GENEVA,
April 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.N. Environment
Program (UNEP) pressed the U.S. and Britain in a report issued Thursday,
April 24, to provided specific information on the Iraqi sites hit by
depleted uranium (DU).
The
U.N. watchdog also warned that damage inflicted by the U.S.-led war to
sanitation and electricity systems, coupled with worsening pollution,
had aggravated Iraq's environmental crisis and posed a threat to public
health.
"The
intensive use of DU weapons has likely caused environmental
contamination of as-yet unknown levels or consequences," UNEP said
in a press release.
"It
is likely that significant amounts of DU rounds have been fired, with
additional DU released into the environment from the burning of armor
plating."
"People
inhaling DU dust into their lungs could receive radiation doses that
constitute a health risk," the report said.
UNEP
experts expect there to be a "high risk" of inhaling DU dust
when entering within a radius of about 150 meters of sites targeted with
DU, unless high quality dust masks are worn.
"Conducting
a DU study would require receiving precise coordinates of the targeted
sites from the military."
During
the 1991 Gulf War, just over 290 metric tons of DU projectiles were
fired by the U.S., compared to nine tons in Kosovo and three tons in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, the report added.
"From
this war we don't have that kind of confirmed figure," Haavisto
told reporters.
The
Royal Society, Britain’s national science academy, also asked for
targeting data to allow "an effective clean-up and monitoring
program of both soldiers and civilians," reported the BBC News
Online.
It
stressed it was "highly unsatisfactory" to continue using DU
without knowing people's exposure levels.
Professor
Brian Spratt of the Royal Society asserted that Anglo-American
"coalition needs to acknowledge that DU is a potential hazard and
make inroads into tackling it by being open about where and how much has
been deployed.
"Fragments
of DU penetrators are potentially hazardous, and the Royal Society study
recommended they should be removed, and areas of contamination around
impact sites identified and where necessary made safe.
"Impact
sites in residential areas should be a particular priority. Long-term
monitoring of water and milk to detect any increase in uranium levels
should also be introduced in Iraq."
Ecological
Disaster
 |
|
"Not
only do environmental hazards threaten human health and
well-being, but they can impede aid operations," Toepfer said
|
The
UNEP report called for urgent action to restore Iraq's water and
sewerage system and clean up pollution "hot spots" and piles
of rubbish and medical waste to reduce the risk of epidemics.
"Many
environmental problems in Iraq are so alarming that an immediate
assessment and a clean-up plan are needed urgently," the chairman
of the UNEP study group, Pekka Haavisto, said.
"The
environment must be fully integrated into all reconstruction plans if
the country is to achieve a strong and sustainable recovery."
The
report also said that the U.S.-led war on Iraq had added to
environmental stress from the 1991 Gulf War, the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and
the mismanagement and abuses of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
Accumulated
damage to water and sanitation systems had led to higher levels of
pollution and health risks, it said.
Continuous
electricity cuts had often stopped the pumps that remove sewage and
circulate freshwater.
Power
failures had also affected pumps that remove saline water from irrigated
lands in the flood plains in southern Iraq, which had led to fields
being waterlogged and contaminated with salt.
Smoke
from oil-well fires and burning oil trenches had caused local air
pollution and soil contamination.
UNEP
Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said there was an unmistakable link
between Iraq's environment and the welfare of its people.
"Environmental
protection is a humanitarian issue. Not only do environmental hazards
threaten human health and well-being, but they can impede aid
operations."
