnetic activity in aerosol-created clouds.

These artificial clouds are accepted by the population as being natural because aerosols have been gradually introduced. They’ve sprayed aerosols in the atmosphere for well over 5 years. In fact, they were spraying segments of the population 50 years ago. We’ve been naive. There hasn’t been the necessary awareness that intentional spraying of the atmosphere and/or population could actually be occurring, so we became accustomed to the appearance of these chemtrails and aerosol clouds and now regard them as being familiar and therefore “normal”.

This electromagnetic energy is manmade and these clouds may contain conductive material, with barium being the leading candidate. Something bizarre is happening, but most people aren’t aware of it yet.

Chemtrails appear to affect life at the planetary level: the ionosphere and magnetosphere, control of the weather, and multiple possible effects upon human physiology are all involved.

The possible uses for this technology and the camouflage being used to create it are something you probably need to know about. It appears that the atmosphere is being changed by these aerosols to become increasingly conductive of electromagnetic radiation. This makes the atmosphere a possible platform for several applications of environmental modification– such as weather control — and for the use of HAARP technology.

This seems like science fiction to many people when they first hear of it, but these scientific and military programs have in fact been developing for decades.

Many people don’t realize that electromagnetism is inherent in the human anatomy. Every time a muscle moves, there are electrical discharges. Brain waves are electrical, all the sensory information that moves through the body to the brain is electrical, enzymes, which keep the whole organism of the body informed about various aspects about itself, are electrically influenced. Cell division is electrical, the signal for the body to initiate wound healing is electrical, and the heartbeat is electrical.

Electromagnetic radiation can be utilized for geophysical effects such as triggering earthquakes. The earth itself is capable of being used as a weapon with this technology. Changes in the earth’s atmosphere bring about corresponding changes in the Earth’s weather and climate.

Increasing the conductivity of the atmosphere (by spraying barium) increases the efficacy of HAARP. In fact, the HAARP patent even calls for it. HAARP technology is a source of powerful ELF (extremely low frequency) radiation.

By the way, did you know that the brain receives ELF signals? Frequencies have been designed which can create particular emotional, physical and mental conditions such as tiredness, loss of memory, nausea, and depression. An enormous range of human experience can be induced with electromagnetic radiation. (See On the Possibility of Accessing every Human Brain by Electromagnetic Induction of Fundamental Algorithms and also Poor Monkey.)

Do you recognize chemtrails and artificial aerosol clouds? Chemical clouds and trails become increasingly obvious once you know what to look for. I’m amazed at how oblivious we are to them– although of course I was oblivious once myself. I naturally assumed that the clouds were normal until I made a study of it. Most people don’t observe clouds, and simply take them for granted. We should be able to take them for granted! However, this lack of awareness has probably helped the aerosol operations to escalate freely.

There has been a relentless onslaught of these aerosols where I live. I found it unbelievable until I repeatedly observed the process of their creation, movement and changes with my own eyes. Daily observation over several months led to identifying repetitive patterns and finally to recognizing the presence of electromagnetic energies in the process.

December 2005 update: Since writing this over 2 years ago, it has become apparent that the aerosol operations are an enormous global phenomenon. However, I have two friends who just moved back to the U.S. after 20 years in Columbia. They immediately noticed the strangeness of the chemtrails when they spotted them here because they weren’t accustomed to seeing them in Columbia.

I’ve noticed that people over 50 are surprisingly closed minded about this information. My friends from Columbia are over 80 and yet seem more alert and open minded than most of my peers in the baby boomer generation — a generation which prided itself on being so “hip” and well informed.

Please help raise people’s awareness about this. This is OUR sky, our health, our life.

Notes:

Research descriptions and results can be found at Clifford Carnicom’s Aerosol Operation Crimes and Cover-up website. http://www.carnicom.com

I first saw photos of EMF aerosols at “Chemtrail Hall of Shame” http://www.lightwatcher.com/chemtrails/hos3.htm.

