| 5/2/2003 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Depleted uranium toxicity concerns JPG board
By: Peggy Vlerebome
Courier Staff Writer
The two faces of depleted uranium are concerning members of the advisory board for restoration of Jefferson Proving Ground. Depleted uranium, which was used in munitions tested at JPG, is both radioactive and toxic.
DU’s danger to people’s health is far greater from its toxicity than from its radioactivity, Restoration Advisory Board members said at the board’s quarterly meeting Wednesday. Board members discussed how to make testing for toxicity part of the regimen at JPG.
But there is a huge problem: No agency or group has set a standard for the level at which DU toxicity is hazardous. One of the health effects is kidney damage.
Some of the board members wanted the Army to do topological tests at JPG, but Paul Cloud, the Army’s point-man at JPG and co-chairman of the advisory board, said the Army doesn’t have to do so because the DU it tested there in munitions is regulated by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC is concerned only with the radioactive properties of the DU and not its toxic properties, he said.
It’s possible another federal agency, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, or an Indiana state agency could take on monitoring the toxicity of the depleted uranium at JPG.
Although DU’s toxicity has been known for years, studies to link amounts and effects have not been done, an extensive data search by Indiana University graduate students found.
If such studies leading to standards were started now, establishing safe limits could take years, Cloud said.
The two aspects of depleted uranium are “two different ways it acts negatively on the body,” said Diane Henshel, an assistant professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs and technical adviser to the Restoration Advisory Board.
One of Henshel’s classes for graduate students is studying the radiological and toxic effects of depleted uranium on people, plants, animals and aquatic wildlife.
Cloud said the bottom line is to prevent people from having access to the depleted uranium impact area at JPG, which the Army has fenced and barricaded and posted warning signs.
“Uranium is more toxic as a heavy metal than it is as a radioactive element,” said John Ruyack of the Indiana Department of Health, who attended the meeting.
One of the impacts on the body is kidney damage.
Cloud disclosed that last fall the Army Environmental Center, accompanied by explosives experts from the Department of Defense, drilled eight more wells north of the firing line at JPG as part of a study nationwide of geology and hydrology. One of the new wells is in the DU impact area.
Because of the presence in the area of tons of unexploded ordnance, the wells were drilled two feet at a time, with a probe inserted after each two feet to make sure nothing would blow up, he said. Nothing did. Water from the wells is being tested for explosives and metals, but the report has not yet been issued, he said.
Also, he said, the state of Indiana has started monthly testing of streams as they go into and out of JPG and has not found any signs of uranium. And other tests the Army does are aimed at finding uranium. If uranium were found in a sample, the sample would be further tested to rule out the uranium that naturally occurs in the environment, but such further testing has not been needed, he said.
Henshel said that to be useful, such monitoring should include testing mussels to see if uranium has accumulated in their bodies. “The aquatic biota ...is where it’s going to accumulate over time,” she said.
Mike Mullett, an attorney for the Save the Valley environmental organization, asked Cloud if the Army’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows transport in and transport out of depleted uranium-his point being whether JPG could become a dumping ground for depleted uranium collected as part of the cleanup in postwar Iraq.
“I cannot comment on that officially,” Cloud said. “That would be a policy decision by the Army.”
But he said he thinks the amount of depleted uranium the Army left behind after 10 years of testing munitions containing it ended in 1994 is close to the amount the Army was allowed by its permit to have at JPG.
If the government wanted to dispose of depleted uranium at JPG, “we’d have to get a license for that, and that’s an open process,” he said, so it wouldn’t be a secret.
