Report on the Brussels DU Conference "Victims
Campaign to ban weapons. Soldiers, doctors
testify on effects of Depleted Uranium (DU)
International Action Center
(Brussels, Belgium. 1-2 of March, 2001)
People from a dozen countries attending a March 1-2 conference here grappled
with how to organize cooperatively to stop the Pentagon and NATO from using
The Belgium-based Coalition for the Abolition of Depleted Uranium brought
together victims of depleted uranium, anti-war activists and researchers
for two days of working meetings and a public presentation to 500 people
at the Free University of Brussels.
Participants agreed to continue working together to stop DU use. Western
Europe's corporate media have publicized the possibility of danger from
DU over the last few months as alarming numbers of young, previously healthy
NATO soldiers from European countries occupying Kosovo have come home from
Kosovo with leukemia and other fatal health problems. So far, there has
been no publicity indicating that a similar epidemic might exist among U.S.
Balkans veterans. European participants at the conference noted, however,
that U.S. troops have been assigned to areas with little DU contamination.
Recently, demonstrators in Greece, Portugal, Italy and other European
countries have demanded that soldiers be brought back from Kosovo and not
replaced. Greek anti-DU activists, backed by a broad working-class movement
that almost unanimously opposed the nearby NATO war in 1999, have brought
home about a quarter of the Greek soldiers stationed in Kosovo. The basic
effects of depleted uranium--a radioactive and toxic substance--are known.
Much still needs to be learned about how DU works when combined with other
factors, including the age of those exposed and the presence of other toxins.
Instead of investigating these potential threats, the U.S./NATO military
authorities refuse to acknowledge DU's role in the illnesses of Gulf and
Balkans veterans. They have done everything possible to keep a lid on the
outrage about the use of DU weapons. They have consistently stonewalled,
administering the wrong tests, losing records, and using all kinds of bureaucratic
methods to be sure no connection is made between these illnesses and DU.
Soldiers, doctors testify The conference focused mainly on hearing from
military victims of DU. They came from England, Yugoslavia, France, Belgium,
Spain and other countries. Despite physical and psychological pain, they
came to help others understand the horrors of DU.
Patricia Rodriguez, a young woman from Seville, Spain, recently lost
her boyfriend, who had served in Kosovo, when he died from a rapidly progressing
form of leukemia. She said: "I do this to let the other Spanish soldiers
know what they are getting into. They can make their own choice--it's their
life, but they should know."
She was astounded to learn that the U.S. military knew the effects of
DU before using it.
Gena Mertens, a young German doctor with International Physicians against
Nuclear War, is working on a standard operating procedure for diagnosing
depleted-uranium exposure. Fifty ailing Balkans veterans have already contacted
her, volunteering to be part of a database of DU victims that she is assembling.
Developing an accurate physical examination to detect the presence and effects
of DU exposure will be a way to call the bluff of the U.S./NATO medical
and military authorities.
Aws Albaiti, an Iraqi physician who worked in Baghdad from 1990 to 1999,
has seen many medical problems caused by DU exposure. He pointed out, "Your
victims are adults; ours are adults and children." Iraqi children,
he said, have experienced a 12-fold increase in leukemia and lymphomas.
The increase among adults has been five- to six-fold.
The U.S./United Nations sanctions against Iraq have prevented that country
from importing medicine and food that could have saved lives and alleviated
Albaiti questioned the timing of the interest in DU. "Iraqis have
been suffering since 1991," he said. "We said it was used in the
war. Now you hear about DU. ... All Iraqi people are asking if this is a
form of discrimination."
A doctor and a victim of DU who were invited from Iraq were denied visas
by the Belgian government. Dr. Albaiti was already in Europe receiving training.
Dr. Dragutin Ilic reported on cancer statistics in the hospital in Sarajevo,
Bosnia, where he works. In 1995-2000, the the number of cancer cases, particularly
leukemia and lymphoma, treated in this hospital increased many times over.
U.S./NATO planes that attacked Bosnia in 1995 used DU shells.
A Serbian researcher said there is a public health disaster in Kosovo
waiting to happen. DU was first used there two years ago. The people in
the NATO-occupied territory have been told nothing about the contamination
of the water and ground.
In contaminated areas of Serbia outside of Kosovo, the Yugoslav government
educated the population about DU's hazards and is taking precautions. A
representative from the U.S.-based International Action Center said there
is no contradiction between defending the rights of the civilian victims
of DU and defending the rights of the rank-and-file soldiers who are also
victims. These soldiers are the sons and daughters of the working class
and should not become cannon fodder in imperialist wars.
Other speakers pointed out that the United States used DU weapons during
wars in Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia, and in test bombings of Vieques in Puerto
Rico, south Korea and Okinawa. DU weapons are now produced in several countries
and are used by many armies. Their manufacture and export is very profitable
to U.S. corporations.
The organizations present agreed that there should be a total ban on
depleted uranium weapons. They also demanded that NATO and the United States
pay for the cleanup of DU and for the medical needs of the military victims
and the people still living in the countries left with this environmental
and medical time bomb.
Participants agreed to use the Internet to share the latest medical and
scientific findings, research on the arms industry, and leaflets and pamphlets
to explain DU in lay terms for more effective organizing around this issue.
They also decided to organize missions of investigation and solidarity with
soldiers, celebrities, doctors and professionals next September, and to
meet again in Brussels in December.
The writer represented the International Action Center at the Brussels