On the Possibility of Accessing every Human Brain by Electromagnetic Induction of Fundamental Algorithms

Poor Monkey

EM “mind control”

HAARP

HAARP patent

Cell Phones Can Damage Your Eyes

http://www.iphone.crossconnections.ws/article.cfm/id/60025

A recent scientific study identified a link between microwave radiation of the kind emitted by cellular phones and two different kinds of damage to the eye. At least one type of damage apparently never heals.

When the eyeis exposed for a prolonged time to microwave radiation, thereis large-scale damage to the optical quality of the lens. But there seemed to be a maximum level to this kind of damage, and when the exposure stops, the damage begins to heal.

However, at the same time, a different kind of damage occurs at the microscopic level. Tiny "bubbles" appear on the surface of the lens. This kind of damage reaches no maximum level, but instead accumulates progressively, and it did not heal even after the experiment stopped. It was theorized that the bubbles were caused by friction between cellsthat were exposed to the radiation.

Bioelectromagnetics July 2005; 26(5):398-405IsraCast July 27, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from cell phones is a topic that provokes a good deal of controversy. Many experts believe that the radiation is too low-level to cause harm. However, they often base this on an examination of thermal or heat-related effects. The danger from cell phones is far more likely to originate in the low-intensity pulsed microwave radiation that the phones emit.

There is a growing body of evidence that long-term exposure to this kind of cell phone radiation can indeed be a danger. As well as these studies showing they can affect the sensitive cells of your eyes, there has been research indicating that it can cause:

  • Brain cancer
  • Tumor growth on the auditory nerve
  • Possibly Alzheimer's disease
  • Many other potential problems

Fortunately, the danger decreases exponentially the farther the cell phone is from your body. If you have a cell phone, I strongly recommend you use a headset, and keep the phone itself well away from your body.

Although that reduces the radiation risk considerably, some emissions can still travel up the headset wire and into the head. Probably the best solution is to get a cell phone with a good speaker phone and always use it. Keeping the phone as far away from your body is the ideal solution.

For many of you this is simply not very practical, so I recommend attaching the newair cell phone headsets that we have just introduced. If you use a cell phone without the speaker phone feature, then this is simply a must. There is no excuse to not use this technology, which virtually eliminates all the dangers of using a cell phone.

There are also, of course, more commonplace dangers to using cell phones. If you use one while driving your car, you increase your chance of having an accident by up to 400 percent. Worldwide, auto accidents account for 23 percentof all deaths from injury, which comes to over1 million deaths each year. At the same time, cancer, another deadly cell phone risk, has surpassed heart disease in America as the leading cause of death for those under 85. Itkills over 1,500 people every day in the United Statesalone.

Every year, more and more people are switching to cell phones. Many are now using cell phones as their only phone, especially among younger people, who could be exposing themselves to EMF radiation and other risks over a period of decades.

Please avoid having yourself become a statistic. If you use a cell phone at all, wear a headset with a ferrite bead, don't use the cell phone in the car, and in general try to minimize your cell phone use.

Related Articles:

Electromagnetic Fields and Cell PhonesAre Cell Phones Safe For Your Children?
"If Mobile Phones Were a Type of Food, They Simply Would Not be Licensed"

Dr. Mercola is the founder of Mercola.com, one of the world's most visited and trusted health websites, and publisher of the free Mercola.com e-newsletter -- the #1 dietary health and wellness newsletter on the Web with over 500,000 subscribers. Dr. Mercola, a physician for over two decades, is also a New York Times bestselling author whose latest book, "Dr. Mercola's Total Health Program," presents his entire renowned dietary health program and has sold over 150,000 copies. He is routinely interviewed by the media for his expert insights, including CNN and ABC World News Tonight. His passion is to change the fatally flawed conventional medical system to one focused on real prevention and cure.

