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Letter from Leuren Moret to Congressman McDermott with Declassified
memo to Gen. L.R. Groves 1943 - a blueprint for DU 21feb03 "If you
can't clean it up, don't use it." Doug Rokke The Invisible War:
Depleted Uranium and the Politics of Radiation 2000
February 21, 2003
The Honorable Jim McDermott, Congressman Washington State 7th
Congressional District 1809 7th Avenue Suite 1212 Seattle, WA
98101-1399 (206) 553-7170 (206) 553-7175 FAX
RE: Declassified 1943 memo to General L.R. Groves - a blueprint for
depleted uranium
Dear Congressman McDermott,
Mr. Joe Pemberton, a lawyer in Bellingham, Washington, has asked
me to provide you with scientific information on the critical and
overlooked issues of particle size, penetration of gas masks, and
mobility of depleted uranium formed under battleground conditions.
It is also powerful scientific information to counter false statements
recently made by the White House1 and the DOD2.
I am writing this letter out of concern for the military personnel
who may now be serving on or near the Gulf War battlefields in Iraq
and may be quartered in areas already contaminated by depleted
uranium munitions. But they are not my only concern. The Gulf War
Veterans who are now suffering severe health consequences have also
been exposed to depleted uranium, chemicals and biological materials
including vaccines while serving in Iraq and Kuwait.
The children and people of Iraq have been the greatest victims from
exposure to depleted uranium15 used in the Gulf War and will continue
to be. Over time, they cannot escape the chronic, low level exposure
to internal radiation from depleted uranium and its decay products
(see Attach. 7) as it cycles and recycles through their environment3
in water, air and food products.
Depleted uranium dust will continue to be an extreme hazard to
soldiers, civilians, populations in countries downwind6,8, and the
environment as a radiological contaminant to all living systems for
ten half-lives or 45 BILLION years.
I am a former Lawrence Berkeley Lab and Lawrence Livermore Lab
scientist, and now work with a group of independent scientists
called the Radiation and Public Health Project4. Together this group
has written ten books on the health effects of low level radiation.
Presently I am writing a science report on depleted uranium for the
United Nations Human Rights Subcommission, now investigating the
illegality and use of depleted uranium munitions. I have written
the Foreword (Attach.1) to Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost
of Depleted Uranium by Akira Tashiro5.
Attached (Attach. 2) is a declassified memo to General L. R. Groves,
director of the Manhattan Project, dated October 30, 1943. Major
Doug Rokke provided me with this memo. It summarizes a report written
by Manhattan Project physicists Drs. James B. Conant, A. H. Compton
and H.C. Urey on the dissemination of very fine radioactive material
as a method of warfare. It is a "blueprint" for depleted uranium
as it has been used in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan
during the past decade. The memo details the use of very fine and
superfine particles of radioactive materials as a military weapon.
Depleted uranium, produces very fine and superfine particles in
large amounts as it burns. The 1943 memo outlines what was known
in 1943 and below are my comments:
- A gas warfare instrument: the memo indirectly referred to fission
products from Fermi's nuclear pile or radioactive waste like depleted
uranium. The pyrophoric effect of depleted uranium, which spontaneously
burns when heated to 170 C (once it is fired) and on impact,
effectively forms very large numbers of extremely fine (0.1 micron)
and submicroscopic particles as small as 0.001 micron or 10 Engstroms
(see Attach. 3 - Chart "Characteristics of Particles and Particle
Dispersoids") as described in the memo. Particles in this size range
behave like a gas when inhaled, disperse in the lungs to the blood
lung barrier where the white blood cells (greater than 7microns in
diameter) engulf the tiny particles of depleted uranium and carry
them throughout the body. Once these particles have been engulfed
by blood cells or lodged in tissues, they may not be detectable in
the urine. Contaminated personnel will take the depleted uranium
home, deposited in tissues throughout their bodies.
There is no known treatment for exposure.
- It will permeate a gas mask filter: particles in the 0.1 micron
range will penetrate even a HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate
Airfilter - see Attach. 4 - HEPA chart) in large numbers. The filters
in gas masks issued to military personnel are much less efficient
than HEPA filters. There are 1 billion particles of 0.1 micron
diameter in a cubic meter of normal air. It is clear that a man
(without a gas mask) breathing at a normal rate (about 28 cubic
meters per day6) and retaining 75% of the very fine particulate
matter in the respiratory system6 will inhale very large numbers
of very fine particles in a short time period.
