Depleted uranium

In the issue of PN for October 2013, Gabriel Carlyle had an article about the Iraq ministry of health report entitled ‘Summary of reported Congenital Birth Defects in 18 Selected Districts of Iraq’.

This had come to the surprising conclusion that ‘the rates of spontaneous abortion, stillbirths and congenital birth defects were “consistent with or even lower than international estimates” and found “no clear evidence to suggest an unusually high rate of congenital birth…

Thank you for the measured and logical article, ‘Campaigners allege Iraqi birth defects survey has been manipulated - but fail to back up claims’ (PN 2563). We at the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium agree that rejecting the results of the IMoH study and claiming manipulation with no evidence is erroneous.

However, it could equally be argued that the way the IMoH study dismisses previous published research which contradicts its findings without a rigorous discussion is not…

Anti-war campaigners and academics have been quick to charge that a major study into congenital birth defects in Iraq, published on 11 September, has been manipulated to serve the interests of the US, which contaminated parts of Iraq with depleted uranium and other heavy metals. After contacting a number of those involved, PN has found no evidence of manipulation.

The summary report*, published on 11 September by the Iraqi…

On 24 July, the Independent reported the results of a questionnaire survey conducted in Fallujah in January and February. These included a twelve-fold increase in the risk of cancer for under-14s (compared to rates in the Middle East Cancer Registry), and an anomalous birth sex-ratio (the ratio of girls to boys) in children under five (Patrick Cockburn, “Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah ‘worse than Hiroshima’”).

The Iraqi city has been the site of some of the worst…

The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU) was launched in 1999 to focus specifically on trying to achieve a global ban on the manufacture, testing, and use of depleted uranium weapons.

They fight for recognition by the Ministry of Defence that these weapons are connected with serious illnesses, and aim to put pressure on governments to take responsibility for environmental decontamination in areas where DU has been used. They also have a strong interest in identifying the extent…

In October, War on Want produced a major report on the involvement of major British banks in the arms trade.

It turns out that all the UK’s high street banks - apart from the Co-operative bank - fund the arms industry through direct investment in shares, participation in loan syndicates and the provision of banking services.

Barclays has the largest amount of shares in the global arms sector, with £7.3bn invested in total. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland…

On 13 March, civilian “weapons inspectors” entered Dundrennan test range, in south-west Scotland, during five days of test-firing of depleted uranium (DU) shells, something that has not happened for five years.
The inspectors reported that red flags were flying but there was no evidence of testing. During 90 minutes exploring inside they were observed by two patrol vans which made no attempt to intervene.
They found a bombed-out tank, new observation posts, a bomb crater, some…

In October a US jury found 19 peace activists not guilty after their trial for trespassing at a depleted uranium weapon maker's headquarters.

On 2 April 2003, 28 activists walked into AllianceTech System's Edina office to deliver a letter to CEO, Paul David Miller, urging the company to take responsibility for the damages caused by depleted uranium to protest against the use of radioactive waste in weapons' production.

In a rare case where an international…

Just as springtime Baghdad shows - with the crumbling of sanctions - a faint glimpse of promise, however superficial, it is hard to believe that the threat of war is gathering again.

Here in the streets of Baghdad, the shop windows are displaying ever more goods, although one seldom sees a customer; there is the occasional flash of a new yellow Nissan taxi - sold to the drivers at half price by the government; new red and white striped double-decker buses made in China with German…