SPEEDLINKING: recent depleted uranium links

Crews Find Missing Uranium Box
MyFox Dallas - Dallas,TX,USA
The box reportedly contained depleted uranium from an X-Ray camera used to examine sewer lines. A driver with a company identified as Desert Industrial ...
See all stories on this topic

Police track down missing uranium in Fort Worth 6:55 AM CT
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
Fort Worth police located a metal cylinder containing depleted uranium early Tuesday morning after a lengthy search. Police began looking for the ...
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Google Blogs Alert for: depleted uranium

Radioactive Container Found
By Temptress
The World Health Organization says depleted uranium is an extremely dense metal that is commonly used as a radiation shield. It has approximately 60 percent of the radiation contained in purified natural uranium.
Photochopz.com - Photoshop forum... - http://www.photochopz.com/forum

Greens, Democrats And Impeachment
By GreenPartyMike Minnesota
materials such as depleted uranium, which causes radioactive contamination of humans (US troops as well as Iraqi civilians) and the environment; white phosphorus, a chemical whose use in warfare is proscribed by international agreement; ...
portland indymedia - newswire - http://portland.indymedia.org/

Depleted Uranium Cover-up in Colonie?
By robinia
You see, my grandparents lived and gardened on Central Ave. in Colonie, right down the street from this plant that, if this article from the UK is correct, spewed depleted uranium around the neighborhood for decades.... depleted uranium ...
the albany project - Front Page - http://www.thealbanyproject.com

Revolution by Any Other Name...
By Timothy V. Gatto(Timothy V. Gatto)
It also encompasses whether or not their children or their grandchildren will be fighting in some nation that is saturated with depleted uranium in order that the defense industries like General Dynamics, Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin and ...
LiberalPro - http://liberalpro.blogspot.com/

04 December 2007

The wicked, wicked west

You could by your radioactive material in the toy store in 1951 and 1952.

A.C. Gilbert sold a complete Atomic Energy Lab! consisting of:

1. U-239 Geiger radiation counter.
2. Electroscope to measure radioactivity of different substances.
3. Spinthariscope to watch "live" radioactive disintegration.
4. Wilson Cloud Chamber to see paths of electrons & alpha particles at 10k mps
5. Three very low-level radioactive sources (Alpha, Beta, Gamma).
6. Four samples of Uranium-bearing ores
7. Nuclear Spheres (used to visual build models of molecules)
8. The book "Prospecting for Uranium"
9. The "Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual"
10. The comic book "Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom"
11. Three "Winchester" Batteries (size "C")

31568_lg

It cost $49.95 -- a lot of money in those days.. One such set was sold at an Internet auction for almost $7,000 last year.


And you know, since the ban on uranium has been lifted those "little boys" who played with it, think that uranium weapons, du and nuclear plants are TOYZ.

God help us all!!


Canada's depleted Uranium weapons

Canada's role in depleted uranium weapons

Canada's role in depleted uranium weapons worldwide


by Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, Med
http://commonground.ca/iss/0707192/cg192_du.shtml

The Government of Canada is in non-compliance with the statutes and regulations of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), prohibiting the use of Canadian uranium in depleted uranium (DU) weapons. Moreover, Canada has a bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement with the US, under which uranium exports to the US may only be used for peaceful purposes, and not in weapons. This includes 'control over the high enrichment of Canadian uranium and subsequent storage and use of the highly enriched uranium,' a Foreign Affairs document states. The same rules that apply to uranium apply to depleted uranium, according to the CNSC.

DU weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction under international law. Thus Canada may be complicit in the US use of weapons of mass destruction in the 1991 Iraq war I, the 1998 Balkans war, the 2001 war in Afghanistan, and the 2003 Iraq war II, where the British medical journal Lancet estimates that one million civilians have died. In each of these wars, it is likely that depleted uranium in the DU weapons used by the U.S. and the UK comes from Canadian uranium exported to the US and processed in US enrichment plants into depleted uranium and subsequently manufactured into DU weapons.

Depleted uranium is the uranium by-product that remains after the removal of the isotope U-235 during the enrichment process. For every ton of enriched U-235 uranium for the nuclear weapons and nuclear power industries, seven tons of depleted uranium containing the U-238 isotope are made for the munitions, DU weapons, and military armor industries. 'Depleted uranium' is a marketing term of the nuclear industry. U-238 depleted uranium was originally discovered as a poison gas weapon of mass destruction during World War II by the Manhattan Project, at the same time as the atomic bomb and Agent Orange. Because DU is pyrophoric, it bursts into high-temperature decomposition upon impact with military armour, releasing nanoparticles of ionizing radiation that contaminate all living things and the environment with deadly radiation with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. The public military excuse for the use of DU munitions, bombs and kinetic penetrators is that DU is heavy and easily penetrates military armour and other targets. The covert strategic military use of DU munitions, smart bombs, and cruise missiles is radiation contamination of terrain, and low level nuclear war against enemy troops, civilian populations, and all unprotected military troops, for purposes of depopulation.

