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Opponents of depleted uranium want Canadian leadership
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/11/15/uranium001115
WebPosted Wed Nov 15 08:59:00 2000

MANCHESTER, U.K - An international campaign to ban the use of depleted uranium has begun, and Canada is being asked to lead the way.

A nuclear waste product, depleted uranium is used by several NATO countries in weapons and armour. Scientists say it's a killer that keeps killing long after the fighting is over.

Canada stopped using it two years ago and the government says it isn't interested in telling other countries to do the same.

But some are hoping Canada will take a lead role in getting the weapons banned like it did with anti-personnel landmines.

A doctor from Iraq says the depleted uranium rounds left in the south of her country after the 1991 Gulf War are as deadly as landmines.

"The incidence of cancer is more in the south, and the south is where the battlefield is – where the contaminated areas still exist," said Dr. Hadu Ammash.

Canada's navy officially stopped using missiles with depleted uranium because they found something cheaper. But Ammash says much of what is known about the dangers of it come from Canadian research.

Rosalee Bertell is a Canadian researcher who wants Canada to lead the discussion on banning the weapons.

"I don't think they should stick their head in the sand," she said. "I think they should take the moral position and some leadership in the world."

The United Nations has already said depleted uranium kills indiscriminately. The UN subcommittee on human rights called it a weapon of mass destruction and deemed it illegal.

And the European Union is considering the issue, hearing from Gulf War veterans and others who have been exposed.

Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs says it is watching the debate, but won't take any role in banning the weapons.