FARM CHEMICAL PROBLEMS
Morning Edition
Friday, October 24, 1997
    NPR's John Nielsen reports on the Clinton administration's new program for reducing the runoff of farm chemicals from the fields where they're applied, into the nation's waterways. Agricultural runoff has been linked to various ecological problems: most recently, fish kills along the Atlantic coast. The federal government will make money available to farmers who plant grasses and trees in buffer zones along the edges of their fields. Those protective strips would take harmful pollutants out of the water that passes through them and prevent the chemicals from entering streams and rivers. (5:00)
PFIESTERIA & CHICKENS
All Things Considered
Wednesday, September 17, 1997
    NPR's John Nielsen examines the factors that maybe involved in the fish kills reported along the Chesapeake Bay. In the past six weeks, three rivers have been closed to commercial fishing after the discovery of parasite-infested fish. Nutrients in the water appear to be encouraging the proliferation of the parasite -- nutrients that may come from agricultural runoff or other forms of water pollution. At the moment, investigators are focusing on manure flowing into the rivers from the scores of chicken farms along the Bay. But it's not clear that this is the cause of the infestation. (6:00)
CONTAMINATED WATER & DEFORMITIES
Morning Edition
Friday, January 02, 1998
    Mary Losure of Minnesota Public Radio reports that scientists have linked the frequency of deformed frogs to contaminated well and ground water. Health experts are now investigating whether those same contaminants pose a risk to humans. (7:19)
Dead Zones
Weekend Edition - Saturday
Saturday, August 07, 1999
There are an estimated 50 "Dead Zones" in the world's oceans. Dead zones can be natural events, but most occur when polluted water drains out of cities and off farms and ends up concentrated in part of the ocean. The pollution triggers a chain of events that sucks the oxygen out of this water. The biggest Dead Zone in the Western Hemisphere develops every year at this time in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. NPR's John Nielsen reports. (4:40)

MTBE

Living on Earth
2005	MTBE Rides Again, Living on Earth, 29 April 2005

MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) and Underground Storage Tanks
EPA’s federal underground storage tank (UST) regulations have contributed greatly to reducing soil and groundwater contamination (by MTBE and other fuel components) from USTs. However, not all UST systems are regulated and not all components of regulated UST systems are regulated. Even with the most ideal regulations, there will continue to be equipment failures and installation mistakes which will result in releases of fuel to the environment. See also MTBE FAQs. and MTBE in Drinking Water

MTBE in Massachusetts & Elsewhere in US:

National Conference of State Legislatures

MTBE Leaks A Ticking Bomb: Gas additive taints water nationwide

"MTBE contamination is unfortunately the best-kept secret in Massachusetts.

There are no blaring front-page headlines of contamination sites to rally opposition to this gasoline additive - methyl tertiary butyl ether, known as MTBE. There are no angry bands of citizens marching on the State House to protest its use.

Sadly, there are only media stories about how gasoline prices will skyrocket this summer. This bodes ill for the future health and drinking water supplies of the Commonwealth’s citizens. It also bodes ill for the future budgets of Massachusetts and its municipalities as more and more MTBE-contaminated sites must be cleaned up...."

MTBE in Maine:

MTBE in Maine: Summary of Five Point Plan - October 13, 1998

MTBE in California:
"Trading Democracy: The Other Chapter 11" - Bill Moyers
    Excerpt 1 - Excerpt 2 - Excerpt 3
Everyone's heard about NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement — and all the talk about jobs. But almost no one heard about one obscure section of NAFTA — Chapter 11 — except for multinational corporations who are using it to challenge democracy.
    Chapter 11 is only one provision in the 555-page North American Free Trade Agreement — negotiated to promote business among the US, Canada and Mexico. It was supposedly written to protect investors if foreign governments tried to seize their property.
    But corporations have stretched NAFTA's Chapter 11 to undermine environmental decisions — the decisions of local communities — even the verdict of an American jury. The cases brought so far total almost four billion dollars.