DU weapons & war crimes

After 3 years of investigation by 60 expert witnesses and jurists at a cost of $1 million raised by Japanese citizens, the International Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan at Tokyo on March 10, 2004 found President George W. Bush guilty of the war crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons by US forces in the 2001 war against Afghanistan.

Experts agree that a substantial portion of the depleted uranium in the DU weapons used by the US in Afghanistan came from Canadian uranium. Had the Tokyo Tribunal been diligent, it could have found Canadian Prime Minister Jean ChrƩtien, who resigned as Prime Minister on December 12, 2003, guilty as an accessory to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, for failing to enforce Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulations, and the Canada-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, both of which prohibit Canadian uranium from being used in DU weapons.

Dr. Gordon Edwards, president of the Montreal-based Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR) says, "Canada may have the policy, but it¹s not enforced. The Canadian government is taking directions and orders from the nuclear industry" . The uranium industry has a vested interest in ensuring its depleted uranium waste makes a profit and is not just left in storage. That¹s why some of Canada¹s depleted uranium is ending up in weapons, Edwards says.

"The Canadian government can¹t even think for themselves."

Depleted uranium in Hawaii

The depleted uranium that has contaminated the Hawaiian Islands with deadly radiation most probably has a Canadian uranium source. It is highly probably that the depleted uranium in DU munitions fired at bases on the Big Island and at military bases on Oahu, and in the nuclear weapons stored at Pearl Harbour is derived from Canadian uranium, exported to the US and processed into enriched uranium and DU.

Public health effects of DU weapons

The public health and environmental effects of the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons can be considered per se violations of the war crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The demonstrated public health effects of depleted uranium (DU) weapons include: diabetes, cancer, birth defects, chronic diseases caused by neurological and neuromuscular radiation damage, mitochondrial diseases (chronic fatigue syndrome, Lou Gehrig¹s, Parkinson¹s and Alzheimer¹s disease, heart and brain disorders), global DNA damage in men¹s sperm, infertility in women, learning disabilities (such as autism and dyslexia), mental illness, infant mortality and low birth weights, increase in death rates and decrease in birth rates.

The Prime Minister stonewalls

So far, the Conservative government and the Liberal opposition have failed to take a public position on Canada¹s failure to stop the illegal use of its uranium in DU weapons. Stephen Harper refused to allow any Conservative MPs to appear on a June 13, 2007 North American radio special programme on the Canadian DU issue. Despite repeated conversations with Stephane Dion's personal press attachĆ© and attempts to reach Liberal MP and Foreign Affairs critic Ujjal Dosanjh, the Liberal Party chose not to send a representative to the Canadian DU radio programme. Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin, MD, a physician and former Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Defence in the Paul Martin Government, appeared on a radio programme on the Canadian DU issue and stated that in his opinion, there were no adverse public health consequences to the use of DU weapons.

By contrast, at a May 12, 2007 Uranium-free BC Forum at the Brilliant Centre in Castlegar, BC, NDP MP Alex Atamanenko (Southern Interior) publicly stated he was opposed to the use of Canadian uranium in DU weapons. Atamanenko seeks Canadian legislation banning DU weapons, as Belgium has passed. On the June 13, 2007 Canadian DU radio programme, Atamanenko publicly committed to question the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on why Canada was not enforcing its regulations and treaty obligations against the use of its uranium in DU weapons. Connie Fogal, Leader of the Canadian Action Party, which passed a resolution in support of Canadian legislation outlawing DU weapons, committed to work against the use of Canadian DU in American weapons. Adriane Carr, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada likewise committed to demand enforcement of Canada¹s prohibitions against use of its uranium in DU weapons.

What path is Canada taking?