In a day an average man would normally inhale 28 million particles
in the 0.1 micron range through a gas mask with HEPA filters. It
would take one billion fine particles to fill the period at the end
of this sentence. On the battlefield during live fire, the high
concentrations of fine and very fine depleted uranium particles
could increase the numbers inhaled in the small particle range by
magnitudes.
The gas masks issued to military personnel now deployed to the Gulf
Region are defective and do not provide even a minimum of protection
to personnel.
Recently I went on a speaking tour in 3 northeastern states with
Major Doug Rokke, January 25-February 1, 2003. In nearly every talk
we gave, a National Guardsman or other military person would tell
us that their masks fell off when they tilted their heads.
Air filters in gas masks also fail as they are wetted by moisture
from breathing or are used in the rain.
There is no possible protection from exposure to very fine particles
of depleted uranium through filtering of air.
- As a terrain contaminant: the dispersal of very fine particles
of depleted uranium will contaminate the terrain and deny access
to either side except at the risk of exposure. That includes civilians
and animals who may live there after the battle. The half-life of
depleted uranium - 4.5 billion years - leaves the contaminated
terrain radioactive forever.
Small particles less than 1 micron in diameter do not settle from
the air (see Attach. 3 - Chart "Characteristics of Particles and
Particle Dispersoids") but become incorporated into atmospheric
dust (see Attach. 5 - Chart "Natural Aerosols") and are transported
around the earth until they are removed ("rainout") by rain, pollution
or snow3. Seasonal climate change, agricultural activities, fires
and other natural and man-made disturbances will continue to
remobilize particles in the upper dust level contaminating terrains
off the battlefield.
Weathering of larger particles of depleted uranium deposited on the
battlefield7 will contribute to concentrations of depleted uranium
fine and superfine particles in the air and upper dust level.
Air monitors in Hungary8 and Greece during bombing in Kosovo and
Bosnia measured Uranium 238 carried by the wind from the battlefields.
Seasonal fluctuations of depleted uranium particles in the air have
been reported in Kuwait6.
- Water and food contamination: the depleted uranium dust will cycle
through the environment both on and off the battlefield contaminating
water supplies and food. Food grown in contaminated areas will be
transported to markets and contaminate populations and areas far
from the battlefields. Wind, water, birds9 and animals who transport
the depleted uranium in their droppings, slowly contaminate wider
and wider areas.
- Internal contamination: inhalation of very fine depleted uranium
dust particles is extremely damaging to the respiratory tract and
will get into the blood stream where it is carried by blood cells
and contaminates tissues throughout the body. These "hot particles"10
will continue to emit alpha and gamma radiation (see Attach. 6 -
photo "Hot particle in lung tissue") as they travel throughout the
body or where they rest in tissue. After the Uranium 238 nucleus
decays, the radioactive daughter product which forms (see Attach.
7) will continue to decay to other isotopes as many as four times.
This will increase the level of radioactive exposure by magnitudes.
Depleted uranium particles lodged in tissue will decay and continue
emitting higher levels of radioactivity from daughter isotopes into
the surrounding tissues.
SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS: The health effects from exposure to a combination
of radiation, chemicals, and biological agents was not addressed
in this WW II memo. This is a critical issue on the battlefield and
should be considered in studies of Gulf War Illness. The combination
of radiation with heavy metals, chemicals and biological toxins
accelerate and increase the adverse health effects of exposure. The
effects are unknown since very little research exists in this
field11.
THIS IS AN ISSUE WHICH SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN FUTURE CONFLICTS
SUCH AS THE PLANNED BOMBING OF IRAQ.
MEASUREMENTS OF DU IN TISSUES FROM 71 DEAD RESIDENTS OF BASRA:
Dr. Hari Sharma, a radiochemist living in Canada and member of the
Radiation and Public Health Project, has measured depleted uranium
levels in the tissues of 71 residents of Basra who died after the
Gulf War from cancers12. They were in the age range of 35-50 years.
He found high concentrations of depleted uranium in tissue samples
from these individuals. The levels were about the same throughout
the tissues, suggesting that very fine particles were transported
in the blood and deposited or lodged throughout the body.
