[Cerchio] veterani dell'iraq con intossicazioni da uranio

Troops show uranium sickness signs, claims expert

June 23 2003



Australian servicemen and women who served in the recent Iraq war were
reporting

symptoms of uranium sickness, a United States nuclear weapons expert said
today.

Dr Douglas Rokke is a former US Army nuclear health physicist and was
formerly the Pentagon's expert on the health effects of depleted uranium
ammunition.

Speaking in Melbourne today, Dr Rokke said Iraqi women and children and
American and Iraqi military personnel had reported respiratory illnesses
and rashes after the recent conflict, and he had also been told of
Australian servicemen and women with similar symptoms.

"That's the reports I received from the US Army medical department. That's
something that needs to be verified and looked into," he said.

"When American soldiers are sick and the Iraqis are sick there's nothing
that says an Australian soldier is going to be isolated when he goes
through those areas and he is not going to become ill.


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During operation Desert Storm in 1991

Dr Rokke led a team assigned to clean up uranium contamination caused by
friendly fire.

"What we saw can be described in only three words - Oh my God! The wounds
were horrible, the contamination was extensive," he said.

"Although myself and my team members wore respiratory and skin protection,
that protection we know today does not provide any adequate protection
against the inhalation, the ingestion, the absorption of uranium compounds."

He said he now suffered rashes, respiratory problems, kidney problems and
cataracts related to his exposure to uranium.

Dr Rokke is in Australia to speak against the use of depleted uranium
weapons, which he describes as a crime against humanity, creating a
toxicological nightmare.

He is campaigning for the outlawing of depleted uranium munitions, medical
care for those who have been exposed to uranium and a clean-up of exposed
environments.

He will speak at public meetings and meet government officials and returned
service groups while in Australia.

"What I have learned from my work is that uranium munitions must be
banned," Dr Rokke said.

"When we can no longer clean up the environment and we can no longer
provide medical care for anybody that's exposed, then that weapon must
never be used in conflict."

Jacob Grech, of the OzPeace Network, said while Australia did not use
depleted uranium munitions, the country exported between 2500 and 3000
tonnes of uranium to the United States each year for energy.

"It's the waste energy products that is used in the manufacture of these
munitions.

"From the very start, before they are even made, Australia and the
Australian government is complicit in the production of these weapons."

"We'd like our government as a bare minimum to put Australian service
veterans from the first and second Gulf wars, as well as Afghanistan,
through rigorous testing to get a baseline study of exactly what the health
effects are of depleted uranium and other chemical toxins ... and treat
them," Mr Grech said.

"So far our government has been furphying, it's been releasing reports
which parrot the Pentagon line six to 12 months later, it's been in a state
of denial."

Mr Grech said he had not yet had reports of service personnel from the most
recent conflict suffering uranium sickness, but there were a lot of
veterans from the first Gulf war displaying symptoms.

"I think what we are going to see with Australian returned service people
from the Gulf and Afghanistan is 20 years down the track exactly what
happened with agent orange in Vietnam," Mr Grech said.

AAP