tagged w/ Depleted Uranium
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This week: Depleted Uranium Munitions in Libya, Militarization of the Arctic, PE Nolan is back with a call to activism our ass$%$ of the week and more…This week: Depleted Uranium Munitions in Libya, Militarization of the Arctic, PE Nolan... more
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The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daichii power plant will have consequences for the future of nuclear power in Japan and elsewhere. To get a better idea of the world's current tally of nuclear reactors, I've created a map of the world's nuclear power plants and reactors using Google Earth – the maps are based on a database kindly supplied to me by staff at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) database, so it's reliable, and up-to-date.The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daichii power plant will have consequences for... more
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“Depleted uranium tipped missiles fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way… I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people.” ~ Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA
In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.
DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.
http://www.houseofpaine.org/bonziebean/blog/?p=420“Depleted uranium tipped missiles fit the description of a dirty bomb in every... more
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A weekly radio program with Dr. Helen Caldicott.
Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. She hosts a weekly radio program, If You Love This Planet
http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/
http://www.csaolympia.org/images/vision_globe.jpgA weekly radio program with Dr. Helen Caldicott.
Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7... more
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Hundreds of tons of Depleted Uranium (DU) were used during the invasion of Iraq. The US forces have forbid any kind of (DU) related exploration programs or research. They have also covered up and denied DU’s damaging health effects, and refused to release information on the amounts, types and locations of these weapons within Iraq.Hundreds of tons of Depleted Uranium (DU) were used during the invasion of Iraq. The... more
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Allegations that Britain was complicit in the use of chemical weapons linked to an upsurge in child deformity cases in Iraq, are being investigated by the British Ministry of Defense.
The British Independent reports that the case raises serious questions about the UK's role in the American-led offensive against the city of Fallujah in the autumn of 2004.Allegations that Britain was complicit in the use of chemical weapons linked to an... more
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We're well into Tuesday, and the Current community has set their sights on a few choice stories. These recently submitted stories have quickly risen in popularity, so give them a read and feel free to join in on the discussion.
Depleted Uranium: Dead and Deformed Babies in Iraq and Afghanistan are no joke -- [via The Public Record]
WARNING: THE PHOTO ACCOMPANYING THE LINK TO THE PUBLIC RECORD IS GRAPHIC. CLICK WITH CAUTION.
It's no surprise that this story is picking up steam, considering the photo evidence accompanying it. Growing up in the wake of the Vietnam War, the real world use of Agent Orange seemed like the stuff of horror movies. The aftereffect of depleted uranium simultaneously reminds me of those days spent fearing Agent Orange, and trumps them in one fell swoop.
Shocking pictures of bird corpses filled with plastic -- [via Planet Green]
If this trend continues, I'm going to title this post the "shocking and revealing photos" edition of the top 5. Planet Green showcases the work of photographer Chris Jordan, who travelled to the Midway Islands to photograph decomposed bird bodies full of consumed plastic litter.
There are 5 million children who could be potentially orphaned by ICE deportations
-- [via Univision.com]
Jubal pulled this story from Univision.com, a group of orphaned children from the US were featured on the Cristina show. Cristina reports that based on ICE estimates roughly 5 million children born from illegal alien parents living in the US. Here is a link to the translated Univision story.
Gallup poll finds record support for legalizing marijuana -- [via The Raw Story]
Our community always keeps us abreast of the latest in marijuana legislation (and more!). Gallup has released new data taken from a recent poll, which shows an unprecedented record number of supporters of the legalization and taxation of marijuana for recreational use in the US.
The poll clearly illustrates a generational and political divide on the issue, with 78 percent of self-described liberals saying they would like to see the drug legalized and 72 percent of self-described conservatives being opposed. Gallup also found that 50 percent of Americans under 50-years-old are in favor of legalization, but just 28 percent of seniors agree.
Perhaps the most important demographic to advocates of legalization are the moderate voters, among whom 51 percent now support ending prohibition.