WORLD TRADE CENTER AIR STUDIES:
Dr. Thomas Cahill, Emeritus Professor of Physics and Atmospheric
Sciences at the University of California at Davis, conducted an
independent study of the air around Ground Zero at the World Trade
Center after the 9/11 disaster13.
Using very sophisticated monitoring instruments14 which detect very
fine and ultra fine particles, Cahill and his group monitored the
smoldering pile at the WTC for 5 months following the disaster from
one mile north of the center.
They measured concentrations of particles in six size ranges from
2.5 microns to 0.09 microns13. They reported the highest concentrations
of very fine particles of metals ever reported in the US13, and
unprecedented numbers of very fine and super fine particles13. This
air monitoring study of the WTC provided new information about very
fine and superfine particles which have rarely been studied. Burning
metals and other materials at high temperatures generate very large
amounts of very small particles. For this reason depleted uranium
which has burned is particularly hazardous.
The EPA has verified that depleted uranium was in the plane that
crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 18,19 and that the crash site was
contaminated. Residents of New York City detected radiation on hand
held geiger counters at the WTC site. The EPA not only failed to
protect emergency response personnel at both sites, but did not
report or measure13 concentrations of very fine particles at any
of the 9/11 plane crash locations. These are the most hazardous to
health, and many personnel who worked at the crash sites are now
very ill.
Dr. Cahill also studied the Kuwaiti oil field fires following the
Gulf War.
ECRR: RELEASED JANUARY 30, 2003 A new report from the European
Parliament has been released "2003 Recommendations of the European
Committee on Radiation Risk: Health Effects of Ionising Radiation
Exposure at Low Doses for Radiation Protection Purposes"
Regulators' Edition: Brussels, 2003 10. The report was written by
46 international scientists and has over 550 references to
epidemiological studies which include nuclear site leukemias,
Chernobyl infants, minisatellite mutations, weapons fallout cancers,
DU Gulf Veterans, and Iraqi children.
The report concludes that the International Committee on Radiation
Protection (ICRP) determined international standards for risk and
dose effects from studies on A-bomb survivors which were based on
high dose, external, acute exposures. The ICRP model only considered
cancer as a health risk associated with radiation exposure. The
ICRP model, using "bathtub" chemistry, "steam engine" physics, and
deceptive reporting, produced faulty and fraudulent estimates of
risk and dose effects. Additionally, because the ICRP model is based
on acute, high dose, external exposure it cannot accurately determine
risks or dose response for internal, chronic, isotopic exposures.
For this reason, the ICRP and ECRR models are mutually exclusive.
This new ECRR report based on epidemiological studies, concludes
that the health effects of low level radiation exposure have been
underestimated by the ICRP model by 100-1000 times. It also includes
other health effects due to radiation exposure from global weapons
fallout. In addition to cancer it estimates the number of foetal
deaths, infant mortality, and predicts "a 10% loss of life quality
integrated over all diseases and conditions in those who were exposed
over the period of global weapons fallout".
The committee concluded that underestimates of risk and dose effects
for depleted uranium exposure could be very great since the effect
at the cell level may be very different than other types of radiation
exposures. For this reason the health effects of depleted uranium
exposure in Gulf Veterans will be investigated in depth by this
committee and will be presented in a new report.
Internal exposure to depleted uranium is a "novel" exposure to an
altered form of natural isotopes. The size, shape, surface texture,
density, chemical composition and other physical and chemical factors
of the particles greatly affect the health impact and damage to the
cells of any biological system from depleted uranium exposure.
Particle size may be the most overlooked and one of the most important
characteristics of depleted uranium dust formed on the battlefield.
After burning, depleted uranium is altered both physically and
chemically and estimates of risk to health and dose effects cannot
be based on previous studies of naturally occurring uranium. In the
Research Report Summaries7 of depleted uranium studies done for the
military between 1974 and 1999, they clearly provide information
and concerns in these studies about the hazards of depleted uranium
both to health, exposure on the battlefield and damage to the
environment. This summary is well worth reading as it provides a
timeline of the military politicizing decisions on the use of
depleted uranium over 25 years. For example, in a 1980 Army report17:
This report provides an excellent history of the logic behind the
Army's decision to use DU as a kinetic energy, armored-piercing
munition. DU's final selection over tungsten was based on several
reasons, including the lower initial cost of the penetrator itself
and its better overall performance. DU and tungsten were rated even
for "producibility". Tungsten had the advantage for safety,
environmental concerns, and deployment.