Point Source Pollution - Agricultural Waste and Industrial Sources

Texas Hogs
All Things Considered
Wednesday, March 08, 2000
    Janet Heimlich reports that large pork producers are looking to the Texas panhandle for possible expansion as resistance to their massive operations has grown in traditional pork producing states such as Iowa and North Carolina. The panhandle's semi-arid climate and sparse population make disposal of enormous quantities of hog waste less of an environmental problem. (8:30)
EPA'S GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING ANIMAL WASTE
Morning Edition
Thursday, September 17, 1998
    NPR's John Nielsen reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has new guidelines for managing animal waste from the nation's industrial-scale hog and poultry farms. The farms employ tens of thousands of people, while producing 1.4 billion tons of manure a year. The EPA wants to increase the number of inspections, and make penalties more severe for farms that break the rules. (4:11)
Kansas Water - Urban vs. Farming use of Water
Morning Edition
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
    Much of America's heartland sits atop a vast underground lake known as the High Plains Aquifer.
    Stretching as far north as Wyoming and South Dakota, and as far south as Texas, both cities and farms use the aquifer as their primary source of water. But now some officials are worried the aquifer is being over used, and some areas may become depleted if new guidelines aren't established. Peter Hancock from Kansas Public Radio takes a look at the controversy.
  PHOENIX RISING
All Things Considered
Wednesday, June 30, 1999
    Mark Moran of member station KJZZ in Phoenix reports on that city's recent and rapid growth. As one of the country's fastest growing cities, Phoenix faces a slate of problems and challenges, ranging from traffic congestion and pollution--to finding enough water to supply the population. (3:30)

Research Tools for Industrial Toxic Sources:

• US-EPA - Toxic Release Inventory
  Toxic Release Inventory - TRI - Western States Map Locators
• US-EPA - Superfund
      Enviromapper
• RTK Net - Right To Know Network
  TRI Search
          The Right Stuff: Information in the Public Interest By Alair MacLean
• Environmental Defence Fund
  Scorecard 
  POLLUTION LOCATOR
  The U.S. Toxics Release Inventory

US toxic waste leaves Japan
Sunday, 14 May, 2000, 02:25 GMT 03:25 UK
    A ship containing US toxic waste has set sail from Japan - four weeks after being refused entry into the US and Canada.
    The US military ship, carrying 100 tonnes of contaminated waste, left Yokohama port on Saturday heading for the American territory of Wake Island in the central Pacific.
    US defence officials said the waste would be stored there temporarily until its final destination was decided.
    Protesters from the environmental group Greenpeace have criticised the US Government for not having definite disposal plans for the waste.

Toxic waste 'dumped' in Golan
Wednesday, 20 December, 2000, 21:25 GMT 
    Syrian students have staged a protest in Damascus over what they say is the dumping by Israel of toxic waste on the occupied Golan Heights.
Calling for international help, they urged the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to send a mission to investigate.
    A spokesman for the protesters, Medhat Saleh, said barrels of paint, containing poisonous substances which could cause cancer or gene deficiencies, had been discovered near five Syrian villages on the Golan.
    Private deal
    The Israeli Environment Ministry denied the allegation. It said in a statement that Israel did not dump any kind of waste on the Golan Heights.
 

Golan - Water
All Things Considered
Thursday, January 06, 2000
    NPR's Linda Gradstein reports that one of the contentious issues being discussed in the Israeli-Syrian peace talks is control over water resources. Syria is demanding a return to its borders before the 1967 war between Israel and Syria, which would include the water sources for the entire Golan Heights. But Israel says that would give Syria control over the Sea of Galilee, known as Lake Tiberius to the Syrians, and that, the Israelis say, is unacceptable. (5:15)

Lawrence Summers and the World Bank Memo (Source: The Whirled Bank)
DATE: December 12, 1991
TO: Distribution
FR: Lawrence H. Summers
Subject: GEP
'Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]? I can think of three reasons.....

Postscript (from the Whirled Bank)
After the memo became public in February 1992, Brazil's then-Secretary of the Environment Jose Lutzenburger wrote back to Summers: "Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane... Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility. To me it would confirm what I often said... the best thing that could happen would be for the Bank to disappear." [...] Mr. Lutzenburger was fired shortly after writing this letter.

Mr. Summers, on the other hand, was appointed the U.S. Treasury Secretary on July 2nd, 1999, and served through the remainder of the Clinton Admistration. Afterwards, he was named president of Harvard University.