Nobel winner slams Bible as ‘handbook of bad morals’ -- [via The Raw Story]
Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, made the following statement yesterday:
"The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people"
Saramago made these remarks at a launch event for his new book, "Cain" -- an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. The Roman Catholic Church has accused Saramago of pulling off a publicity stunt by criticizing a "cruel, jealous and unbearable God (who) exists only in our heads." What do you think?
We're well into Tuesday, and the Current community has set their sights on a few... more
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MONTPELIER, Vt. — In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 Wednesday to block operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials and other problems.
The last time a reactor in the United States was closed by a vote of the public or its representatives was in June 1989, when the voters of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District decided to shut the Rancho Seco reactor. The issues in that case were mostly economic; the plant kept breaking down, forcing the district to buy electricity from neighbors, and it had been shut from late 1985 to early 1988 for repairs.
Commissioned in August 1966 and given its operating license in March 1972, Vermont Yankee is one of the older plants in the American inventory of 104 power reactors. The oldest still running is Oyster Creek, near Toms River, N.J., which is of a similar design and opened in December 1969.
Oyster Creek recently won a 20-year extension of its initial 40-year license, although, to the anger of its opponents, plant owners announced a few days later that it, too, was leaking tritium.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/us/25nuke.html?scp=2&sq=vermont&st=cse
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/02/25/us/25nuke01/25nuke01-popup.jpgMONTPELIER, Vt. — In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont... more
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Please watch this video, it may be the most important thing you do today!
Obama is completely in the pocket of the NUCLEAR POWER industry.
Write, email, and call Obama and tell him he's wrong and "we the people" do not want any more nuclear power plants.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/16/obama.jobs/Please watch this video, it may be the most important thing you do today!
Obama is... more
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"The world's energy portfolio should not include coal or natural gas, he said, and must include carbon capture and storage technology as well as nuclear, wind and both solar photovoltaics and solar thermal power."
"According to CNN, Gates spent a large portion of his speech endorsing technology that could turn spent uranium fuel rods into clean energy. Gates told the audience that the technology could power the world indefinitely, and that the U.S. could be powered for 100 years using the spent fuel rods already in its possession."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF????? For everyone to live like Bill Gates, we might need to do what he says. Unplugging Bill Gates' house from the grid would be a good start, but more nukes? NO!
Reprocessing is the worst development in nuclear technology since the atomic bomb. You've heard the term nuclear nightmare? Well this is it.
100 years? Really Bill? really? Does that seem like a long time to you? When you consider the nuclear reprocessing boondoggle and nuclear waste in general, its infinitesimal. I'm beginning to think Dr. Helen Caldicott was right, some of these pro-nuclear people may be clinically insane.
I've been a fan of Gates and I've used windows beginning with version 2.0, but my next computer may very well be a solar powered MAC.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/bill-gates-ted-speech-201_n_461034.html
http://www.redesign-day.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/aerial-view-of-bill-gates-house.jpg"The world's energy portfolio should not include coal or natural gas, he... more
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"President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation.
Obama singled out nuclear power in his State of the Union address, and his spending plan for the next budget year is expected to include billions of more dollars in federal guarantees for new nuclear reactors. This emphasis reflects both the political difficulties of passing a climate bill in an election year and a shift from his once cautious embrace of nuclear energy.
He's now calling for a new generation of nuclear power plants."
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Suddenly the state of our union is not looking so good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/31/obama-administration-push_n_443586.html
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/10/27/1027_obamasolar_460x276.jpg"President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to... more
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Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with... more
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DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground.
But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah.
That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.
The trio are experts on Utah's Great Salt Lake, which, every couple of millenniums, rises high enough to submerge EnergySolutions' landfill in Tooele County. When that occurs, the DU could wash away and eventually be deposited throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin, causing a "massive environmental catastrophe," according to Johnson, a past chairman of the Utah Radiation Control Board.
(more at link)
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Yet tens of thousands of tons of depleted uranium has been rained on Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, with the Pentagon declaring that it is perfectly safe - and you can be sure that tens of thousands more tons will be used in a like manner. Way to get rid of horrendously poisonous waste, dumping it on millions of innocent children, women and men (and as many future generations as there will be in those countries before DU has killed off the whole population, fauna and flora) on the other side of the world - DU has a half-life of 4.5 BILLION years.DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until,... more
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii on an application by the US Army for a permit to have depleted uranium at its Pohakuloa Training Area, a vast stretch of flat land in what’s called the “saddle” between the sacred mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, and at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu.
