Toxic ammo is tested in fish areas
U.S. Navy uses depleted uranium in coast waters; activists may go to court
"Although depleted uranium emits radiation, a second,
potentially more serious hazard is created when a DU
round hits a hard target. As much as 70 percent of the
projectile can burn on impact, creating a firestorm of
ceramic DU oxide particles. The residue of this firestorm is
an extremely fine ceramic uranium dust that can be spread
by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body
and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the
food chain."
January 9, 2003
By LARRY JOHNSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER FOREIGN DESK EDITOR
The Navy routinely tests a weapon by firing radioactive,
toxic ammunition in prime fishing areas off the coast of
Washington, raising concerns from scientists, fishermen
and activists.
The Navy insists the use of depleted uranium off the coast
poses no threat to the environment. Depleted uranium,
known as DU, is a highly dense metal that is the byproduct
of the process during which fissionable uranium used to
manufacture nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated
from natural uranium. DU remains radioactive for about 4.5
billion years.
Cmdr. Karen Sellers, a Navy
spokeswoman in Seattle, also
said there are no hazards to
the servicemen and women
on board the ships, adding
that "all crew members are
medically monitored" to
ensure their safety.
But a coalition of Northwest
environmental and anti-war
activists say they are
considering seeking an
injunction to halt the tests.
"The Navy is willing to put us
all at risk, including its own
sailors, to improve its war-fighting capabilities," said Glen
Milner, of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, one of
the groups weighing a suit to stop the Navy tests. Milner
received information on the Navy's tests of depleted
uranium ammunition off the coast in a memo released in
response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
No major studies apparently have been done on the effects
of such weapons in the ocean. Where depleted uranium
munitions have been used in combat on land, such as in
Iraq during the Gulf War, or in tests on land, such as
Vieques island in Puerto Rico, they not only give off
relatively small amounts of radiation, but produce toxic
dust that can enter the food chain.
Seattle environmental attorney David Mann asked, "How
can the Navy fire depleted uranium rounds and spread
radioactive material into prime fishing areas off our coast?"
Sellers, however, said that only 400 to 600 rounds would
be fired during a typical test at sea. And even though these
tests have been going on since 1977, she said Navy
environmental experts say that the DU dissolves very slowly
in the ocean.
"It would be too diluted to distinguish from natural
background uranium in the sea water," she said.
The weapon in question is the Phalanx, also known as a
Close In Weapons System. Such a system is on virtually all
U.S. Navy combat ships. It includes radar and rapid-fire
20mm guns. The guns are capable of firing up to 3,000 or
4,500 rounds per minute of depleted uranium, a superhard
material prized for its armor-piercing ability.
The Defense Department says the military uses the
munitions "because of DU's superior lethality against armor
and other hard targets."
Although depleted uranium emits radiation, a second,
potentially more serious hazard is created when a DU
round hits a hard target. As much as 70 percent of the
projectile can burn on impact, creating a firestorm of
ceramic DU oxide particles. The residue of this firestorm is
an extremely fine ceramic uranium dust that can be spread
by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body
and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the
food chain.
Once in the soil, DU can pollute the environment and
create up to a hundredfold increase in uranium levels in
ground water, according to the U.N. Environmental
Program
The Defense Department said DU munitions are "war
reserve munitions; that is, used for combat and not fired for
training purposes," with the exception that DU munitions
may be fired at sea for weapon calibration purposes."
Another Navy spokeswoman described those firings at sea
as "routine" and says they occur regularly off both the East
and West coasts.
"If the firing is with DU, it's probably with what we call the
Close in Weapons System, and it is routine," said Lt.
Brauna Carl, a Navy spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.,
and a former gunnery officer who has worked with DU
weapons.
When asked if the tests of DU rounds posed any health
hazards, she replied, "God, I hope not. All I know is I
haven't started glowing."
But Milner says, "It just makes sense that if DU can
contaminate land and get into the food chain, then it would
do the same thing in the sea."
Robert Alverson, president of the Fishing Vessel Owners
Association in Seattle, said he was "very troubled" to hear
that the Navy was using depleted uranium off the coast of
Washington. "I don't like what I'm hearing," he said.
The Navy memo obtained by Milner described a June 2001
operation by the USS Fife, an Everett-based destroyer. The
memo said the Fife would conduct gunnery operations with
depleted rounds in what was described as areas W237C
and W237F.
These areas are designated Navy Warning Areas and are
about 25-100 miles off the coast between Ocean Shores
and Ozette, south of Neah Bay, according to Milner.
"These are certainly prime fishing areas" for some salmon,
flounder and other bottomfish, Alverson said. "It is folly to
be testing anything in this area that might contaminate the
natural food supply."
"How would the Navy feel about eating fish caught there?"
he asked. Alverson said even the perception that fish might
be contaminated could scare consumers and have dire
consequences.
"If any species ever turns up with radiation, it would be
devastating to the fishing industry," he said.
Leonard Dietz, a research associate with the private,
non-profit Uranium Medical Research Centre in Canada
and the United States, said that the degree of
environmental contamination the DU rounds will cause in
sea water depends on what kinds of targets were hit and
how much DU was fired.
"Corrosion of the DU by sea water would occur over a long
time," said Dietz, who with Asaf Durakovic, director of the
center, and research associate Patricia Horan, published a
landmark study on inhaled DU that showed Gulf War
veterans still had DU in their urine nine years after the
war.
"The end result is that the ocean becomes a dumping
ground for the spent DU penetrators and they add to the
(natural) uranium content of sea water," he said.
The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action is one of five
peace and environmental organizations already involved in
a federal lawsuit against the Navy for violations of the
Endangered Species Act over the Trident D-5 nuclear
missile upgrade at the Bangor submarine base.
DEPLETED URANIUM HAZARDS
The Pentagon has sent mixed signals about the effects of
depleted uranium, saying there have been no known
health problems associated with the munition. At the same
time, the military acknowledges the hazards in an Army
training manual, which requires that anyone who comes
within 25 meters of any DU-contaminated equipment or
terrain wear respiratory and skin protection, and says that
"contamination will make food and water unsafe for
consumption."
Some researchers and several U.S. veterans organizations
say they suspect depleted uranium of playing a role in Gulf
War Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has
plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans.
On the Net:
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action: www.gzcenter.org
U.S. Navy: www.navy.mil
Iraqi birth defects, Gulf War Syndrome linked to depleted uranium
P-I foreign desk editor Larry Johnson can be reached at 206-448-8035 or
larryjohnson@seattlepi.com |
