Depleted uranium is currently a part of many nations' non-nuclear forces. Chief among these nations is the United States who, along with Great Britain, are the only military forces to have used these weapons in battle. The United States military used depleted uranium in Iraq and, most recently, in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

What is Depleted Uranium?

Depleted Uranium (DU), a waste product of the nuclear industries, is "about 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium" . This means that it stays radioactive for around "4.5 billion years - a figure comparable to the age of the solar system" . Its use by the military is due mostly to its incredible density. "Depleted uranium is twice as heavy as lead." When fashioned into shells and loaded into battle machines such as "M1-A1 tanks, A-10 Wart Hog attack planes and Apache antitank helicopters" , DU becomes an unstoppable weapon. It easily pierces most armor, as demonstrated when DU was first used against Iraqi T-72 tanks. "In fact, the projectiles are credited with destroying up to 4,000 Iraqi vehicles in the Gulf War." DU bullets, first designed by the US military in the 1970s, burn and self-sharpen when they hit a hard target and scorch their way through inch after inch of armor almost instantaneously. The uranium "ignites upon impact and, when it combines with oxygen, forms a toxic cloud of uranium oxide dust." This toxic dust settles in the contaminated area and can be dispersed by wind and rain.

Health Effects

"The U.S. Food and Drug administration has stated that troops in vehicles loaded with DU shells receive the equivalent radiation dose of about one chest X-ray every 20 to 30 hours" , though this does not prevent the Pentagon from maintaining stringent requirements such as "moon-suit protective gear when approaching objects hit with DU bullets".

"DU is especially dangerous when inhaled, or [brought into] the body through a wound or by swallowing." This effect is sadly apparent in the deserts of Kuwait and southern Iraq where the US and Britain fired approximately 320 tons of DU. Most of it is still there. "Iraqi physicians have reported sharp increases in cancers such as lymphomas and leukemia in Southern Iraq, as well as an increase in birth defects." A Christian Science "Monitor reporter who traveled throughout the region watched a radiation detector carried over parts of [these] battlefields register about 35 times [the ] normal background radiation" . There is growing concern over the effects of DU contamination on the returning Kosovar refugees.

Many veterans believe DU has contributed to the controversial Gulf War syndrome , symptoms of which are reported by an estimated 1 in 7 Gulf war veterans . Dr. Hari Sharma, a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada has studied the effects of these weapons on Gulf War veterans. He says that "even eight years after the Gulf War, we are still finding high levels of depleted uranium in their urine". The Pentagon denies the possibility of a link between depleted uranium use and Gulf War syndrome.

Possibilities for Cleanup

Depleted uranium weapons are relatively cheap. Cleaning up the mess left behind, on the other hand, is very expensive. "The price tag for removing 152,000 pounds of DU in the now closed, 500-acre Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana has been estimated to be $ 4 billion to $ 5 billion. More than 4 times that amount was spread during the Gulf War, over a significantly larger area." Cleanup would entail taking tanks and other contaminated equipment to decontamination sites as well as removing the top layer of soil from all affected areas. Due to its high cost, it is unlikely that the U.S. military will pay for the cleanup.

War of the Future

The Pentagon predicts that every future battlefield is likely to be strewn with DU residue. This poses difficult questions for those people who inhabit these regions during the next 4.5 billion years. By using these weapons, we are condemning future generations to a slow and painful death. Now is the time to put an end to the use of these terrible weapons - before they destroy us.