In fact, what the Army is asking for is a permit to leave in place the DU left over from years of test firing of M101 mortar “spotting rounds,” that each contained close to half a pound of depleted uranium (DU). The Army, which originally denied that any DU weapons had been used at either location, now says that as many as 2000 rounds of M101 DU mortars might have been fired at Pohakuloa alone.
But that’s only a small part of the story.
The Army is actually seeking a master permit from the NRC to cover all the sites where it has fired DU weapons, including penetrator shells that, unlike the M101, are designed to hit targets and burn on impact, turning the DU in the warhead into a fine dust of uranium oxide.
Uranium particles, whether pure uranium or in an oxidized form, are alpha emitters, and can be highly carcinogenic and mutagenic if ingested or inhaled, since they can lodge in one part of the body—the kidney or lung or gonad, for example—and then irradiate surrounding cells with large, destructive alpha particles (actually helium atoms), until some gene is compromised and a cell become malignant.
Among the sites identified by the NRC as being contaminated with DU are:
Ft. Hood, TX
Ft. Benning, GA
Ft. Campbell, KY
Ft. Knox, KY
Ft. Lewis, WA
Ft. Riley, KS
Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD
Ft. Dix, NJ
Makua Military Reservation, HI
Other locations identified as having DU weapons contamination are:
China Lake Air Warfare Center, CA
Eglin AFB, Florida,
Nellis AFB, NV
Davis-Monthan AFB
Kirtland AFB, NM
White Sands Missile Range, NM
Ethan Allen Firing Range, VT
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
An application for a 99-year permit to test DU weapons at the NM Inst. Of Mining and Technology claimed that that site’s test area was “so contaminated with DU…as to preclude any other use”!
DU weapons have also been used by the Navy at Vieques Island off Puerto Rico (the Navy claimed it was a “mistake.”
The Pentagon continues a long history of claiming that DU is not dangerous, although this official stance is belied by the warnings it has given to its troops (though not to civilians in battle zones), to stay well clear of tanks and other equipment destroyed by US tanks, which used DU weapons as the ordnance of choice in both the Gulf War and the current Iraq War.
During both wars, DU ammunition was used by Army and Marine tanks, by the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the A-10 ground support jet, the Marine Harrier jet, and specially equipped F16 fighter jets. The Navy also switched from DU ammunition to tungsten ammunition in its Phalanx anti-missile ship defense system because of health and environmental concerns with the DU ammo.
The Pentagon denies that it uses depleted uranium in bombs, missiles and cruise missile warheads, but military personnel have reported their use in all three delivery systems, and reports exist of DU bunker-buster bombs, DU-tipped penetrator warheads on Tomahawk cruise missiles and on some air-to-ground missiles.
It’s a good bet that all US munitions containing DU have been widely tested at various US military bases and testing grounds.
The bottom line is that at the same time that US government is continuing to warn about the danger of terrorists acquiring the materials to make a “dirty” bomb that could spread radioactive material in the US, the US military has for years been doing exactly that, and continues to do so, with no intention to clean up its messes, many of which are allowing depleted uranium to percolate into ground water.....The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii... more
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How absurd is it that we have the government on the one hand pulling back from using a hollowed out mountain in Nevada to store nuclear waste because of a fear (legitimate I grant) that hundreds or thousands of years hence, some earthquake or other catastrophe could cause the stored waste to leak into the water table, while on the other hand we have this same government deliberately taking some of the most dangerous waste–the actual uranium from the used fuel rods–and putting it into bombs, shells and bullets to be splattered and burned all across the landscape?
And I should note that it’s not just remote places like Iraq and Kuwait and Afghanistan that are being covered in super toxic and radioactive uranium dust–and I’m not just talking about the stuff that gets picked up in the wind and carried around the globe, or the stuff that gets inhaled by our troops and carried home internally, bad enough as that is.