Supplementary Materials

The engineering solution to all aspects of "development" has been linked intimately with America's foreign policy, expecially since the emergence of what President Eisenhower referred to as the "military-industrial complex" in post World War II America. While President Eisenhower warned against the danger of allowing this phenomenon to gain effective control over America's institutions and traditions of freedom, his warning has been largely ignored by those in power. The symbiotic link between large scale industry and government contracting has gained ascendancy in every successive decade since President Eisenhower first warned of its emergence nearly fifty years ago. Executives of large scale engineering firms have been recruited from the ranks of retiring military officers, and several administrations have in turn appointed their Secretaries of Defense and other high ranking administrative and political officials directly from the executive ranks of industry. Many analysts regard this repetitive syndrome to be at the core or America's foreign policy problems. America's increasing dependence upon petroleum-driven growth and its engineering approach to problems of social change and development throughout the world has meant that many regard American policy as responsible for wide spread ecological devastation in the Third World. Large scale engineering projects -- like roads and dams -- have had particularly devastating impacts on local ecosystems, but the devastation is especially apparent in areas where Americans have engaged in armed conflict with novel toxic agents (like Agent Orange in Viet Nam) or the 'recycled" radioactive waste from the Department of Energy (depleted uranium (DU) weaponry used by the Pentagon in Iraq). Consider, for example, some of this recently available evidence:
"The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney," CBC - TV, (6 October 2006).	Bechtel's View of the World	The Oil Factor - excerpts
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man	Iraq for Sale	Rumsfeld's War
Why We Fight	"Hidden Wars of Desert Storm"	Oil and Iraq
The Great Turning
From a consequentialist perspective on environmental ethics, what are the mid- and long-term implications of these patterns of behavior for both the individuals concerned and the institutions and people they represent?

POP Problems and Pesticide Debate:

Immediate pesticide ban demanded
By Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby
Rachel Ellison reports on growing calls to suspend the use of lindane in the UK
    The UK Government is being urged to withdraw a widely-used pesticide from sale with immediate effect.
The chemical is lindane, which is used to kill insects on crops and in timber.
The call to ban it comes from Friends of the Earth, the Pesticides Trust, the Women's Environmental Network, and the trade union Unison.

Monday, 26 November, 2001, 17:18 GMT
DDT and Africa's war on malaria
    One of the most powerful weapons in the war against malaria is the insecticide DDT - effective in curbing the disease-carrying mosquito but also lethal to the environment as a whole. The BBC's Mike Donkin examines South Africa's controversial use of the chemical and the pressures facing neighbouring Mozambique as it struggles to battle malaria without it.
    Malaria kills a million people a year in Africa - mainly in the poorest nations south of the Sahara. Most of these victims are children.
    Babies and the very young have little resistance to the parasite, which is passed on by the Anopheles funestus mosquito when it pierces the skin to feed on human blood - the parasite that causes malaria is in the mosquito's saliva.

Thursday, 12 July, 2001, 23:02 GMT 00:02 UK
DDT link to premature births
    Women exposed to DDT, the insecticide effective in controlling malaria, may be more likely to have premature births.
    American scientists found that the insecticide increases the risk of pregnant women having their babies before 37 weeks of gestation.
DDT was banned or restricted in industrialised countries in the 1970s but in many countries it is still used to control malaria spreading mosquitoes.

16 May, 2001, 18:05 GMT 19:05 UK Wednesday
Premature puberty link to DDT
    Scientists believe the controversial pesticide DDT is responsible for premature puberty in girls in developing countries.
    Researchers in Belgium, who carried out the study, found children who had emigrated from countries such as India and Colombia were 80 times more likely to start puberty unusually young.
    Three-quarters of these immigrant children with "precocious" puberty had high levels of a chemical derivative of DDT in their blood.

Tuesday, July 21, 1998 Published at 10:22 GMT 11:22 UK
Norway's androgynous polar bears
Bear cubs: Poisoned by their mother's milk
The BBC's Richard Wilson investigates in the Norwegian Arctic
    Scientists in the Arctic region of Norway have warned that polar bears are at risk because of high levels of chemical pollution from the rest of Europe and East Asia.
The bears have been found with both male and female sexual organs.
Scientists say chemicals used in heavy industry are causing the abnormalities, which could eventually lead to the bear's extinction.

