Britain and US accused over cluster bombs/ Gulf troops face tests for cancer

[Guest guest]

Gulf troops face tests for cancer

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,943267,00.html

Paul Brown, environment correspondent

Friday April 25, 2003

The Guardian

 

Soldiers returning from the Gulf will be offered tests to check levels of

depleted uranium in their bodies to assess whether they are in danger of

suffering kidney damage and lung cancer as a result of exposure, the Ministry

of Defence said last night.

 

The ministry was responding to a warning earlier in the day from the Royal

Society, Britain's premier scientific body, that soldiers and civilians might

be exposed to dangerous levels. It challenged earlier reassurances from the

defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, that depleted uranium was not a risk.

 

A ministry spokeswoman said that if soldiers followed instructions correctly

and wore respirators in areas where depleted uranium might have been used they

would not suffer dangerous exposure, but all would be offered urine tests. The

overall results would be published.

 

The ministry said it would also publish details of where and how much depleted

uranium was used, and hoped the Americans would do the same.

 

Professor Brian Spratt FRS, chairman of the society's working group on depleted

uranium, said: " It is highly unsatisfactory to deploy a large amount of a

material that is weakly radioactive and chemically toxic without knowing how

much soldiers and civilians have been exposed to it.

 

" It is only by measuring the levels of DU in the urine of soldiers that we can

understand the intakes of DU that occur on the battlefield, which is a

requirement for a better assessment of any hazards to health. It is vital that

this monitoring takes place and that it takes place within a matter of months. "

 

He said civilians in Iraq should be protected by checking milk and water

samples for depleted uranium over a prolonged period. Some soldiers might

suffer kidney damage and increased risk of lung cancer if they breathed in

substantial amounts.

 

He added: " It is essential that we measure exposures in a sample of soldiers

across the battlefield, not just those who may have had substantial exposures,

but also foot soldiers and field hospital staff across Iraq. We also need to

know the exposures of Iraqis living in any residential areas where DU munitions

were deployed. We believe that exposures to DU will be low for most

individuals, but we need to take measurements. "

 

Last month Mr Hoon was dismissive about the threat. He told the Commons that

there was " not the slightest scientific evidence " to suggest that depleted

uranium left a poisonous residue.

 

The report from the society was released on the same day as assessment by the

United Nations environment programme (Unep) on the situation in Iraq, which

also included concerns about depleted uranium.

 

Depleted uranium is standard in a number of anti-tank weapons. Amounts in

bullets, shells and bombs vary from 300 grams to 7 tonnes in the bunker-busters

of the type dropped on Baghdad. The bombs used on the restaurant in an

unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein are believed to have contained

tonnes of depleted uranium which would have contaminated the surrounding area.

 

Experts have calculated that from all sources between 1,000 and 2,000 tonnes of

depleted uranium were used by the coalition in the three-week conflict.

 

Unep said immediate priorities should include restoring the water supply and

sanitation systems, and cleaning pollution hot spots and waste sites to reduce

the risk of epidemics from accumulated municipal and medical wastes.

 

Prof Spratt added: " About 340 tonnes of DU were fired in the 1991 Gulf war. The

coalition needs to make clear where and how much DU was used in the recent

conflict.

 

" Fragments of DU penetrators are potentially hazardous, and a recent Royal

Society study recommended that they should be removed, and areas of

contamination around impact sites identified, and where necessary made safe. "

 

He said impact sites in residential areas should be a priority and urged long-

term monitoring of water and milk.

 

" The question of who carries out the initial monitoring and clean-up is a

political rather than scientific question, " he said. Monitoring, however, is

likely to be a long-term task, spanning many years, so it is vital that Iraq

acquires the capabilities to undertake this itself.

 

" The coalition needs to acknowledge that depleted uranium is a potential hazard

and make in-roads into tackling it by being open about where and how much

depleted uranium has been deployed. "

 

 

Britain and US accused over cluster bombs

 

Richard Norton-Taylor

Monday May 5, 2003

The Guardian

 

The lives of Iraqi civilians are being endangered because Britain and the

United States are failing to provide adequate information about their forces'

use of cluster bombs, says the New York-based monitoring group Human Rights

Watch.

 

The Pentagon has admitted using nearly 1,500 air-dropped cluster bombs during

the war, but has not revealed information about ground-launched cluster

munitions, which were far more numerous.

 

The Los Angeles Times reported recently that the US did not keep track of

ground-launched cluster munitions.

 

Reuben Brigety, of Human Rights Watch, said the Pentagon " had better start "

keeping track. " This information is very important, especially when the weapon

has been improperly used in urban areas. "

 

Britain's Ministry of Defence says the army's artillery fired more than 2,000

cluster munitions around Basra, while at least 66 BL755 cluster bombs were

dropped by the RAF.

 

Human Rights Watch said: " The United States and United Kingdom need to come

clean on what they've done with these weapons. They are not doing all they can

to protect civilians from the deadly after-effects of their cluster attacks. "

 

Cluster weapons scatter bomblets over a wide area. Those failing to explode

pose a serious danger to civilians.

 

The MoD says the Israeli-made L20 cluster bombs fired by the army have a

failure rate of about 2% and are designed to self-destruct if they fail to

detonate. The older weapons used by the US army and the RAF's BL755s have a far

higher failure rate. About 10% of the latter fail to detonate.

 

The MoD said it was committed to clearing areas hit by cluster bombs. The

Department for International Development has been given £4m for the task. But

Human Rights Watch says the MoD and Pentagon have yet to provide detailed

information vital to clearing teams.

 

In March, Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, conceded there might be

instances when using cluster bombs against certain targets would not be legal.

Speaking to Andrew Purkis, chief executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales

Memorial Fund - which campaigns against cluster weapons and anti-personnel

mines - Mr Ingram added that on other occasions, cluster bombs " will be the

most effective weapon to use and their use will be legal " .

 

Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, told MPs last month that cluster bombs

were " only used strictly in accordance with international law " .

 

However, he added: " A decision on which type of munition to use has to take

into account all the circumstances at the time of an attack. "

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,949740,00.html