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Military Pollution: The Quintessential Universal Soldier
Published on Sunday, March 27, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Military Pollution:
The Quintessential Universal Soldier
by Lucinda Marshall
As children, we were taught that the military protected us in times of war. We learned about soldiers being killed and wounded by 'the enemy', and how people died if they got shot or if a bomb landed on them. Sometimes innocent people got killed during a war, but the fact that most victims were civilians was carefully hidden from us by our elders. (...)
We Have Met The Enemy
The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. (1) The types of hazardous wastes used by the military include pesticides and defoliants like Agent Orange. It includes solvents, petroleum, perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel) lead and mercury. And most ominously, depleted uranium.
The health problems that have been documented as being attributable to these various toxins in military use include miscarriages, low birth weight, birth defects, kidney disease and cancer. Military pollution most directly affects those who are targeted by our weapons, soldiers and anyone living near a military base, both in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., one out of every ten Americans lives within ten miles of a military site that has been listed as a Superfund priority cleanup site. (2)
Given where chemical and nuclear weapons are used, tested, manufactured, stored and disposed of, the burden of health impacts and environmental destruction falls disproportionately on poorer communities, people of color and indigenous communities. Women face particularly severe problems because of their sensitive reproductive tissues and children because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. (3)
Way Off Base
The number of health problems and environmental problems that have been reported near military installations throughout the world is truly staggering. The following are only a few of the many examples. (...)
The Ultimate Crime
As human rights attorney Karen Parker explains, the use of depleted uranium is illegal in four ways:
It fails the territorial test because it can't be contained on the battlefield. The impact of depleted uranium continues to be felt after the battle is over. It is illegal because it causes inhumane death and injury. Depleted uranium irreparably damages the environment. For all these reasons, the use of depleted uranium is in violation of the Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime. (18)
(...)
© 2005 Lucinda Marshall
Find this interesting article at Common Dreams News Center
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0327-21.htm
Military Pollution:
The Quintessential Universal Soldier
by Lucinda Marshall
As children, we were taught that the military protected us in times of war. We learned about soldiers being killed and wounded by 'the enemy', and how people died if they got shot or if a bomb landed on them. Sometimes innocent people got killed during a war, but the fact that most victims were civilians was carefully hidden from us by our elders. (...)
We Have Met The Enemy
The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest polluter in the world, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. (1) The types of hazardous wastes used by the military include pesticides and defoliants like Agent Orange. It includes solvents, petroleum, perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel) lead and mercury. And most ominously, depleted uranium.
The health problems that have been documented as being attributable to these various toxins in military use include miscarriages, low birth weight, birth defects, kidney disease and cancer. Military pollution most directly affects those who are targeted by our weapons, soldiers and anyone living near a military base, both in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., one out of every ten Americans lives within ten miles of a military site that has been listed as a Superfund priority cleanup site. (2)
Given where chemical and nuclear weapons are used, tested, manufactured, stored and disposed of, the burden of health impacts and environmental destruction falls disproportionately on poorer communities, people of color and indigenous communities. Women face particularly severe problems because of their sensitive reproductive tissues and children because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. (3)
Way Off Base
The number of health problems and environmental problems that have been reported near military installations throughout the world is truly staggering. The following are only a few of the many examples. (...)
The Ultimate Crime
As human rights attorney Karen Parker explains, the use of depleted uranium is illegal in four ways:
It fails the territorial test because it can't be contained on the battlefield. The impact of depleted uranium continues to be felt after the battle is over. It is illegal because it causes inhumane death and injury. Depleted uranium irreparably damages the environment. For all these reasons, the use of depleted uranium is in violation of the Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime. (18)
(...)
© 2005 Lucinda Marshall
Find this interesting article at Common Dreams News Center
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0327-21.htm
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