Tuesday, July 21, 1998 Published at 06:53 GMT 07:53 UK
Polar bears at risk from chemicals
   Scientists in the Arctic region of Norway have warned that polar bears are at risk because of high levels of chemical pollution from the rest of Europe and the Far East.
They've found seven female polar bear cubs with both female and developing male sexual organs, and say industrial chemicals such as PCBs are almost certainly to blame.
PCBs were banned by most countries in the 1980s, but their environmental effect can last for decades.

Thursday, 4 May, 2000, 18:00 GMT 19:00 UK
Young Danes' sperm count dips
By environment correspondent Alex Kirby
    Almost half of 700 Danish army recruits have been found to have sperm counts low enough to make it hard for them to father children.
    The recruits, aged from 18 to 20, had significantly lower counts than men in another sample born about 10 years earlier.
    While the researchers describe their findings as "difficult to explain", environmentalists believe exposure to one group of chemicals is a factor.

Disrupting Life's Messages John Peterson Myers     This commentary first appeared in the February 2002 edition of Our Planet, a publication of the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP.     A revolution in scientific understanding of the impacts of contamination on health is underway. As it unfolds, it is likely dramatically to alter our understanding of the consequences of pollutants for human well-being, and to require fundamental changes in how chemicals are regulated. Tuesday, 22 May, 2001, 15:03 GMT 16:03 UK Ban agreed on toxic chemicals     Representatives from 127 countries have backed moves to ban or minimise the use of 12 toxic chemicals, the so-called "dirty dozen".     Environment ministers and senior officials agreed to support a UN treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) without a vote at a conference hall in central Stockholm. See text of The Stockholm Convention, (22 May 2001). Thursday, 19 April, 2001, 18:52 GMT 19:52 UK Bush to sign pollutants treaty The BBC's Philippa Thomas in Washington The President has been dubbed by some as the 'Toxic Texan'"     US President George W Bush says his administration is ready to sign an international treaty aimed at curbing toxic chemicals called persistent organic pollutants (POPs).     Mr Bush - who has been dogged by criticism for his environmental policies in his first months in office - said the risk posed by organic pollutants was great and action needed to be taken.     "We must work to eliminate or at least to severely restrict the release of these toxins without delay," Mr Bush said. POP Treaty, Text

Question: Do we need a new approach to 'toxics?' A different set of base-line assumptions?

Is the legalistic presumption of "innocence" an adequate way to proceed with toxins, carcinogens and endocrine distrupters in a complex ecosystem?

Consider the European approach. How does it differ from that of the United States?

"Safety dance," APR - Marketplace Radio, (17 November 2005).
European researchers are testing many household chemicals that have been used for years, to see whether they cause health problems. The testing, approved by the European Parliament, could have a big impact on American companies and consumers.

Nuclear Waste and Contamination: 

Warning Signs - A Series Accidents: 

Three Mile Island:

Three Mile Island
Weekend Edition - Saturday
Saturday, March 27, 1999
Twenty years ago tomorrow, the worst commercial nuclear accident in US history occured at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in South Central Pennsylvania. Two decades later some townspeople in Middletown, Pennsylvania are still grappling with the legacy of Three Mile Island. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports. (8:30)
THREE MILE ISLAND ANNIVERSARY
Weekend Edition - Sunday
Sunday, March 28, 1999
20 years ago today, America suffered its worst nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. NPR's Dan Charles reports that since then, nuclear engineers have become a rare breed as orders for nuclear plants have dried up. 5:35 

Chernobyl:

"Greenpeace rejects Chernobyl toll," BBC News Online, (18 April 2006).

Japan:

Japan's Nuclear Accident:
Nuclear accident shakes Japan
Thursday, September 30, 1999 Published at 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK
    Japan is facing an unprecedented nuclear emergency after a major uranium leak.
    Radiation levels at the Tokaimura nuclear fuel-processing plant in north-east Japan are 15,000 times higher than normal.
    The authorities have warned thousands of residents near the site of the accident to stay indoors and to wash off any rain that falls on them.

