Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-228"
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"en.20030212.7.3-228"2
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"Mr President, people throughout Europe will react with disbelief and anger to the statement that there is no reason for anxiety in relation to depleted uranium weapons. It is tendentious to quote the Euratom Commission which exists explicitly to promote nuclear technology and whose radiation safety levels were originally set to allow atmospheric testing in the 1950s. Thankfully we have done away with that.
Their anger is justified and is rising at the moment, because even low levels of alpha radiation can have a severe effect on children. We know from testing that there are molecules of plutonium in these weapons that are isolated but can have an extremely severe effect when ingested. Samples from six civilians near bombing targets in Afghanistan tested 100 times the normal level of uranium - contamination that stemmed from depleted uranium. Afghan doctors have cited deaths from internal ailments such as haemorrhaging, pulmonary constriction and vomiting, which are all effects of radiation contamination.
During the Gulf War, allied troops admitted using over 300 tonnes of depleted uranium. These are suspected to be a prime factor in the epidemic of birth defects, leukaemias and cancers in Iraq. There is a difference between wet ground such as in Bosnia and desert conditions such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is extremely serious. I beg you not to have these children's deaths on your conscience, Commissioner, but to react more humanly and more seriously to this really dreadful situation."@en1
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