Annolies Truman
Fear that depleted uranium (DU) weapons have been used at the Lancelin Bombing Range in WA and that they could be poisoning Perth has prompted a campaign to close the base. Anne Snow, a resident of Lancelin, a small seaside town 123 kilometres north of Perth, told Green Left Weekly that the bombing range has been used by the Australian army since the 1960s and the Australian navy since 1978. Since then, the US military has been involved in joint exercises.
Dr Colin Hughes, another anti-Lancelin bombing range campaigner, is a former head of public health for the Perth east metropolitan region and is currently lecturing at the medical faculty of the University of West Australia. He and his colleagues are concerned at rising rates of fast-cell-growing cancers — lymphoma, thyroid cancer and leukaemia (especially in children). These cancers, which are known to follow exposure to radiation, have risen dramatically in Australia, peaking in the five years following the end of atmospheric testing in the Pacific in 1996.
DU is a by-product of the nuclear power industry. It enables the faster projection for bombs and shells as it self-sharpens on impact, doubling penetration. As it explodes, it burns and gives off nanoparticles which lodge in the body and, being insoluble, cannot be excreted. To avoid expensive disposal measures, the industry gives it away to arms manufacturers.
In the lead-up to the war on Iraq, usage of the range increased. In January 2003, the USS Abraham Lincoln trained in air-to-ground bombing on its way to the war. "Over the next two years we had a carrier every six months, culminating in live air-to-ground bombing in late 2004", Snow said.
The experience was "terrifying", she continued. "Our houses didn't just vibrate, they shook, and the noise was almost unbearable. But worst was the fear that the pilots would drop a bomb on our homes. Lancelin has very strong winds and they can blow emissions straight to us. Of course we had no idea if depleted uranium was being used." The Australian navy has continued ship-to-shore bombing and demolition exercises.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) claims it doesn't use DU. "Even so, all munitions give off toxic chemicals and are a risk to the community and the environment", said Snow. "An added risk is the firing during the prohibited burning season. Several fires are started each season."
Snow cites four main reasons to close the base. "The damage to this fragile and unique environment; the risk to the rock lobster industry; the proximity of residential areas (eight kilometres away) and the potential contamination of the Yaragadee aquifer which runs under the Defence Training Area and supplies water to much of WA."
The main industries in Lancelin are lobster fishing and tourism. Local business people oppose the bombing, but fear publicity.
Dr Doug Rokke, former head of the Pentagon's Depleted Uranium Project, visited Lancelin in July 2003 and told local activists that it was 100% likely that DU munitions either had already been used on the weapons range, or would be.
DU weaponry has been used in Iraq since the first Gulf War. The effects on the civilian population have been horrendous — birth defects and cancers that endure for generations.
The half-life of DU is 4.5 billion years. The earth is thought to be only 5 billion years' old.
Not only are people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo suffering from DU contamination, US, British and Australian troops are also showing signs of illnesses caused by exposure to DU. A quarter of a million US soldiers who served in the first Gulf War are now on disability pensions.
Radioactive contamination found in other bases and bombing ranges points to the likelihood of DU use at Lancelin. A similar bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico, has been irrevocably damaged by US military activity. Cancers in children aged 11-19 living anywhere on the island are 256% higher than in the rest of Puerto Rico.
Where the US military has been forced to vacate bases in Panama and the Philippines, it has left behind contaminated soil, air and groundwater from chemical weapons and DU. Rashes, still-births and gastroenteritis are frequently reported maladies that can be linked to toxic exposure.
The February 19 Sunday Times Online reported that the highest levels of DU ever measured in the atmosphere in Britain were transported on air currents from the Tora Bora bombing in Afghanistan in 2001, and the "shock and awe" bombing in Iraq in 2003.
[For information or to get involved in the campaign to close the Lancelin Bombing Range contact (08) 9299 6453.]
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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