RADIATION RESPECTS NO BORDERS Depleted uranium is being used as an
effective munition on the battlefield and as a radiological weapon
to destroy the genetic future of the Iraqi people15.
Before the Gulf War, Iraq was the most developed and advanced country
in the Middle East16. Writing, religion, poetry, music and science
began in the region which includes Iraq, the Cradle of Civilization.
The ability of the Iraqi people has been recognized for millenia.
The Iraqi people are more feared than Saddam Hussein by the US.
Their talent for creativity, ability to be self-determined, and
their natural resources have made them the target of the US Government,
US oil companies and the Department of Defense.
In November of 1991, Richard Berta, the Western Regional Inspector
for the Department of Energy who was based at the Lawrence Livermore
Lab where I worked, told me: "The Pentagon exists for the oil
companies."
The use of depleted uranium by the Department of Defense has created
a slow Chernobyl in the Middle East.
With my best wishes and hopes that this radiation nightmare will
finally come to an end, and with thanks for your efforts to move
the issue into the light,
Leuren Moret President, Scientists for Indigenous People City of
Berkeley Environmental Commissioner Past President, Association for
Women Geoscientists 2233 Grant Street Apt. 1 Berkeley, CA 94703
Phone/FAX (510) 845-3139
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>>
REFERENCES:
1.. White House statement on "depleted uranium scare".
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ogc/-apparatus/index.html<http://www.whitehouse.go
v/ogc/apparatus/index.html>
2.. DOD Colonel Bob Cherry - Letter to
Editor<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21-feb03r2
.ht
m>, February 2003, Olean Times Herald.
3.. Letter from Dr. Ernest Sternglass August 23, 2001, RE: "Radiation
and Dust
Particles"<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Radiation-Dust-Particles23aug0-1.h
tm>
4.. Radiation and Public Health Project
http://www.radiation.org<http://www.radiation.org/>
5.. Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost of Depleted Uranium by
Akira Tashiro, Chugoku Shimbun 2001.
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/ab-om/uran/index_e.html<http://www.chugoku-np.co
.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html>
6.. "Estimating the Concentration of Uranium in Some Environmental
Samples in Kuwait After the 1991 Gulf War" by F. Bou-Rabee, Appl.
Radiat. Isol., Vol.
46, No. 4, pp. 217-220, 1995.
7.. Research Report Summaries on Depleted Uranium from 1974-1999,
conducted at National Laboratories and military labs.
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du-_ii/du_ii_tabl1.htm#TAB%20L_Re-search%20...
%20Summaries<http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du-_ii/du_ii_tabl1.htm#TAB%20L_Re-s
ear
ch%20Report%20Summaries>
8.. "Did NATO Attacks in Yugoslavia Cause a Detectable Environmental
Effect in Hungary?" by A. Kerekes et. al, Health Physics, Vol. 80
(2), February 2001, pp.177-178.
9.. "Birds Bring Radioactivity
Ashore<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-2003/Birds-Radioactivity-Ashor-e4jan03
.ht
m>" by Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, January 4, 2003, p.5.
10.. 2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation
Risk:
Health Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure at Low Doses for
Radiation Protection Purposes Regulators' Edition: Brussels, 2003.
http://www.euradcom.org<http://www.euradcom.org/>
11.. The Petkau Effect - The Devastating Effect of Nuclear Radiation
on Human Health and the Environment by R. Graeub, 2nd Edition, Four
Walls Eight Windows, New York (1994).
12.. Personal communication: email March 28, 2002.
13.. "N.Y. air hazards found: EPA assurances contradicted by UCD
scientists"
by E. Lau and C. Bowman, Sacramento Bee February 12, 2002.
SacramentoBee-2-12-02-NYairHaz-ardsFound-EPAassurancesContrad-ictedByUCdavis
S
cientists.pdf<http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/PDF-/SacramentoBee-2-12-02-NYairHa-
zar
dsFound-EPAassurancesContradic-tedByUCdavisScientists.pdf> [PDF file]
14.. Detection and Evaluation of Long-Range Transport of Aerosols
(DELTA) Group http://delta.ucdavis.edu/<http://delta.ucdavis.edu/>
15.. A Different Nuclear War: Children of the Gulf War by Takashi
Morizumi http://www.savewarchildren.org<http://www.savewarchildren.org-/>
16.. Children of Iraq: The Dream of the Future UNICEF, printed by
Express International - Lebanon (1988).