Unbeknownst to the public, the Government of Canada seems to have strayed into aiding and abetting the serious war crimes of DU-induced genocide and crimes against humanity. By contrast, British Columbia has maintained a moratorium on uranium mining since the 1970s. There is substantial community support for a permanent ban on uranium exploration and mining in BC, as the recent Uranium-free BC Forum in Castlegar suggested. The detrimental impacts of uranium exploration and mining on public health and the environment is the driving force behind the ban.

Under the guise of combating climate change, the nuclear industry, led by the Bush Administration, is now promoting nuclear power plants to the tiger economies of India, China, Japan, and South Korea. Because of ionizing radiation and the nuclear waste issue, this amounts to a low level nuclear war against these populations. NASA recently reported vast uranium deposits in Khazakhstan and Afghanistan. Khazakhstan is expected to out-produce Canada (now the world¹s top producer) in uranium production within 12 years.

One might rationally ask: Why not ban uranium exploration and mining in BC, and organize collectively to secure a uranium exploration and mining ban in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec? The public policy reasons for the ban on uranium exploration and mining in the rest of Canada public heath and environment are equally valid throughout Canada, as they are in BC.

Let¹s sunset our Canadian uranium industry. That is a practical way to save the health of Canadians, the environment, and innocent victims worldwide.

*************

Alfred Lambremont Webre

Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd is the International Director of the Institute for Cooperation in Space (ICIS), and a Judge on the Kuala Lumpur International War Crimes Tribunal. Alfred can be reached at peace@peaceinspace.org


02 December 2007

Nuclear items running the UK Observer

'Safe' uranium that left a town contaminated



They were told depleted uranium was not hazardous. Now, 23 years after a US arms plant closed, workers and residents have cancer - and experts say their suffering shows the use of such weapons may be a war crime

David Rose in Colonie, New York
Sunday November 18, 2007
The Observer

The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday November 25 2007

Professor Randall Parrish's research, which found depleted uranium (DU) in the urine of people exposed at the former Colonie, New York weapons factory, was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, not the UK Ministry of Defence, as we said in the article below. His facility has participated in other DU tests for the MoD, but these are not directly linked to the New York study. A fact box accompanying the piece called depleted uranium 'the densest naturally occurring metal' but as a by-product of the production of enriched uranium it does not occur in nature. Neither is it the densest when compared with, for example, tungsten, gold or platinum. This has been corrected.

It is 50 years since Tony Ciarfello and his friends used the yard of a depleted uranium weapons factory as their playground in Colonie, a suburb of Albany in upstate New York state. 'There wasn't no fence at the back of the plant,' remembers Ciarfello. 'Inside was a big open ground and nobody would chase us away. We used to play baseball and hang by the stream running through it. We even used to fish in it - though we noticed the fish had big pink lumps on them.'

Today there are lumps on Ciarfello's chest - strange, round tumours that protrude about an inch. 'No one seems to know what they are,' he says. 'I've also had a brain aneurysm caused by a suspected tumour. I'm constantly fatigued and for years I've had terrible pains, deep inside my leg bones. I fall over without warning and I've got a heart condition.' Ciarfello's illnesses have rendered him unable to work for years. Aged 57 and a father of five, he looks much older.

The US federal government and the firm that ran the factory, National Lead (NL) Industries, have been assuring former workers and residents around the 18-acre site for decades that, although it is true that the plant used to produce unacceptable levels of radioactive pollution, it was not a serious health hazard.

Now, in a development with potentially devastating implications not only for Colonie but also for the future use of some of the West's most powerful weapon systems, that claim is being challenged. In a paper to be published in the next issue of the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment, a team led by Professor Randall Parrish of Leicester University reports the results of a three-year study of Colonie, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Parrish's team has found that DU contamination, which remains radioactive for millions of years, is in effect impossible to eradicate, not only from the environment but also from the bodies of humans. Twenty-three years after production ceased they tested the urine of five former workers. All are still contaminated with DU. So were 20 per cent of people tested who had spent at least 10 years living near the factory when it was still working, including Ciarfello.

