Fair use etc http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010121/pl/bush_europe_dc_1.html Sunday January 21 10:42 AM ET Plutonium Row Set to Rock Bush Debut with Europe "BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's relationship with the George W. Bush (news - web sites) administration could kick off with an angry row on Monday over charges that the United States failed to warn allies of plutonium contamination in munitions. EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels to discuss a wave of public concern about the alleged health risks of depleted uranium (DU) shells can expect to hear complaints by Germany that Washington kept its European allies in the dark. Portugal and Spain were also unprepared when the United States finally confirmed media reports and a Swiss laboratory finding that the ``low-risk'' material held minute traces of highly toxic plutonium and highly radioactive uranium 236. If other EU states which also belong to the 19-member NATO (news - web sites) alliance feel they too were inadequately informed to deal with the furor over DU, incoming Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's dealings with the allies may have a frosty start. ``It should be the damned duty of a friendly nation to inform their partner,'' German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping told journalists on a weekend visit to Bosnia and Kosovo. Plutonium Not Mentioned NATO felt it was getting public ``hysteria'' over DU munitions under control until the presence of plutonium was disclosed. Top medical officers from all 19 armies met in Brussels last week to compare data and announced a day later there was no ''Balkans syndrome'' and no unseen health risk from DU. The Pentagon (news - web sites) had twice sent U.S. Army medical experts to NATO headquarters to help reassure the European media. But while they said DU was even less radioactive than ubiquitous natural uranium, they never mentioned plutonium. On Thursday, Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said plutonium was detected a year ago and a nuclear plant was shut for 90 days. ``As you know, we discovered some stray elements... in depleted uranium...'' Bacon said. ``They consisted of plutonium, neptunium and americium. Now these are very, very small amounts and as soon as they were discovered as indicating possibly a flaw in the production process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission suspended the operation at this plant, which is in Paduhac, Kentucky.'' Despite a lack of evidence that DU has caused cancer among NATO peacekeepers serving in the Balkans, public concern had already prompted calls by some allies and by the European Parliament for a moratorium on the munitions. Depleted uranium is prized as the best armor penetrator in anti-tank shells. About 40,000 rounds were fired in Bosnia and Kosovo, all by U.S. ground attack aircraft. The U.S., Britain and France have dismissed demands that they give up a military advantage on account of unfounded fears, and the Bush Administration is unlikely to waver, although American anti-DU campaigners say it caused Gulf war cancers. Scientists say that inhaling one millionth of an ounce of plutonium can cause a fatal cancer. That scares many people and frightens governments, as reaction to the latest developments indicates. Calls For Proof Of Safety Scharping took scientists with him to the Balkans to make on-the-spot tests for plutonium. Spain ordered its medical experts to investigate. Switzerland said it would call for a total ban on DU ammunition at the United Nations (news - web sites) this year. A World Health Organization (news - web sites) team was set to scour DU blast sites in Kosovo for traces of plutonium, and NATO member Portugal said the alliance must quickly back up assertions that the plutonium levels posed no health threat. In a letter to NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, Prime Minister Antonio Guterres called for a full explanation of where and why such ammunition was used. Washington can rightly claim that the presence of plutonium was not a secret, if allied military attaches cared to read the newspapers or look at relevant Internet sites. ``The Internet is not the way to share information between governments,'' said Scharping as criticism mounted at home over his alleged failure to inform German voters of the facts. In a bitter comment, he said that after summoning the U.S. charge d'affaires last week, he had been told of nine incidents possibly involving DU munitions at U.S. bases in Germany. ``That's not in order. We can't accept that,'' he said. ``I'm quite certain that I would not have been informed of this had I not created such pressure.''

-- tex (tex@tex.com), January 21, 2001

Answers

This article got the "EU Commission blasts Bush" part right but missed the topic: they've already blasted him today for the setback he gave international abortion counselling yesterday.

Related to dU, though, one of the tv stations showed a newsclip last night of a video apparently taken by Cdn troops showing an explosion in Kuwait that may have contained dU. The Ottawa Citizen apparently acquired it under FOI, but I haven't seen mention of it at their website yet.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 23, 2001.