-Caveat Lector- Navy Admits Firing Uranium Shells By MICHELLE FAUL .c The Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- The U.S. Navy headquarters in Puerto Rico says it has belatedly discovered that uranium-tipped shells were illegally fired at its range on an outlying island. The Feb. 19 firing of 267 shells -- of which only 57 were recovered -- has raised new public health concerns and bolstered calls for the Navy to stop its exercises on Vieques island. Vieques already has more than twice the average cancer rate of Puerto Rico, and politicians have long blamed the Navy's activities there. Navy spokesman Roberto Nelson said Tuesday the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station was notified of the mishap March 5 and could not explain the two-week delay. ``Those are the same questions we are asking, too, and that is part of the investigation,'' he told the Associated Press. Puerto Rican officials have claimed they were not notified about the firings at all. The Navy insists Puerto Rico was told. It is against federal and local laws as well as Navy regulations to fire depleted uranium at the firing range at Vieques, an island the Navy has used to practice war games since the 1940s. NATO allies also practice on the 22-mile-long island, home to 9,300 residents. Nelson said the shells were mistakenly loaded into a Marine Harrier jet from the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Kearsarge, which is currently participating in the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia. Last week, when news of the firings was reported by the Puerto Rico Independence Party, Nelson said it had occurred in early March and that the Navy had called in experts for a cleanup within two days. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the AP that the shells were fired Feb. 19 -- a date the Navy confirmed Tuesday. A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Roger Hannah, said the commission agreed there was ``virtually no risk to health and safety'' because the firing range was a restricted military zone and depleted uranium has low radiation levels. But opponents said explosions of the shells throw particles of depleted uranium into the air that can travel for miles. Ingested particles can cause up to 1,000 times the damage of an X-ray, said Mary Olson, a nuclear waste specialist and biologist at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington D.C. Sen. Eudaldo Baez Galib of the opposition Popular Democratic Party said Tuesday that all residents of eastern Puerto Rico should be medically tested because of prevailing winds. He added that a wind shift could carry the particles to the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