The small sample size precludes the drawing of statistical conclusions, the journal paper says. But to find DU at all after so long a period is 'significant, since no previous study has documented evidence of DU exposure more than 20 years prior... [this] indicates that the body burden of uranium must still be significant, whether retained in lungs, lymphatic system, kidneys or bone'. The team is now testing more individuals.

In 1984, having bought the factory from NL for $10 in a deal that meant the firm was exempted from having to pay for its clean-up, the federal government began a massive decommissioning project, supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers. The clean-up did not finish until summer 2007, having cost some $190m. Contractors demolished the buildings and removed more than 150,000 tons of soil and other contaminated detritus, digging down to depths of up to 40ft and trucking it 2,000 miles by rail to underground radioactive waste sites in the Rockies. All that is now left of the NL plant is a huge, undulating field, ringed by razor wire.

Despite this colossal effort, Parrish and his colleagues found high concentrations of DU particles in soil, stream sediments and household dust in the vicinity of the site, deposited long ago when the factory burnt the shavings and chips produced by the weapons manufacturing process: the study estimates that, over the years, about 10 tons of uranium oxide dust wafted from the chimney into the surrounding environment.

The Army Corps clean-up team tested the soil from some of the gardens of houses backing on to the plant, and in cases where it was found to be emitting more than 35 pico curies of radiation per gram they removed it. The researchers discovered dust in and around buildings emitting up to 10 times as much. DU, inhaled in the form of tiny motes of oxide that lodge inside the lungs, emits alpha radiation, nuclei of helium. Unlike the gamma radiation produced by enriched, weapons-grade uranium, alpha particles will not penetrate the skin.

But inside the body DU travels around the bloodstream, accumulating not only in the lungs but also in other soft tissues such as the brain and bone marrow. There, each mote becomes an alpha particle hotspot, bombarding its locality and damaging cell DNA. Research has shown that DU has the potential to cause a wide range of cancers, kidney and thyroid problems, birth defects and disorders of the immune system.

When DU 'penetrators' - armour-piercing shells that form the standard armament of some of Britain's and America's most commonly deployed military aircraft and vehicles - strike their targets, 10 per cent or more of the heavy DU metal burns at high temperatures, producing oxide particles very similar to those at Colonie.

TV footage shot in Baghdad in 2003 shows children playing in the remains of tanks coated with thick, black DU oxide, while there have long been claims that the DU shells that destroyed Saddam Hussein's tanks in the 1991 Gulf war were responsible for high rates of cancer in places such as Basra.

Parrish's team includes David Carpenter, an environmental health expert from Albany University. 'DU burns, it releases particulates that can be breathed in, and it doesn't go away,' he says. 'The issue does not concern military personnel as much as civilian populations in theatres where they are used. Now we know that we can still find measurable levels of DU among the people of Colonie, we need a much bigger study to establish whether they have suffered disproportionate ill-effects such as cancers as a consequence. If they have, it would raise a serious ethical challenge to the use of these weapons. Arguably it could constitute a war crime.'

The NL plant on Central Avenue, Colonie's main artery, opened in 1958 and became one of the Pentagon's main suppliers. DU - the material left in huge quantities by the process of refining enriched uranium for bombs and nuclear reactors - is extremely dense. A pointed rod fired at high velocity will penetrate not only armour but several feet of concrete. In 1979 a whistleblower from inside the plant told the local health department that it was releasing large amounts of DU from its 50ft chimney, which was not properly filtered. The state government carried out atmospheric tests and in 1981 ordered that main production cease. The factory shut three years later.

One of those who has now tested positive is Mike Aidala, 71, who worked at the plant for 22 years and became its health and safety director. 'When it started, the place was spotless,' he says. 'But over the years it got dirtier and dirtier. We burnt the chips produced by the lathes in a steel furnace.' He added: 'A lot of my co-workers died young. Whether the plant was the reason, I guess we'll never know.'

As concern in Colonie rose, a residents' group began to call for a publicly funded health study. For Anne Rabe, a founder member of a campaign that has now lasted for 25 years, the Parrish study represents overdue vindication. 'I do find it very ironic that the US government at state and federal level refused for so long to do anything, and now the UK comes along and has funded these tests,' Rabe says.