 Japan's nuclear crisis: Full coverage

Korea Nuclear Accident:
Accident at South Korea nuclear plant
Tuesday, October 5, 1999 Published at 17:05 GMT 18:05 UK
The BBC's Andrew Wood reports: "There was no release of radiation outside of the plant"
    An inquiry has been launched in South Korea after 22 workers at a nuclear plant were exposed to radiation after a coolant leak.
    The accident at the Wolsung plant, south-east of Seoul, happened at 7pm local time (1000GMT) on Monday during maintenance and safety checks, the Science and Technology Ministry said. The nuclear reactors were not in operation at the time.
    Ministry officials said the exposure - the first-ever case of group contamination in South Korea - was "not that severe".

Germans Phase out Nuclear Energy
Phasing Out Nuclear Power
Morning Edition
Thursday, June 15, 2000
Host Bob Edwards talks with reporter Andrew Carnegie of Radio Deutsche Welle in Cologne about the decision in Germany to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 years. This is something the Green party has been fighting for. But rather than seeing the decision as a victory, the party is protesting the 30-year timetable. (4:06)
Germans Debate Closing Nuclear Power Industry
Morning Edition
Wednesday, December 23, 1998
NPR's Edward Lifson reports from Germany that Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens who took power in October are calling for an end to nuclear energy in Germany. Yesterday Senior members of Germany's ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens clashed over how and when the shut down of the nuclear power stations would be implemented. (3:34)

The United States: "Renaissance" of the Nuclear Option:
Nuclear Power Renaissance
Morning Edition
Wednesday, May 16, 2001
   NPR's David Kestenbaum reports on the expected boom in nuclear power-plant construction. The last nuclear plant was built 22 years ago. But a streamlined building process and a green light from the new administration have resurrected the maligned energy source. (5:28)
Bush's Energy Plan
Morning Edition
Friday, May 18, 2001
   NPR's Mara Liasson reports on President Bush's energy proposal. The plan calls for new domestic drilling for oil and natural gas, and for increasing production at coal-fired and nuclear power plants. Bush's opponents criticize the plan's de-emphasis on energy conservation and say it shows the administration's close ties to the oil industry. (4:45)
California - Nuclear Power
All Things Considered
Monday, May 28, 2001
A surprising 59 percent of Californians now say they approve of the use of nuclear power to generate electricity in the state. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports. (3:15)
 

Nuclear Waste in America: Yucca Mountain

Yucca Mountain/Nuclear Waste
Jul. 10, 2002
   The Senate voted yesterday to allow the Bush administration to move forward with plans to store thousands of tons of deadly radioactive fuel pellets under Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. NPR's David Welna reports on the debate and the vote.

Yucca Mountian/Nuclear Waste - Reaction
Jul. 10, 2002
   NPR's Howard Berkes reports on reaction in the state of Nevada to the Senate's decision to store radioactive waste in their state. The state and its allies have been fighting the Yucca Mountain plan for 20 years. Opponents say their battle's not over yet.

The Science of Yucca Mountain
Debate Lingers over Safety of Nation's Proposed Nuclear Vault
   July 10, 2002 -- On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate joined the House and President Bush in choosing Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the final resting place for the nation's most potent radioactive waste -- deadly leftovers from nuclear reactors and decades of building and testing bombs. The Senate vote overturns a veto by the state of Nevada.
   Approval from one more government authority is necessary before construction can begin: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC must decide whether Yucca Mountain's containment design is good enough to guarantee safety. Radioactivity will eventually leak out of Yucca Mountain. As NPR's David Kestenbaum reports, the question is only when the vault will leak -- and how much.

History of nuclear waste program
   Spent nuclear fuel is the radioactive by-product of making electricity at commercial nuclear power plants and high-level radioactive waste is the by-product from production at defense facilities. In 1982, Congress established a national policy to solve the problem of nuclear waste disposal. This policy is a federal law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Congress based this policy on what most scientists worldwide agreed is the best way to dispose of nuclear waste.
   The Nuclear Waste Policy Act made the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for finding a site, building, and operating an underground disposal facility called a geologic repository. The recommendation to use a geologic repository dates back to 1957 when the National Academy of Sciences recommended that the best means of protecting the environment and public health and safety would be to dispose of the waste in rock deep underground.

