The truth about “depleted” uranium

Did you know that more than 99 percent of uranium in the world is Uranium-238, which is not the uranium used in nuclear reactors? About .3 percent is Uranium-235, and in its natural state, it’s mixed with the Uranium-238.

So, that means that only about .3 percent of the uranium that comes out of mines is the useful Uranium-235. The question now becomes: what happens to the Uranium-238? What does the government do with all that nuclear waste?

Answer: they rename it. Specifically, they scratch off the label “nuclear waste,” and attach the label “depleted.” It’s “depleted uranium,” meaning, literally, that it’s been depleted of Uranium-235. It is then used by the military to coat bullets and warheads.

They’ve been doing this for at least seventeen years, meaning the military’s been scattering vast amounts of Uranium-238 all over the world since at least the first Gulf War. This “depleted” uranium takes the form of both bullet and missile shells and of dust from exploded shells, which gets absolutely everywhere.

Now, the military stresses that “depleted” uranium is less radioactive than uranium in its natural state. And this is true, “depleted” uranium is either 40 percent or 60 percent less radioactive than natural uranium (I forget which.) However, people very rarely stand right on top of uranium in its natural state, and rarely for long periods of time. And they’re very rarely breathing in tiny particles of natural uranium in the form of dust.

In other words, the strength of the radiation is only one factor: there’s also the proximity to consider, and the length of time you’re exposed to it, and how you’re exposed to it (externally or internally).

There’s also the fact that if you take a large piece of uranium and break it into twelve smaller pieces, they’ll each be as radioactive as the original large piece. So, a couple hundred (couple thousand) pieces of uranium dust would be … yeah.

“Depleted” uranium is the most likely explanation for so-called “Gulf War syndrome,” and has been linked to birth defects in the children of Gulf War veterans, such as deformed hands.

According to a documentary called “Poison DUst,” the military used a few hundred tons of “depleted” uranium in the first Gulf War, and over 2,000 in the present invasion. As of 2004.

Apparently, many returning soldiers who’ve gotten themselves tested for radiation via the military have had to wait inordinately long times for the results, and at least one soldier’s results went missing. A little suspicious, isn’t it?

Add to that, just a few weeks ago, President Bush ordered some hospital (maybe it was all hospitals) to stop releasing cancer death reports. I wonder why he did that.

“Depleted” uranium is a serious problem for the soldiers who use it, for the people they use it against, for the civilians in the area where it is deployed, and for the families of all the parties mentioned above. It is an inhumane weapon, even by the standards of warfare, which is by nature inhumane.

You can learn more about “depleted” uranium in Rosalie Bertell’s Planet Earth: The Latest Weapon of War, and the documentary, “Poison DUst.”

Peace. It’s the humane thing to do.