In another area of concern raised at the advisory board meeting, Cloud said the Army has no intention of testing at the former airfield at JPG for the presence of perchlorate, which is used in missiles and rockets. Neither was tested at JPG, he said, so the Army has no reason to believe there is any contamination from it on the airfield parcel, which is in the process of being turned over to businessman Dean Ford, who is buying most of the former proving ground that isn’t part of the Big Oaks Wildlife Refuge.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, September 15, 2008
Article comment by:
Diane Bevers
I don't know if this is still an issue with you.I am on disability now with neuro problems,fibroids,tumors,cysts,ostoeporosis level worse than -4.Motor skill problems, and major headaches.They were blasting over there in early Sept of 08.When the storms came through this week-Columbus radio said Jennings county was under "level 1 emergency".What does that mean? Military or weather?I have grown round cucumbers with thorns,white carrots that were extrememly hot.Bell peppers that were too hot to touch(blisters the skin).All my trees are dying.I have been here since 1991,got sick in 92,keep getting worse.Seizures in my throat,choking violently,muscles pulling apart sideways.Internal form of Raynauds disease-affects organs.Panic and anxiety disorder.(Imagine that)I have been online and tried to talk with Paul Cloud,but no info.Everyone this JPG is just in Madison,but I live in North Vernon-2 miles from West Perimeter Road and north of the firing range.I have gotten so many headaches and dizziness in the last couple of weeks since they were blasting over there.Did I mention 2Xendometrosis surgery and finally total hysterectomy?I bled for years and everyone wanted me to go to a shrink instead.That is crazy!They did this to me.My marriage is shot,I get $505 a month disability,haven't had a running car in years. IS THERE A PROGRAM TO RELOCATE US?I tried Evan Bayh,President Bush,Bill Gates-can't remember them all.I have 3 horses and 1 dog and personal items to take.No way to take them.The balance on the mobile home is about $15,000.I don't think my husband will leave here.I'm thinking southern Alabama or Stephenville,Tx area.I want to work with other disabled folks using equine theraputic center.I need at least 20 acres for hay,good house,barn for hay,stalls for horses,a new Chevy HHR and cash settlement.Low tax area away from places like this.No nuclear facilities.My son used the math of $90,000/yr gov economists say it would take to live on,backdate it to when I started getting sick and to lifetime of 80-85yrs,comes up with close to 5 million. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS? I need to leave here now because of colder weather coming in.Very urgent-please help me.
Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003
Article comment by:
Christopher Jaster
This is a great article concerning the lack of research conducted regarding the use of Depleted Uranium munitions. The worst of it though is that DU has hit the open market and is being distributed to countries around the world via the US government and the multibillion dollar corporate interests which back it. So please upon reading this article and checking out the other sites listed above (i.e. traprockpeace.org) make a difference by contacting your local congress person, senetor, neighbors, family members, and media sources to bring the facts about DU out of the closet and to public attension.
Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2003
Article comment by:
Charles Jenks
The US has used an estimated 1000-2000 tons of DU in Iraq, much of it now in the form of inhalable particles. The British Royal Society has called for a clean up, while the US refuses to do so. For more resources, including mp3's of interviews and programs with Major Doug Rokke, former head of the US Army DU clean up project after Gulf War I, go to http://traprockpeace.org
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2003
Article comment by:
Ross Mirkarimi
Good information. Another periodical resource for DU and other eco-impact analyses is www.envirosagainstwar.org.
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2003
Article comment by:
Al Marshall
Well done! Factual without sensationalism. I am now doing a study of DU and will contact some of the researchers mentioned in the article.
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2003
Article comment by:
Dan Fahey
At JPG, the US government fences off the areas contaminated with depleted uranium and periodically tests the soil, water, and animal life. In Iraq, the US government refuses to identify the where and how much DU munitions were used. Is that right?
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2003
Article comment by:
Jim Phelps
Hello, DU is very dangerous due to its chemical toxicity effect. DU forms long retained metal oxides in the body, in particular the lymph nodes. This metal oxide formation sets off these sentinal lymph nodes and the generation of inflamatory cytokines from their type 1 secretory cells, ie macrophages. This is the key vector for DU in GWI, combined with similar synergisms from other metals and fluorides. This problem has been covered up by national labs and Oak Ridge because of national security concerns. It is time for these cover ups to end.
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