Repeatedly, US agencies have claimed that the Colonie plant was reasonably safe, despite the massive clean-up. Most recently, in 2003, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry issued a report saying that, although the pollution produced when the plant was operating might have slightly increased the risks of kidney disease and lung cancer, there was now 'no apparent public health hazard'.

Rabe's campaign has conducted a health study of its own, assembling a dossier from personal contacts and by knocking on neighbours' doors. It found that among almost 400 people surveyed there were numerous cases of rare cancers, thyroid and kidney complaints and birth defects.

The main difficulty the campaigners faced in the past is that DU eventually dissolves and is passed in the urine. The US government claimed that the plant had been shut so long that it would be impossible to determine who had been contaminated - so rendering a full health survey pointless.

However, Parrish has developed new, more sensitive methods. At the same time, his impartiality is impeccable. Before his work in Colonie, Parrish tested more than 400 Gulf war veterans, failing to detect DU in any of them - so dealing a serious blow to those who claimed that DU is one of the causes of Gulf war syndrome. 'I did not expect to find it in Colonie,' he says.

Some of those who have tested positive display classic, common symptoms found in DU victims elsewhere. For example, Ciarfello says he was still in his twenties when his teeth 'just started to crumble: they ground down to nothing until they were just these little stumps and I pushed them out with my tongue'. Other members of his family are sick. His son developed a severe kidney condition, while his brother, Frank, can barely walk and also suffers chronic fatigue. A nephew was born with a disfiguring facial skin tumour that has required repeated surgery.

Tom Donnelly, 56, spent 34 years as a foreman at a garage door workshop next to the NL factory, where tests have found high concentrations of DU in dust samples from places such as shelves and light fittings. He has three auto-immune disorders: Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammation of the bowel, total alopecia, and cerebral vasculitis, an immune system-related narrowing of blood vessels in the brain.

'The new tests suggest I inhaled about 4,000 particles of DU,' Donnelly says. 'I used to come to work in the morning and see the chimney blowing its smoke in a thick black plume. Most of us had no idea that the plant was using uranium at all. After all, the sign outside said National Lead. The Army Corps removed all that soil, but they never looked at the dust at all. The effect on my life has been devastating, but how many others are already dead?' One is his late boss and friend Tom Murphy - who, like Donnelly, developed Crohn's and died of it at 61.

Ann Carusone lived in a house behind the plant from the time of her birth in 1966 until 1993. 'When I tested positive, my reaction was sheer disbelief,' she says. She has endured years of a chronic lung disease, sarcoidosis, an inflammation of the lymph nodes usually found in much older people, as well as a blood disorder that produced petecchiae - dots of blood beneath her skin, similar to those seen in some of those exposed to radiation at Hiroshima. In her twenties she had a pre-cancerous ovarian cyst that when removed was the size of a grapefruit.

'I knew many people from round here who died young, in their twenties and thirties,' she says. 'We used to play out in the creek that flowed out of the plant site. The water was sluggish, a weird yellow-green colour. We'd splash about in it. Now we know it was laden with depleted uranium.'

'It's very striking how many people in this small group have immune disorders like Tom Donnelly's,' says Carpenter. 'I can say with great confidence that people who inhaled DU are at greater risk of lung cancer, as well as leukaemia, other cancers and genetic damage of the type that causes birth defects. Previous responses by official bodies could be said to amount to a cover-up. People have been told that there's no problem, and that's very clearly not true.'

Yesterday NL failed to return calls requesting comment.

Deadly residue

Depleted uranium (DU) is the residue left in massive quantities when bomb-grade uranium is refined to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons.

DU is used to make armour-penetrating shells, standard armament for some of the West's most widely deployed military aircraft and vehicles, such as Bradley armoured cars, Abrams tanks, and Jaguar A10 fighter planes.

Less intensely radioactive than bomb-grade uranium, DU emits alpha particles, known to cause cancers.

DU weapons that strike their targets produce clouds of tiny uranium oxide particles, which lodge in the lungs and other soft tissues such as the brain and bone marrow.

DU shells were widely used in the 1991 Gulf war; in Bosnia and Kosovo; and are being used now in Iraq and Afghanistan.




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