The truth is that depleted uranium weapons are being exploded and burned right here in the USA in training operations. The center of Hawaii’s Big Island, for example, which is a military zone, is heavily contaminated by DU ammunition fired by tanks there. The same is true of Vieques Island, long a favored target for the Navy, which for years has fired DU shells from its ships at the populated island, and also launched DU-tipped missiles and dropped DU-loaded “bunker-buster” bombs at it.
While I don’t have direct knowledge, I’d say it’s a safe bet that there are a number of sites on the Mainland US where DU munitions have also been widely used–maybe White Sands Proving Ground the Marine training area near Joshua Tree National Monument in Southern California, or other such training and testing areas.
The simple truth is that our own government, besides committing an ongoing atrocity in the Middle East, is also poisoning our own country with uranium oxide.
Our Nobel Peace Prize president should take note. President John F. Kennedy reportedly moved to halt open air testing of nuclear weapons after looking at the rain falling outside the window of the Oval Office and asking a science advisor whether it was delivering nuclear fallout to his front lawn (he was told that it was). Maybe President Obama should consider that the rain today is delivering uranium dust to his wife’s and daughters’ garden in the back yard of the White House. At least he should take a look at pictures of the horribly deformed babies being born to mothers in Iraq (and of the lucky babies that are stillborn), thanks to the radioactive warfare that the US military has been employing against both that country and Afghanistan–his “necessary” war.
There is another irony here too. The US is expressing concern about Iran enriching uranium, and possibly creating a nuclear bomb, which in the unlikely event that it were ever used, might spread some radioactivity around parts of the Middle east, yet it is the US which already has spread 2000 or more tons of uranium dust all over Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 18 years–far more than any small Iranian bomb could release.How absurd is it that we have the government on the one hand pulling back from using a... more
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The horrors of the US Agent Orange defoliation campaign in Vietnam, about which I wrote on Oct. 15, could ultimately be dwarfed by the horrors caused by the depleted uranium weapons which the US began using in the 1991 Gulf War (300 tons), and which it has used much more extensively–and in more urban, populated areas–in the Iraq War and the now intensifying Afghanistan War.
Depleted uranium, despite its rather benign-sounding name, is not depleted of radioactivity or toxicity. The term “depleted” refers only to its being depleted of the U-235 isotope needed for fission reactions in nuclear reactors. The nuclear waste material from nuclear power plants, DU as it is known, is what is removed from the power plants’ spent fuel rods and is essentially composed of the uranium isotope U-238 as well as U-236 (a product of nuclear reactor fission, not found in nature), as well as other trace radioactive elements.
Once simply a nuisance for the industry, that still has no permanent way to dispose of the dangerous stuff, it turns out to be an ideal metal for a number of weapons uses, and has been capitalized on by the Pentagon. 1.7 times heavier than lead, and much harder than steel, and with the added property of burning at a super-hot temperature, DU has proven to be an ideal penetrator for warheads that need to pierce thick armor or dense concrete bunkers made of reinforced concrete and steel. Once through the defenses, it burns at a temperature that incinerates anyone inside (which is why we see the carbonized bodies of bodies in the wreckage of Iraqi tanks hit by US fire).
Accordingly it has found its way into 30 mm machine gun ammunition, especially that used by the A-10 Warthog ground-attack fighter planes used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as Kosovo). It is also the warhead of choice for Abrams tanks and is also reportedly used in GBU-28 and the later GBU-37 bunker buster bombs, each of which can have 1-2 tons of the stuff in its warhead.
DU is also used as ballast in cruise missiles, and this burns up when a missile detonates its conventional explosive. Some cruise missiles are also designed to hit hardened targets and reportedly feature DU warheads, as does the AGM-130 air-to-ground missile, which carries a one-ton penetrating warhead. In addition, depleted uranium is used in large quantities in the armor of tanks and other equipment. This material becomes a toxic source of CU pollution when these vehicles are attacked and burned.
