David Peat

Re-envisioning the Planet 165human beings; nevertheless, it had continued to issue bland reassurancesand had even attempted to discredit those scientists who urgedcaution. Now people in Britain have begun to die from the effects ofthe disease, and since the effects are slow acting, no one really knowshow high the mortality figures will climb.Another bitter irony arises when we recall the peace conference atThe Hague in 1899 and its desire to outlaw certain weapons of war.One hundred years later, newspapers were filled with stories of illnessand death caused by the use of depleted uranium (DU) in projectilesused by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops in Kosovoand Bosnia. A NATO memo, issued in July 2000 reads, “It is clear thatthe medical hazard from DU is negligible.” Another NATO informationpackage “Medical Implications of Depleted Uranium” concludesthat risks are “Overall negligible” and states “No further action recommended.”It is certainly true that picking up a lump of depleted uraniumposes little in the way of a health hazard. What those reports did notmention was that when one of the 31,500 projectiles used in Kosovo orthe 10,800 employed in Bosnia hit its target the uranium was vaporizedand the subsequent inhalation or ingestion of uranium dust orparticles can give rise to leukemia; cancers of the lungs, kidneys, andthyroid; genetic anomalies; and the general depletion of the immunesystem.The World Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation alsoquoted Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of medicine and former U.S.Army colonel, as finding a “significant presence” of DU in two-thirdsof the Gulf War veterans he had examined. In some cases particles ofuranium were still lodged in their lungs, where they pose a constantrisk of cancer.Ivory TowersIf the statements and promises of politicians and television experts aresuspect, must we then turn to the traditional repositories of wisdom inour society—the universities? Visit the University of Virginia atCharlottesville, designed by Thomas Jefferson, and notice the way the