17.. Richard P. Davitt "A Comparison of the Advantages and Disadvantages
of Depleted Uranium and Tungsten Alloy as Penetrator Materials",
Tank Ammo Section Report No. 107, Dover, NJ: US Army Armament
Research and Development Command, June 1980.
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du-_ii/du_ii_tabl1.htm#TAB%20L_Re-search%20...
%20Summaries<http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du-_ii/du_ii_tabl1.htm#TAB%20L_Re-s
ear
ch%20Report%20Summaries>
18.. "Depleted uranium: devastation at home and abroad" by Leuren
Moret, San Francisco Bay View, November 7, 2001.
http://www.wagingpeace.org/art-icles/02.01/020117moret.htm<http://www.waging
peace.org/articles/02.01/02011-7moret.htm>
19.. "Tvdliches Uran-Recycling" by Geseko von L|pke, NATUR January
2002.
http://warp6.dva.de/sixcms/det-ail.php?id=112520<http://warp6.dva.de/sixcms/
det-ail.php?id=112520>
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-DU-Casualties-Tashiro2001.htm>:
"Forword" by Leuren Moret to Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost
of Depleted Uranium by Akira Tashiro, Chugoku Shimbun (2001).
Attachment
2<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Groves-Memo-Manhattan30oct43.h-tm>:
Declassified memo to General L.R. Groves, Director of the Manhattan
Project, October 30, 1943.
Source - US Army Major Doug Rokke
Attachment
3<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Particle-Dispersoids-TableSep6-1.htm>:
TABLE:
"Characteristics of Particles and Particle Dispersoids" from the
HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS 53rd Edition. This chart
provides the particle range which is very wide for metallurgical
dusts and fumes, a range from 100 microns to 0.001 microns (10
Angstroms). Particles smaller than 0.1 microns will coagulate and
form larger particles, but the greatest number or population of
particles will be in the 0.1 micron range (see Chart "Natural
Aerosols"). This particle range is smaller than blood cells, bacteria,
pollens, spores and other typical air contaminants. Very fine
particles are extremely hazardous to health because they are carried
by the blood throughout the body. The rate of radiation exposure
from one very small particle can be more than is allowed for a whole
body exposure in one year (see photo "Hot particle in lung tissue").
Attachment
4<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Penetration-Of-HEPA-Filter1984-.htm>:
CHART:
"Penetration of a HEPA filter as a function of particle size" from
18TH DOE NUCLEAR AIRBORNE WASTE MANAGEMENT AND AIR CLEANING CONFERENCE,
Baltimore 1984.
Experimental penetration of particles through a HEPA filter -
determination that approximately 0.1% in the 0.1 micron particle
range will pass through the filter. If there are 100,000 particles
0.1 micron in diameter per cubic centimeter of air, then 120 per
cubic centimeter of air will pass through a HEPA filter. In one day
an average man will inhale 28 million particles in the 0.1 micron
range through a HEPA filter.
Attachment
5<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Natural-Aerosols-Nuclear1992.h-tm>:
CHART: "Natural Aerosols" from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
7th Edition (1992), McGraw Hill.
This chart provides the average size distribution for natural
aerosols in atmospheric dusts. The largest population or number of
particles in an aerosol dust is in the 0.1-0.01 micron range.
Depleted uranium particles in this size range will be incorporated
in atmospheric dusts and will travel indefinitely, transported by
winds.
Attachment
6<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Hot-Particle-Lung-Tissue1997.h-tm>:
PHOTO: "Hot" or radioactive particle in lung tissue" photo by Del
Tredici, Burdens of Proof by Tim Connor, Energy Research Foundation
(1997).
This is a photo of a "hot particle", in this case a 1 micron particle
of plutonium, and shows the alpha tracks emitted from that particle
in one year.
Attachment
7<http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/-Uranium-Actinium-Series1976.ht-m>:
Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 5th Edition (1976)
Decay paths for natural uranium - Table 1 The Uranium Series, and
Table 3 The Actinium Series. The decay paths for uranium are very
complex but decay through a number of steps before they become
stable and are no longer radioactive. Each of these steps produces
a radioactive daughter product which will be more radioactive than
the original uranium atom.
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