While the Pentagon has continued to claim, against all scientific evidence, that there is no hazard posed by depleted uranium, US troops in Iraq have reportedly been instructed to avoid any sites where these weapons have been used—destroyed Iraqi tanks, exploded bunkers, etc.—and to wear masks if they do have to approach. Many torched vehicles have been brought back to the US, where they have been buried in special sites reserved for dangerously contaminated nuclear materials. (Thousands of tons of DU-contaminated sand from Kuwait, polluted with DU during the US destruction of Iraq’s tank forces in the 1991 war, were removed and shipped to a waste site in Idaho last year with little fanfare.)
Suspiciously, international health officials have been prevented or obstructed from doing medical studies of DU sites in Iraq and Afghanistan. But an excellent series of articles several years ago by the Christian Science Monitor described how reporters from that newspaper had visited such sites in Iraq with Geiger-counters and had found them to be extremely “hot” with radioactivity.
The big danger with DU is not as a pure metal, but after it has exploded and burned, when the particles of uranium oxide, which are just as radioactive as the pure isotopes, can be inhaled or ingested. Even the smallest particle of uranium in the body is both deadly poisonous as a chemical, and over time can cause cancer—particularly in the lungs, but also the kidneys, testes and ovaries.
more..The horrors of the US Agent Orange defoliation campaign in Vietnam, about which I... more
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H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
President of the Sixty-fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
October 12th 2009
Your Excellency,
RE DEFORMED BABIES IN FALLUJAH
Young women in Fallujah in Iraq are terrified of having children because of the increasing number of babies born grotesquely deformed, with no heads, two heads, a single eye in their foreheads, scaly bodies or missing limbs. In addition, young children in Fallujah are now experiencing hideous cancers and leukaemias. These deformities are now well documented, for example in television documentaries on SKY UK on September 1 2009, and on SKY UK June 2008. Our direct contact with doctors in Fallujah report that:
In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 new born babies, 24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of the dead babies were classified as deformed.
This can be compared with data from the month of August in 2002 where there were 530 new born babies of whom six were dead within the first seven days and only one birth defect was reported.
Doctors in Fallujah have specifically pointed out that not only are they witnessing unprecedented numbers of birth defects but premature births have also considerably increased after 2003. But what is more alarming is that doctors in Fallujah have said, "a significant number of babies that do survive begin to develop severe disabilities at a later stage".
As one of a number of doctors, scientists and those with deep concern for Iraq, Dr Chris Burns-Cox, a British hospital physician, wrote a letter to the Rt. Hon. Clare Short, M.P. asking about this situation. She wrote a letter to the Rt. Hon.Douglas Alexander, M.P. the Secretary of State of the Department for International Development (a post she had held before she resigned on a matter of principle in May 2003 ) asking for clarification of the position of deformed children in Fallujah.
She received a reply dated 3rd September 2009 (two days after the Sky TV broadcast of 1st September 2009 ) from a junior minister, deputy to The Secretary of State, Mr. Gareth Thomas MP, Duty Minister, Department for International Development. In his reply he denies that there are more than two or three deformed babies in Fallujah in a year and asserts that there is, therefore, no problem. This is at wild variance with reports coming out of Fallujah. One grave digger of a single cemetery is burying four to five babies a day, most of which he says are deformed.
Clare Short passed us a copy of this letter. It bears a remarkable similarity to three other written answers we have received over a four year period, in regard to child health and the use of depleted uranium. All these letters are based on lies and an aim to confuse the recipients. In her autobiography "Honorable Deception?" Clare Short says "The first instinct of Number 10 (Downing Street) is to lie."H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki
President of the Sixty-fourth Session of the United... more
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USA, August 31, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Having completed my previous series on DU I thought I would leave you all with a wonderful factual film about the horror & repercussion of using weapons that contain components of uraniumUSA, August 31, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Having completed my previous series on DU I... more
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The Italian government, completely ignoring the will of the people who voted for the abandonment of nuclear power in the 1987 referendum and the continuing opposition to the project of a majority of Italians, unveiled plans to build new nuclear plants in cooperation with France. The sites of course will be militarized and therefore will be difficult if not impossible, to protest.The Italian government, completely ignoring the will of the people who voted for the... more
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