Category: News on Related Issues
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Vietnam War veterans fight Agent Orange profiteers
Eva Cheng, Green Left Weekly, 4 November 2006 Many of the 2.6 million US soldiers who served in the Vietnam War have contracted cancer and a cocktail of serious health problems that they believe to be directly linked to their exposure to the dioxin-contaminated defoliant Agent Orange. The US military sprayed Agent Orange heavily in…
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The Philippines: A wasteland republic?
Letter to the Editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 4 2006 The Philippine forests are threatened WHERE can you find a country acclaimed as a biodiversity superstar yet made out a prostitute to foreign extractive industries, even as its pristine forests are being denuded; its mountains laid bare and flattened; its fertile soil and pure aquifers…
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Virginia: Chemical found in river near DuPont
John Reid Blackwell, Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 3, 2006 DuPont Co. said today that tests of water samples from the James River and two creeks around the company’s Chesterfield County plant showed “low levels” of the controversial chemical PFOA. The company collected water samples for testing after an environmental group and a union representing DuPont workers…
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Vet group tries to spread word on benefits: U.S. expands coverage for soldiers likely exposed to Agent Orange
Jim Lynch, The Detroit News, November 2, 2006 Pat Daniels has to check, prick or inject himself for diabetes four times a day. Daniels’ diabetes treatment is related to Agent Orange exposure, doctors say. Todd McInturf / The Detroit News EASTPOINTE — Pat Daniels is something of an evangelist when it comes to veterans’ benefits.…
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Nuclear mess has Tri-Cities cleaning up financially
RICHLAND, Wash. – Out on the Hanford nuclear reservation, a fantastically poisoned plateau where the federal government brewed up most of the plutonium for its nuclear arsenal, the cleanup is going rather badly. Now in its 17th year, the nation’s largest and most complex environmental remediation project is costing many billions of dollars more than…
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War crimes or not war crimes? On the international legal status of depleted uranium weapons
Ludwig De Braeckeleer, OhMyNews, November 2, 2006 Because of the high density of the material, depleted uranium munitions (DU) are particularly suitable to pierce armor-vehicle or bunkers. They have been used in Kuwait, Iraq, and Kosovo. There are some allegations that they may have been used in Palestine. The analysis of samples gathered from two…
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U.S. Army must remove depleted uranium
SALLY MAXWELL, SEQUOYAH COUNTY NEWS, OKLAHOMA, NOVEMBER 1, 2006 Sequoyah Fuels, the former uranium processing plant near Gore, is one step closer to closing after a clause to have the U.S. Army remove depleted uranium from the plant was included in the Defense Authorization Act signed by President George W. Bush last week. John Ellis,…
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Canada: Ombudsman says Forces failed troops who battled Kuwait fire
ALEX DOBROTA, THE GLOBE & MAIL, NOVEMBER 2, 2006 OTTAWA — Canada failed its first Persian Gulf war veterans who fell ill after being exposed to poisonous chemicals, including depleted uranium from U.S. munitions, a military ombudsman said yesterday. One soldier of the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment died of cancer, and about 60 others developed…
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New Zealand: Ministry seeks extra dioxin expert to review report of poisoning from Dow plant
Stuff.co.nz, November 2, 2006 The Health Ministry wants an additional expert to independently review a dioxin poisoning report, after critics questioned the independence of a ministry-appointed scientist. Deputy director-general of health (public health) Don Matheson said it would approach the World Health Organisation for advice about appointing the extra reviewer. The move could be seen…
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UK: Corby plant clean-up caused 'deformed babies'
BBC NEWS, OCTOBER 31, 2006 The former steel plant at Corby, toxic waste was left at the site Toxic waste disturbed in the clean-up operation at a former steel works is being blamed for birth deformities suffered by a group of children. Mothers have told BBC One’s Real Story the deformities, such as babies born…
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Depleted uranium risk 'ignored': BBC
BBC NEWS, OCTOBER 31, 2006 Both British and US troops have used depleted uranium in Iraq UK and US forces have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings they pose a cancer risk, a BBC investigation has found. Scientists have pointed to health statistics in Iraq, where the weapons were used in the 1991…
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Schweizerhalle still casts shadow 20 years on: the fire was just the start of an environmental nightmare
Robert Brookes, SwissInfo Basel, November 1, 2006 Twenty years after a major environmental disaster in Basel, local people are aware that the city’s key chemical industry still poses a risk. And although residents have placed their trust in the industry again, doubts remain. The environmental nightmare began after a fire broke out at a Sandoz…
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Depleted Uranium death toll among US war veterans tops 11,000: nationwide media blackout keeps US public ignorant about this important story
James P. Tucker Jr., American Free Press, October 29, 2006 30mm munitions (jackets and penetrators) made with depleted uranium. PHOTO: UNEP Birth-defects attributed to depleted uranium (not for the faint-hearted) The death toll from the highly toxic weapons component known as depleted uranium (DU) has reached 11,000 soldiers and the growing scandal may be the…
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UK: A hidden danger comes to light after chemical leak closes the river Humber to shipping
PAUL PHARE, BHOPAL.NET, OCTOBER 31, 2006 Humber skippers were ordered to haul to for fear of breathing corrosive gas PHOTO: WIEBE POSTHUMA BHOPAL NET EXCLUSIVE A curious reticence attends the reporting of the leak of a large quantity of titanium tetrachloride from “a chemical factory” in Stallingborough in North-East Lincolnshire. The leak was serious enough…
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England: Humber shipping in gas-cloud alert
Mark Branagan, Yorkshire Post, October 30, 2006 Shipping entering the Humber was put on chemical alert early yesterday for the first time in a number of years after a leak from a factory created a gas cloud over the river. An operation involving Humber Coastguard, police and the fire service swung into action in the…