Ban Depleted Uranium

from http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/198.html 23 October 2008 - ICBUW Pressure from DU producers and users slows DU treaty campaign:The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has submitted a new resolution on uranium weapons to the United Nations First Committee. If passed, in voting early in November, it will then be voted on by the United Nations General Assembly early in December. Read on to find out how you can help.

ICBUW campaigners pushed hard for the text to include a request for a general moratorium on the use of uranium in all conventional weapons, until such time as long-term health and environmental studies on the impact of uranium weapons are complete. However, increasing pressure from some NATO members, coupled with growing unease among DU users and producers forced the text to be weakened. In spite of their efforts, the resolution will keep the issue alive in the UN system for the next two years.  [...]

Take Action! The passage of this resolution is by no means assured, at either the First Committee level or General Assembly. We need you to write to your Foreign Minister and urge them to support this text.  For the General Assembly vote contact them by December 1st. To see how they voted last year, please visit: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/152.html

Of great importance are those states that abstained last year and who might be persuaded to back a resolution this year: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria,      ***CANADA,***    Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Micronesia (Federated States of), Moldova, Norway, Palau, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.

http://www.cadu.org.uk/intro.htm

In the 1950's the United States Department of Defense became interested in using depleted uranium metal in weapons because of its extremely dense, pyrophoric qualities and because it was cheap and available in huge quantities. It is now given practically free of charge to the military and arms manufacturers and is used both as tank armour, and in armour-piercing shells known as depleted uranium penetrators. Over 15 countries are known to have depleted uranium weapons in their militaray arsenals - UK, US, France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, Iraq and Taiwan - with depleted uranium rapidly spreading to other countries.

Which nations use Depleted Uranium munitions, besides the United States ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium

It is thought that between 17 and 20 countries have weapons incorporating depleted uranium in their arsenals. They include the U.S., the UK, France, Russia, China, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, Iraq, and Taiwan. DU ammunition is manufactured in 18 countries. Only the US and the UK have acknowledged using DU weapons...

Natural uranium metal contains about 0.71 percent U-235, 99.28 percent U-238, and about 0.0054 percent U-234. In order to produce enriched uranium, the process of isotope separation removes a substantial portion of the U-235 for use in nuclear power, weapons, or other uses. The remainder, depleted uranium, contains only 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent U-235. Because natural uranium begins with such a low percentage of U-235, enrichment produces large quantities of depleted uranium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Civilian_applications

Civilian applications for depleted uranium are typically unrelated to its radioactive properties. Depleted uranium has a very high density and is primarily used as shielding material for other radioactive material, and as ballast. Examples include sailboat keels, as counterweights and as shielding in industrial radiography cameras....

Aircraft that contain depleted uranium trim weights (Boeing 747-100 for example) may contain between 400 to 1,500 kg of DU. This application is controversial because the DU may enter the environment if the aircraft were to crash. The metal can also oxidize to a fine powder in a fire. Its use has been phased out in many newer aircraft. Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas discontinued using DU counterweights in the 1980s. Depleted uranium was released during the Bijlmer disaster, in which 152 kg was lost.

First, search for images using the term "depleted uranium."

An aside - ATK is the same US corp. that tried to buy MDI. 

Dec. 2/08: 141 states support second uranium weapons resolution in UN General Assembly vote

The resolution, which passed the First Committee stage on October 31st by 127 votes to four, calls on the three relevant UN agencies – the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to update their positions on uranium weapons.  The overwhelming support for the text reflects increasing international concern over the long-term impact of uranium contamination in post conflict environments and military ranges....In the 17 years since uranium weapons were first used on a large scale in the 1991 Gulf War, a huge volume of peer-reviewed research has highlighted previously unknown pathways through which exposure to uranium’s heavy metal toxicity and radioactivity may damage human health. Throughout the world, parliamentarians have responded by supporting calls for a moratorium and ban, urging governments and the military to take a precautionary approach. However the WHO and IAEA have been slow to react to this wealth of new evidence and it is hoped that this resolution will go some way to resolving this situation.

Thus far, 19 states have submitted reports to the Secretary General; many of them call for action on uranium weapons and back a precautionary approach. It also places the issue on the agenda of the General Assembly's 65th Session; this will begin in September 2010. The First Committee vote saw significant voting changes in comparison to the previous year’s resolution, with key EU and NATO members such as the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Iceland changing position to support calls for further action on the issue. These changes were echoed at the General Assembly vote. Once again Japan, which has been under considerable pressure from campaigners, supported the resolution.

Of the permanent five Security Council members, the US, UK and France voted against. They were joined by Israel. Russia abstained and China refused to vote. The list of states abstaining from the vote, while shorter than in 2007, still contains Belgium, the only state to have implemented a domestic ban on uranium weapons, a fact that continues to anger Belgian campaigners. It is suspected that the Belgian government is wary of becoming isolated on the issue internationally. Two Nordic states, Denmark and Sweden continue to blow cold, elsewhere in Europe Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain are also dragging their feet, in spite of a call for a moratorium and ban by 94% of MEPs earlier this year. Many of the abstainers are recent EU/NATO accession states or ex-Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan.

Australia and Canada, both of whom have extensive uranium mining interests and close ties to US foreign policy also abstained. ...

The two year period before the General Assembly re-visit the issue is going to be a crucial time for our campaign. Internationally we need to ensure that the three UN agencies take all current research into account, and that they take the scientific uncertainties as reasons for caution, not complacency.