Internationalizing a Problem Not Yet Solved by Nation States

   Efforts to create international depositories for nuclear waste represent a further complication of the ethical issues involved. Some sites are proposed for waste storage in countries that have no nuclear capacity, and yet they are expected to become permanent storage places for materials that will remain lethal for tens of thousands of years.

Consider the discussion presented By the BBC in its two-part exploration of nuclear waste issues:

Part I - 24:55 min.
Part II - 25:58 min.

 

Linear Thinking Dominates Thinking About Nuclear Waste
See: Discussion of Sending Nuclear Waste to the Moon

As the debate rages over using the Yucca Mountain as a burial ground for thousands of tons of radioactive material, a better site for unwanted nuclear waste holds its mute vigil in the skies above the Nevada desert: the Moon.

Yet Nuclear Problems Remain on Earth....
Consider: Depleted Uranium: America Introduces Nuclear Weaponry to International Conflicts

Tuesday, 12 March, 2002, 14:08 GMT
Uranium weapons health warning
By BBC News Online's Ania Lichtarowicz line
   A small number of soldiers and civilians might suffer kidney damage from depleted uranium (DU) if substantial amounts are breathed in, or swallowed in contaminated soil and water.
   "The main concerns are that children can ingest large amounts of soil when they're playing" Prof Brian Spratt.
   A report by the UK's academy of science, the Royal Society, recommends that soldiers who may have been exposed to DU should be tested for the presence of uranium in their kidneys and in their urine.
Written by some of the country's leading scientists, the report also suggests that DU may contaminate water supplies - putting civilians at risk.

Thursday, 4 April, 2002, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK
Iraq fears Allied bombs caused cancer
By the BBC's Rageh Omaar
In southern Iraq line
   Iraqi doctors claim that the use of weapons containing depleted uranium by British and American forces during the Gulf War is causing an "epidemic of cancer".
   Allied forces have admitted using hundreds of tonnes of shells tipped with depleted uranium against Iraqi forces in the south of the country.
   But they have denied that the weapons have caused high cancer rates.

Thursday, 18 January, 2001, 00:14 GMT
Depleted uranium: The next generation
By Alex Kirby, BBC News Online environment correspondent and presenter of Costing the Earth
   Some UK Gulf War veterans fear their children are suffering because of their own exposure to depleted uranium (DU) weapons.
   Several veterans have told BBC Radio 4's environment programme,       Costing the Earth, why they are worried.
   The Ministry of Defence continues to insist that DU poses no particular risk to parents, let alone their children.

DU Watch - from British NGO, Stop NATO

Lie of the millennium?
   Damning evidence of the lethal trail left by depleted uranium in Iraq and Kosovo is piling up, but British and US military authorities continue to deny the facts, writes Felicity Arbuthnot from London
   On 9 January this year, the United Kingdom's Armed Forces Minister John Spellar addressed parliament regarding concerns over the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. For those who have followed the issue since these weapons were used in the 1991 Gulf War, his assertions that the harmful impact on the civilian population attributed to DU were grossly exaggerated were astonishing. Whether he was dramatically misled by his advisers or influenced by the "special relationship" that the UK has with Washington, he was being extremely economical with the truth.

Felicity Arbuthnot
"Depleted Uranium: A Post-War Disaster for Environment and Health," Laka Foundation, (1 May 1999).
   In the course of the preparations for the Hague Appeal for Peace '99 conference, Laka decided to make a brochure about the use of depleted uranium in conventional weaponry and its consequences. The idea was born because of the short time reserved during the session for the presentation of all details about depleted uranium (DU). Although the word "depleted uranium" may suggest no harmful impact from radiation, this brochure will clarify the real radiotoxic (and chemotoxic) properties of DU.

Interview with Helen Caldicott on "Between the Lines," 18 October 2002

      See her article: "Medical Consequences of Depleted Uranium," StopNATO - Website.(2 March 2001).

The New Nuclear Danger The Cambridge Forum
      Helen Caldicott, founder, Physicians for Social Responsibility
      In her timely new book, The New Nuclear Danger, Dr. Helen Caldicott looks at the indebtedness of the Bush Administration to the arms industry and warns of the incredible dangers inherent in allowing weapons manufacturers to dictate foreign policy. Recounting the history of government collusion with industry, Caldicott shows how the merging of weapons firms in the 1980's created hugely powerful 'death merchants', including Lockheed and others, ready to lobby politicians and manipulate public opinion on behalf of their corporate interests. The world's leading spokesperson for the antinuclear movement, Dr. Helen Caldicott is the founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Veterans and Depleted Uranium:

      In addition, consider what some Gulf War Veterans are saying about depleted uranium and its impact on the health of veterans experiencing, "Gulf War Syndrome."

See in particular the information about the New England speaking tour of Major Doug Rokke, speaking about:

• "Gulf War Casualties and Depleted Uranium," A 2 Part Warning to the Citizens for the World: “Do Not Use Depleted Uranium Munitions Again” and
• US Places Soldiers at Risk with Diminished Training for 'Depleted' Uranium from the Traprock Peace Center

And the 1999 publication: A Review of the Scientific Literature as It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses: Depleted Uranium (The Gulf War Series) by Naomi H. Harley, Ernest C. Foulkes, Lee H. Hilborne, Arlene Hudson, C. Ross Anthony (Washington, D. C., Rand Corporation, 1999).

Speech by Scott Ritter, the former head of the U.N. weapons inspections team in Iraq, spoke to a packed auditorium of students Deerfield Academy Tuesday night. The former Marine and ex-intelligence officer, who is also a Republican, told eighth- through 12th-grade students that war is "not a video game." "War is terminal," he said. "War is about death and destruction."

Supplementary Information on Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Weaponry in Iraq,
Lost Nuclear Material& Its Potential Use in 'Dirty Bombs'

By way of followup from the last session's consideration of nuclear issues, consider some of the disturbing news coming out of the former Soviet Union.

• Russian Nuclear Theft
• Dirty Bomb Warning
• Nuclear Material
• Analysis: Making a 'dirty bomb'
• Georgia Nuclear Material Discovered
• Georgia "on the verge of economic collapse": interim president

Depleted Uranium is the News... What does this mean for the the evolution of the "Third World's War?" What "next steps" might you reasonably expect, now that the civilian population in Iraq appears to have been exposed to radioactive waste? Juan Gonzalez 2004 "Poisoned?," New York Daily News, (3 April 2004). Juan Gonzalez 2004 "Soldiers demand to know health risks," New York Daily News, (3 April 2004). Juan Gonzalez 2004 "Army to test N.Y. Guard unit: Hillary demands that all veterans of Iraq get checked," New York Daily News, (5 April 2004). Donald Bertrand 2004 "Chuck rips Army treatment of sick G.I.s," New York Daily News, (10 April 2004). Wil Cruz 2004 "DEPLETED URANIUM:GIs: Dust made us ill," Newsday.Com,[Commondreams.Org] (10 April 2004). Chemical 'bomb plot' in UK foiled 2004 Intelligence agents in the UK and US foil an alleged chemical bomb plot in Britain, the BBC learns. Michael Peschardt 2005 2005 "'Nuclear link' to terror suspects," BBC News Online, (14 November 2005).     If Iraqi populations come to believe that nuclear munitions have been used upon them and that both military and civilian populations might be affected by exposure to radioactive debris for years or decades to come, there might be considerable resentment that could foster a sentiment in favor of some form of retaliation. What form might retaliation take?     No one knows, but there is growing concern about the potential impact of a "dirty bomb" in a major city in Europe, Britain or the United States. New forms of non-point source"nuclear pollution" beyond anything we have witnessed in Three Mile Island or Chernbyl are now a growing source of potential concern around the world. Many who have followed the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the 1991 Gulf War or who have read Al Jazeera's coverage of the current Iraq invasion feel that civilian populations in Iraq have already been exposed to nuclear waste as part of a systematic policy pursued by Americans to capture cities like Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul. What do you think their reaction would be if they were to learn that civilians in American or European cities were to be exposed to attacks with radioactive "dirty bombs?" Use of Depleted Uranium in Iraq - excerpt of Documentary - "The Oil Factor" "Action call over dirty bomb threat," BBC World Service, (11 March, 2003, 17:13 GMT Tuesday). "We can't claim we haven't been warned..." - NOVA Documentary - "Dirty Bomb" "US 'dirty bomb' suspect charged," BBC News Online, (22 November 2005 15:42 GMT). further information on the use of DU is available as part of the documentary movie, "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm"