Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

Bosnia Still Suffering From Impact of Depleted Uranium Munition Bombings – Ambassador

Sputnik – 15.09.2023

The repercussions of the US-led bombing of the former Yugoslavia with depleted uranium munitions are still felt in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Ambassador to Russia Zeljko Samardzija stated on Friday.

“Our stance [on shells] is absolutely clear – it has been 30 years since the bombings of Yugoslavia with [depleted] uranium and we still feel the consequences of this weapon. Our citizens continue to die today, while new citizens, children, are born with disabilities – the consequence of bombings with such munitions,” Samardzija told journalists.

Based on its own experience, Bosnia and Herzegovina “stands against the use of such shells,” the ambassador stressed.

“We are a small country and we do not get consulted a lot; nevertheless, we would like to express our opinion and it is as follows. Unfortunately, we have had a very bad experience and we got to fully experience the consequences of these shells,” Samardzija emphasized.

When asked if depleted uranium munitions are much more harmful than the usual ones, the ambassador responded: “they absolutely are,” explaining that their consequences are there to impact many generations to come.

On September 6, the US Defense Department announced a new $175 million military aid package for Ukraine that includes depleted uranium munitions for Abrams tanks, as well as air defense equipment and 155mm artillery shells.

September 15, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Militarism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

IAEA sees no problem with depleted uranium weaponry – Grossi

RT | September 11, 2023

There are “no significant radiological consequences” to the use of depleted uranium ammunition, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi has declared. Russia insists that Grossi is “not telling the whole story.”

“From a nuclear safety point of view there are no significant radiological consequences” to the use of this ammunition, Grossi told reporters during a briefing on Monday.

“Maybe in some very specific cases, people near a place that was hit with this kind of ammunition, there could be contamination,” he continued, adding that “this is more of a health issue of a normal nature than a potential radiological crisis.”

Depleted uranium is used to make the hardened cores of certain armor-piercing tank and autocannon rounds. Although it is not highly radioactive, uranium is still a toxic metal, and this metal is turned into a potentially hazardous aerosol when a depleted uranium round strikes its target.

US forces utilized depleted uranium tank shells during the 1991 Gulf War, reportedly causing a spike in birth defects, autoimmune disorders, and cancer cases in Iraq over the following decades. NATO also used depleted uranium in its 1999 air campaign against Yugoslavia. Earlier this year, Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic described the carcinogenic consequences of this ammunition on the Serb population a “horrible and inhumane experiment.”

The UK began supplying Ukraine with depleted uranium tank shells in March, while the US announced last week that it would send depleted uranium ammunition for its M1 Abrams tanks, which are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks.

By focusing on the issue from a nuclear safety point of view, Grossi was being deliberately disingenuous, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Monday.

“Mr. Grossi is, of course, right in saying that there are no significant radiological consequences from the standpoint of ‘nuclear safety,” she wrote. “It’s likewise obvious, though, that he is not telling the whole story.”

Zakharova pointed out that depleted uranium releases “extremely toxic aerosols” when ignited and vaporized. “Perhaps this is beyond Mr. Grossi’s expertise as head of the IAEA,” she concluded. “This question should be addressed to chemists, who will tell us about the harmful effects of heavy metal accumulation on the environment and human health.”

Russian forces claim to have destroyed at least one warehouse in Ukraine containing British depleted uranium shells. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned last week that the West will ultimately be responsible when this ammunition “inevitably” contaminates Ukrainian land.

September 11, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UN opposes US sending uranium rounds to Ukraine

RT | September 6, 2023

The UN condemned the use of depleted uranium ammunition on Wednesday, after the US government said it would send Ukraine a number of such rounds for M1 Abrams tanks as part of a $175-million military aid package.

“We are against the use of depleted uranium ammunition anywhere in the world,” Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told TASS.

Haq’s comments came after the Pentagon revealed that an unspecified number of 120mm DU rounds will be sent to Ukraine as part of the newest package of military assistance. The anti-tank rounds are intended for use by the 30-odd M1 Abrams tanks promised to Kiev by the White House in January. The first batch of tanks are supposed to be delivered later this month.

Washington is following in London’s footsteps in providing the controversial munitions to Kiev. The UK sent a number of DU rounds to Ukraine earlier this year, intended for use with its Challenger 2 tanks. The delivery of DU ammunition was teased by the Wall Street Journal in June and leaked to Reuters last week.

The British military dismissed Moscow’s objections to the use of the toxic heavy metal by saying the ammunition had “nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities.” The US has also insisted the munitions are not radioactive, citing studies by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that DU residue “does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions.”

Critics who seek to ban DU ammunition have pointed to skyrocketing rates of cancer and birth defects in places like Iraq and Serbia, claiming that uranium dust is toxic when handled or inhaled.

Anonymous British and American officials have glibly dismissed Russian concerns about environmental contamination, suggesting instead that Moscow was afraid of the “highly effective” rounds.

The US and its allies have sent over $100 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to Ukraine over the past 18 months, while insisting that this does not make them a party to the conflict. These deliveries have included cluster munitions banned by most NATO members. Ukraine reportedly has to account for their use directly to the Pentagon. Russia has documented multiple instances in which such ordnance was used against civilian targets.

September 7, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

US Depleted Uranium Shells Will Poison Ukraine, Won’t Change Conflict’s Outcome

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 04.09.2023

Britain sparked an international outcry earlier this year when officials revealed that the Challenger 2 tanks sent to Ukraine would be equipped with depleted uranium (DU) shells. The US is now expected to follow suit with DU rounds for Ukraine’s Abrams. A Russian military observer explains why the toxic arms won’t change the situation at the front.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson told Sputnik Sunday that they could not confirm reports indicating that Washington is preparing to send armor-piercing DU munitions to Ukraine as part of a new arms package to be announced this week.

The DU munitions are expected to accompany the Abrams main battle tanks the US first agreed to give Kiev back in January to coax its European allies into sending hundreds of their own tanks, with the first batch of Abrams expected to arrive by mid-September, well over three months into Ukraine’s stalled counteroffensive.

Previous reporting on the Ukrainian-bound Abrams indicated that the tanks wouldn’t be fitted with depleted uranium components in their composite armor. However, in June, it became clear that they would likely be armed with DU penetrator rounds, with anonymous officials saying at the time that they saw no ‘serious obstacles’ to deliveries, notwithstanding long-standing international concerns about DU shells’ impact on human health and the environment.

Tank, artillery and air-launched DU munitions have left a horrifying record of destruction and illness in their wake in the countries where they have been deployed, including Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Syria. Russia and Ukraine, the US, the UK, India, Pakistan, France, China, and a number of Western allies in the Middle East and Asia, are known to possess the controversial weapons, but the US and Britain are the only two countries to date confirmed to have ever used them.
Using depleted uranium as a weapon constitutes a crude form of the ‘recycling’ of spent nuclear fuel, and first began to be experimented with by the United States in the 1970s to pierce increasingly advanced Warsaw Pact armor. DU shells have been touted as a ‘budget’ variant of tungsten ore-based penetrator projectiles, having a similar density, but costing less to produce and even more powerful.

The shells’ radioactive properties have a direct impact on their penetrative ability. When fired at enemy armor, DU-tipped rounds generate an immense amount of heat, literally sloughing off portions of the projectile as it rams into its target to keep the shell’s tip sharp and prevent mushrooming. This helps the rounds grind into and through armor almost like a hot knife through butter, penetrating enemy vehicles and killing any unfortunate souls who happen to be inside.

But their destructive impact doesn’t end there. Because they are radioactive, the weapons have a tendency to poison their surrounding environment, affecting everyone from the troops inside the tanks firing the shells, to enemy combatants, and local civilians.

Iraq and republics of the former Yugoslavia are the countries most heavily affected by DU contamination to date, with cancer rates in Iraq jumping from 40 cases per 100,000 people in 1991 to 800 per 100,000 in 1995, to a whopping 1,600 per 100,000 by 2025 after the US and Britain deployed up to 2,300 tons of DU in the country.

In Yugoslavia, at least 15 tons of DU were used during the bombings of Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro in the mid-late 1990s, with Serbia subsequently suffering from one of the highest cancer rates in Europe – two-and-a-half times the European average, plus an alarming rise in infertility, a variety of autoimmune diseases and mental disorders.

Last month, Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic appealed to Ukrainian decision makers and the population at large urging them not to allow DU shells to be used on their soil, saying her country’s experience should serve as ample warning of the weapons’ devastating long-term consequences. “Believe me, what’s happening in Ukraine will affect the health of all European countries,” Grujicic told Sputnik.

Ukrainians and Europeans first got a taste of what the Serbian health minister was talking about in the spring, when a massive arms depot outside the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi thought to include DU munitions for Ukraine’s Challenger 2s went up in smoke, resulting in a massive spike in levels of gamma radiation levels in neighboring Poland.

Russian officials have also warned of DU weapons’ dangers. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted late last month that the use of the weapons would turn portions of Ukraine into an “uninhabitable” wasteland, with “radioactive contamination of the soil… already happening” and being recorded.

Ukrainian and most Western media have been more upbeat, however, insisting that the DU would give the nation’s armed forces the shot in the arm they need to bolster its flagging counteroffensive –which to date has seen immense losses in manpower and equipment, but very little to show in terms of gained ground.

Questionable Tactical Benefits Accompanied by Horrendous Costs

“The main advantage of DU munitions is their higher penetration level,” Boris Rozhin, a military expert with the Center for Military-Political Journalism think tank, told Sputnik.

“The proponents of DU munitions’ use, in the case of deliveries to Ukraine… came to the conclusion that the Ukrainian military will be able to fight Russian armor more effectively – that is, to increase the chances of defeating Russian tanks using British and American tanks. This is positioned as the main advantage of these kinds of shells,” he said.

The obvious disadvantage, the observer added, relates to the threat of radioactively contaminating wide swathes of the surrounding environment. DU rounds “were used in wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, on the territory of Iraq. In those cases, there is proven harm to health after the use of such projectiles, with the number of people suffering from the use of these shells measured in the hundreds of thousands. They have suffered radiation-related damage to their tissues and organs, leading to a range of diseases and early mortality.”
Unfortunately, Rozhin said, the United States military does not formally recognize the validity of DU-related risks, positioning it as “relatively harmless” despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

So far, the observer pointed out, the DU-equipped Challenger 2 tanks have not been spotted on the battlefield. Their successful use against the armor of Russian tanks like the T-72B3 or T-90 would require the tanks to approach quite close, to within 3,000 meters. This is something Ukrainian forces have found difficult to do amid Russia’s overwhelming air and artillery superiority, which has often enabled Russian forces to target Ukrainian armor at ranges of tens of kilometers away, long before it can approach close enough to return fire.

If they approach close enough, “then they could do a great deal of harm. But since there are very few such cases, it will not affect the current state of affairs or course of the special military operation,” Rozhin summed up.

September 4, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

EPA Plan to Rid Drinking Water of Toxic PFAS Chemicals Leaves Consumers to Pick Up the Tab

By Dr Joseph Mercola | August 29, 2023 

On June 22, the American multinational conglomerate, 3M, agreed to pay $10.3 billion to at least 300 communities in multidistrict litigation to clean up “forever chemicals” in the water supplies.

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily in the environment and they bioaccumulate in people and wildlife. In the human body, PFAS have half-lives of two to five years.

These widely used chemicals have been added to industry and consumer products since the 1940s, but while PFOA and PFOS were phased out in the U.S. due to their toxic properties, other PFAS are still in use.

Manufacturers like the chemical properties of PFAS as they repel oil, dirt and water. The chemicals have been added to consumer products ranging from cookware and food packaging to carpets, cleaners and firefighting foam.

The ubiquitous use of more than 9,000 PFAS and wide exposure is likely responsible for the chemical being found in at least 97% of Americans in 2015.

Eight years later, and without controlling the release of PFAS in the environment and water supply, it is highly likely that the percentage of Americans with PFAS has not gone down.

These chemicals are linked to significant negative human health effects, including cancer, decreased immune system function, and hormone and metabolism dysregulation, which raises concerns that the chemicals are putting the health of future generations at risk.

The 3M lawsuit was over firefighting foam

WBUR reports that the agreement of $10.3 billion over 13 years must still be approved by the court.

According to an interview in NPR, the 3M lawsuit was over firefighting foam that the company produced and sold for decades.

3M was not the only company to manufacture and sell PFAS chemicals.

A similar agreement was reached with DuPont, Chemours and Corteva in which those companies agreed to pay $1.19 billion for PFAS remediation, a deal The New York Times called “the first wave of claims.”

Several communities in Massachusetts were involved in the lawsuit. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey spoke at a press conference just one year ago when the lawsuit was filed, saying:

“Their actions violate state and federal laws that are intended to protect our residents and place costly burdens on our communities that are now forced to clean up this mess. These are manufacturers who attempted to hide just how dangerous this foam was, who prevented their workers from discussing the dangers of their products.

“Despite the fact that PFAS was toxic, these makers continued to make and sell their products without disclosing the harm.”

The litigation was resolved relatively quickly. By comparison, the lawsuit settlement against Monsanto on June 24, 2020, took more than one year of negotiations and three consecutive trial losses.

The lawsuit was originally brought by the city of Stuart, Florida, and was consolidated in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina.

“Not surprisingly, the defendants decided to settle before the trial even started,” says Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They had several major motions that were decided against them, and once that happened, I think the handwriting was on the wall.”

Experts anticipate the $10.3 billion settlement will not cover the cost of cleanup. Rob Bilott, an attorney with Kentucky law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, spoke with a reporter from Time. His early PFAS work pursuing claims against chemical companies was the basis of two films.

He said:

“Cities all over the country are facing costs. [It’s] not just to get PFAS out of their water, [communities] are now realizing that natural resources — the fish, the soil, the groundwater — everything is contaminated.”

EPA proposed drinking water regs raise the cost of cleanup

It is important to note that the settlement is not an admission of liability for 3M. Wendy Hager Bernays is a toxicologist at Boston University School of Public Health.

She spoke with WBUR:

“There are certainly communities in Massachusetts who have been poisoned … You’ll rarely hear me say that, but they have been.

“I would have loved to have seen the settlement include some money for medical monitoring, but that would have required acknowledgment of harm.”

On June 23, NPR spoke with Barbara Moran, WBUR environmental correspondent from Massachusetts. Moran notes that while the 3M settlement sounds like a lot of money:

“It’s nowhere near enough money to pay for all the cleanup. It’s like, you know, a drop in the bucket … that’s because the cleanup is really expensive, so it can cost a small town, like, $20-$30 million to install filters to clean up their drinking water, plus, you know, ongoing maintenance for years and years.”

Small towns in Massachusetts have already spent $30 million on filters to deal with PFAS. Jennifer Pederson, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, believes that Massachusetts alone will need billions for cleanup.

She went on to say:

“We’re looking at a good percentage of our Massachusetts public water systems that are likely going to have to treat for PFAS. Based on what we’re seeing, there’s still going to be a burden on the ratepayers to fund PFAS treatment.”

At the consistent urging of health advocacy groups like the Environmental Working Group (EWG), in March, the EPA announced a proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, which includes the cleanup of six PFAS chemicals.

Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the EWG, commented on the announcement:

“Today’s announcement by the EPA is historic progress … More than 200 million Americans could have PFAS in their tap water. Americans have been drinking contaminated water for decades. This proposal is a critical step toward getting these toxic poisons out of our water.

“The EPA’s proposed limits also serve as a stark reminder of just how toxic these chemicals are to human health at very low levels.”

There are thousands of claims yet to settle

According to WBUR, Massachusetts has set aside $170 million to begin the PFAS cleanup.

The federal government also announced that the state will receive $38 million to help address the cleanup of emerging contaminants in the drinking water, including PFAS.

However, how the money from the 3M settlement will be distributed is still unclear.

According to Fortune magazine, the amount of the settlement is also unclear. Payments will be made out over the next 13 years, which Fortune reports could reach $12.5 billion. The amount depends on the number of public water systems that detect PFAS over the next three years.

There are an additional 3,000 claims that are still unsettled and Michael London of the New York law firm Douglas & London, representing plaintiffs in the Stuart, Florida case, told Time :

“There are also 5,000, perhaps 6,000 individuals who have brought personal injury cases [nationwide].”

It’s estimated that Dupont and 3M will not be the only defendants as companies that knowingly used PFAS in manufactured products could also be liable.

London implied that he believes, ultimately, each of these companies would settle rather than risk a court judgment, as he continued:

“There’s going to be probably twenty-plus defendants who have their fingerprints on [the] MDL [multidistrict litigation]. Some will settle early, some will settle in the middle, some will settle late.”

In the company’s press release, 3M chairman and CEO Mike Roman said, “This is an important step forward for 3M.”

The company elaborated that PFOA and PFOS had been eliminated more than 20 years ago but despite the lawsuit settlement and mountains of evidence to the contrary, the press release continues to insist that “PFAS can be safely made and used and are critical in the manufacture of many products …”

The company also indicated that if the court does not approve the agreement or if other terms are not fulfilled, 3M would defend itself in litigation and would continue to address other PFAS lawsuits by defending itself.

Rate hikes to pay for cleanup may help lower disease risk

In 2015, PFAS were measured in the serum of at least 97% of Americans. In May 2015, more than 200 scientists from 40 countries signed the Madrid Statement, in which they warned about the harms associated with PFAS and documented the following potential health effects of exposure:

  • Liver toxicity.
  • Disruption of lipid metabolism and the immune and endocrine systems.
  • Adverse neurobehavioral effects.
  • Neonatal toxicity and death.
  • Tumors in multiple organ systems.
  • Testicular and kidney cancers.
  • Liver malfunction.
  • Hypothyroidism.
  • High cholesterol.
  • Ulcerative colitis.
  • Reduced birth weight and size.
  • Obesity.
  • Decreased immune response to vaccines.
  • Reduced hormone levels and delayed puberty.

PFAS are common contaminants in food, food packaging and personal care products.

Even at very low doses, drinking water contaminated with PFAS has been linked to immune system suppression and an increased risk of certain cancers. Reproductive and developmental problems are also linked to PFAS.

Food wrappers, biodegradable bowls and compostable bowls are all significant sources of PFAS. PFAS can also find its way into the food supply by recycling human waste.

The 2018 documentary, “Biosludged,” revealed the scientific fraud perpetuated by the EPA legalizing pollution of agricultural soils through contaminated industrial and human waste as fertilizer.

In 2019, The Intercept reported that 44 samples of sewage sludge tested by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection were all contaminated with at least one PFAS chemical and in all but two of the samples “the chemicals exceeded safety thresholds for sludge that Maine set early last year.”

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry acknowledges research suggests that PFAS may be associated with changes in liver enzymes, increased cholesterol levels, increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer and an increased risk of high blood pressure or preeclampsia in pregnant women.

This acknowledgment only touches on the scientific data linking PFAS to a laundry list of health problems.

For example, a study in children and young adults found exposure alters amino acid and lipid metabolism pathways.

The researchers suggest that this may be causing inflammation and oxidative stress that contributes to a variety of diseases. PFAS is also linked to a decline in fertility in women, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and high blood pressure.

Take steps to reduce your exposure

Waiting for the EPA to clean up the environment may be too late. It is up to you to take control of your health and limit your exposure by making safer lifestyle choices.

Consider the following ways to limit the amount of PFAS chemicals you contact daily.

  • Oral care — Limit your exposure by choosing dental floss and other interdental devices manufactured by a trusted company without toxic chemicals. Seek out products using vegan vegetable waxes that are smoother and glide between your teeth easily, as well as those without added fluoride, using nylon instead of chemically treated silk.
  • Drinking water — There are more than 9,000 different PFAS chemicals, and scientists are only beginning to unravel their disturbing effects. The full extent of contamination is unknown, but there is a good chance your water is affected. For this reason and others, I highly recommend filtering your water at the points of entry and use in your home.
  • Cookware — Get rid of all nonstick cookware in your home, including waffle irons and sandwich makers. Instead, seek out a healthy line of nonstick ceramic cookware made without dangerous PFAS chemicals, and without other heavy metals, such as iron, lead, aluminum or cadmium.
  • Food packaging — Limit eating out as PFAS are commonly found in packaging from fast food, pizza restaurants and packaging at your grocery store.
  • Personal care products — Certain cosmetics, particularly eye shadow, foundation, powder, bronzer and blush, have a higher risk of containing PFAS chemicals.

An EWG report found 13 PFAS chemicals in close to 200 products spanning 28 brands, including makeup, sunscreen, shampoo and shaving cream.

Consider searching the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetic database before your next purchase.

September 2, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Timeless or most popular | , | Leave a comment

A Concrete Solution for Fukushima

#SolutionsWatch Corbett • 08/30/2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Last week, TEPCO, in conjunction with the Japanese government, began dumping radioactive Fukushima wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. Joining us today to talk about the consequences of that decision, what it will mean for peoples around the Pacific, and what could be done to mitigate this disaster, is Dr. Robert H. Richmond, Research Professor and Director at the Kewalo Marine Laboratory in the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Watch on Archive / BitChute / Odysee / Rokfin / Rumble / Substack  / Download the mp4

SHOW NOTES

August 31, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Nuclear Power | , | Leave a comment

3M to pay billions to settle lawsuits over US military earplugs

RT | August 28, 2023

American multinational conglomerate 3M has agreed to pay more than $5.5 billion to settle hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, claiming that it supplied defective combat earplugs to the US military, people familiar with the deal told Bloomberg.

According to the agreement, the company will be paying the money out over a five-year period, the agency reported on Sunday. 3M’s board is yet to sign off on the settlement, it added.

When approached on the issue by Bloomberg, a representative of 3M said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.

3M faces more than 300,000 lawsuits from US troops, consolidated in a multi-district litigation, claiming that the earplugs that the company’s subsidiary Aearo Technologies provided to the military between 2003 and 2015 were defective, and failed to protect their users from hearing loss and tinnitus.

Current and former servicemen alleged that the company knew its earplugs were faulty, but did not inform the military about the problem, while making no steps to fix the product.

The earplugs, designed to protect the hearing of troops during training and combat, were standard issue for US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

3M failed 10 out of 16 early trials over the plugs, and has been told to pay over $250 million in damages to more than a dozen plaintiffs.

Bloomberg noted that the reported settlement would allow the company to avoid a much larger liability, which it estimated at up to $9.5 billion.

“Sounds like 3M negotiated a pretty good deal for itself, given this litigation has been weighing on them for the better part of a decade,” University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told the agency.

3M had earlier sought bankruptcy for Aearo Technologies in an attempt to shield itself from the lawsuits over earplugs. However, this June, a judge ruled that the firm’s financial troubles were not harsh enough to initiate the procedure.

The same month, 3M announced that it had reached a $10.3 billion settlement with a host of US public water systems to resolve water pollution claims tied to so-called “forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used in the company’s products.

August 28, 2023 Posted by | Deception, Environmentalism | | Leave a comment

China bars seafood from Japan

RT | August 24, 2023

Chinese customs authorities announced on Thursday an immediate ban on imports of all seafood from Japan as Tokyo begins a contentious release of treated radioactive wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

China is Japan’s biggest importer of fish, having purchased $496 million worth in 2022. It has also imported $370 million worth of crustaceans and mollusks – such as crabs and scallops – last year, data tracked by the Japanese statistics office shows.

Apart from Japan, China also purchases seafood from other countries including Ecuador, Russia, and Canada.

China had previously banned food imports from ten Japanese prefectures around the Fukushima plant, while earlier this week Hong Kong announced a ban on seafood imports from those same prefectures.

Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to discharge around 1.3 million metric tons of treated wastewater, equivalent in volume to about 500 Olympic-size swimming pools, from Fukushima.

The Japanese authorities scheduled the discharge of the treated water into the Pacific Ocean for 1pm Tokyo time on Thursday, according to state-owned electricity firm TEPCO, adding that the weather and sea conditions were suitable.

Beijing has blasted the plan as “extremely selfish and irresponsible.” The Chinese customs agency said the suspension of imports was intended to prevent radioactive contamination risks.

The Fukushima nuclear power plant experienced a catastrophic meltdown after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent devastating tsunami in 2011. It was the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

August 24, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Nuclear Power | , | Leave a comment

Pacific leader blasts Macron over nuclear tests snub

RT | August 23, 2023

French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson has condemned French President Emmanuel Macron for failing to offer even a “symbolic” apology for decades of nuclear weapons tests on the Pacific archipelago.

Speaking to Russia’s RTVI in an interview published on Tuesday, Brotherson said: “193 nuclear tests were carried out on our soil – tests that we did not ask for, and about which we were not even properly informed, because at that time the inhabitants of Polynesia did not know about the level of danger.”

“Today we are still dealing with dire consequences [and] there are people who get sick and die because of nuclear tests,” he continued. “Therefore, such a symbolic action as Emmanuel Macron’s apology was so important [and] we wondered why he did not do this.”

After detonating nearly two dozen atomic bombs in Algeria during the early 1960s, France shifted its nuclear testing to its overseas territories in the Pacific, namely the French Polynesian atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa. In total, 193 tests were carried out around the coral islands, causing a spike in thyroid cancer cases and exposing more than 100,000 inhabitants to high radiation levels, according to a 2021 review of government documents by Disclose, an investigative news site.

Both atolls remain uninhabitable to this day, and the French government has paid compensation to only 63 civilians for radiation exposure.

Macron visited French Polynesia in 2021 and declared that France owed residents of the archipelago a “debt” for the decades-long testing program. However, he did not offer an apology, and did not address the issue when he met with Brotherson in Paris earlier this summer.

“We did not expect an apology from President Macron in person, as a private individual,” Brotherson told RTVI. However, the Polynesian leader said that he would have been satisfied with “an expression of the political position of France as a state in relation to what happened, expressed by its president.”

French Polynesia’s 121 islands and atolls are a part of France’s overseas territories, a group of 13 lands under direct or semi-direct French administration that make up the remnants of its former colonial empire.

French Polynesia is semi-autonomous, and although Brotherson is a proponent of full independence, he told RTVI that he doesn’t predict any change to the status quo in the near future.

“I believe that if we held an independence referendum tomorrow, the majority would vote against it,” he said. “The people are not ready yet. Today all teachers in Polynesia are paid by France. Part of the healthcare system is financed, of course, by Paris. The communes are partly financed by France. Therefore, such questions about the future are quite natural.”

August 23, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Ukrainians Should Not Allow Use of Uranium Shells on Their Soil – Serbian Health Minister

Sputnik – 16.08.2023

The government and the people of Ukraine should not allow the use of depleted uranium shells on their soil as these could have long-term consequences for the health of future generations, Serbian Health Danica Grujicic said in an interview with Sputnik on Tuesday.

“Previously, in several interviews, I have tried to reach out to the decision-makers in Ukraine and especially to the citizens of Ukraine who will continue to live there to make them realize that all this [radioactive] contamination will have consequences for their health and the health of their offspring,” she said.

The minister added that “it is scary to use such weapons in terms of health.”

“How can you allow the use of depleted uranium on your territory? Does it mean that you are planning to go somewhere else, and do not want to live here? The health consequences will remain for many years to come. Worst of all, it will affect children as well,” the minister said.

She said that cancer in patients in Serbia after the 1999 NATO bombing became less predictable and more likely to be fatal.

“I am sure that an experiment has been conducted that continues to affect not only our people but also Croats, Hungarians and Albanians. If you look at the statistics, you will see that the highest mortality from cancer is in these countries: Serbia, Hungary and Croatia. We swap places within the top three,” Grujicic said.

The minister believes that high mortality rates are not due to poor treatment, as innovative therapy tools and methods have been introduced and applied in Serbia in recent years.

“I believe that ‘our’ tumors are more aggressive. There are young people who die in a month or month and a half, although with the new therapy and by all indications they could have lived for a long time. They just die suddenly, and you do not know why it happened. For this, we need to carry out research, we need projects. I call on all medical and scientific institutions that want to do this to submit their projects to be included in the next year’s budget,” she said.

In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army led to a bombing of what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, by NATO forces. The operation was undertaken without the approval of the UN Security Council and was based on allegations by Western countries that the Yugoslav authorities were carrying out ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians.

Grujicic is a renowned neurosurgeon who served as the director of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia before she was appointed the health minister. She has been calling attention to the increase in cancer cases and other pathologies in Serbia since the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia with depleted uranium shells.

August 16, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

FM says China’s move ‘based on facts and reason’ as Japan complains of China tightening seafood imports due to nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan

By Wang Qi | Global Times | July 20, 2023

The Chinese government puts people first, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, noting that China’s opposition to Japan’s ocean discharge plan is based on facts and reason, after Japan recently complained that China had tightened radiation testing on its seafood imports, and some Japanese seafood had reportedly been “held up” at China’s customs due to Tokyo’s nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged Japan to “heed the call of the international community, stop pushing through the discharge plan, engage in full, sincere consultations with its neighbors, dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a responsible way and accept rigorous international oversight.”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday that there have been cases of Japanese seafood exports “being held up by China,” along with Japanese media reports saying that China has ramped up efforts to test “all seafood imports from Japan for radiation.”

Earlier on July 7, China’s customs announced a ban on imports of food from Japan’s Fukushima and nine other regions, as Japan makes final preparations to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean.

Mao said Thursday that “Our job is to be responsible for the health of our people and the marine environment. Our opposition to Japan’s ocean discharge plan is based on facts and reason, so are the measures that we have decided to take.”

According to Japanese media outlet Asahi Shimbum, China is Japan’s largest seafood destination, accounting for 87.1 billion yen ($624 million) in imports.

Many people from Japan and most of its neighboring countries, including China, are against Tokyo’s irresponsible plan to dump the nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean.

A recent Japanese poll by Kyodo News showed 80.3 percent of respondents said they felt the explanation provided by the Japanese government on dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater was insufficient.

More than 80 percent of respondents in 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region except for Japan said Japan’s plan to dump nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is “irresponsible,” a survey conducted by the Global Times Research Center found recently.

A Gallup Korea survey from June shows that 78 percent of those polled said they were very or somewhat worried about contamination of seafood, according to a CNN report.

The obstruction of Japan’s seafood exports is entirely self-inflicted, Lü Chao, the director of Institute of US and East Asian Studies under Liaoning University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Trying to shift local fishermen’s anger toward the Japanese government to neighboring countries exposed Tokyo as having no sense of decency and its ill intentions, Lü noted.

The Japanese government recently used various multilateral diplomatic occasions, including the NATO summit, to justify its plan, and gave signs that it will not postpone the hazardous dumping.

Mao criticized Tokyo’s move as a global PR campaign. She said that the legitimacy and safety of Japan’s nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumpling plan have been questioned by the international community, and no matter how much the Japanese side tries, it cannot whitewash the plan, and the protests of neighboring countries and the voices of doubt in Japan are clear evidence of this.

“If the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water is truly safe, Japan wouldn’t have to dump it into the sea—and certainly shouldn’t if it’s not,” Mao said.

Dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean will seriously damage Japan’s national image and its people’s interests, Lü said, “More countries may take more stricter measures or even reject Japanese seafood imports in the future, as it’s very obvious that radioactive elements can cause long-term damage to human.”

July 26, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Nuclear Power | , , | Leave a comment

What’s the problem regarding radioactive water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant? Part 2

A delegation of South Korean scientists visits the NPP

By Konstantin Asmolov – New Eastern Outlook – 12.07.2023

The disputable situation surrounding the safety of discharging water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which the author discussed in Part 1, prompted a team of 21 South Korean experts to visit Japan from May 21 to 26 to inspect the plant and the treatment of radioactively contaminated water that Japan plans to begin discharging into the ocean in the near future because the tanks are full.

Many Koreans are concerned about this because they believe the waters are still contaminated and will have a negative impact on the environment and health of the population of the area, especially South Korea. A presidential administration official stated that Seoul feels a real inspection of the nuclear disaster by South Korean experts is required in light of the rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo on May 9, 2023. He reminded that the inspection of contaminated water quality is carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) specialists. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the treatment facilities and their operational capabilities need to be independently verified. On the same day, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, visiting Europe at the time, met with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and noted the need for South Korean specialists and research organizations to be constantly involved in the process of monitoring the composition of contaminated water.

The idea was also supported in Washington. On May 12, Philip Goldberg, US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, said that South Korea and Japan should exercise “patience and diplomatic skill.”

The delegation consisted of 19 experts from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, one expert from the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology and its head, South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee. Indeed, it was a serious team, but the preparation for the visit was fraught with a number of difficulties.

On the one hand, the parties defined the goals of the trip differently. The visit, the Foreign Ministry anticipated, would provide “opportunity to conduct a multilayered review and evaluation” of the water’s safety independently of the IAEA’s monitoring team. However, Japanese Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura stated that the inspection is intended to “help deepen understanding” about the safety of the release, not to evaluate or certify its safety.

On May 17, South Korea and Japan held further consultations at the working level, but could not elaborate on the details of the upcoming inspection, despite many hours of talks.

On the other hand, the question arose as to whose representatives would go there. On May 12, Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, stated that “the inspection team will be composed of top-notch experts in safety regulations,” and “the purpose of inspection activities is to provide an overall review of the safety of the water discharge into the ocean.”

But on May 19, Park Ku-yeon said that in addition to government experts, a separate group of about 10 civilian experts would be formed by Yoo Guk-hee to review and support the inspection team.

As a result, the government formed an advisory group of 10 civilian experts, some of whom strongly raised questions about the safety of radioactive water and called for a thorough review. But members of the advisory group were not included in the on-site inspection team.

This raised the question of objectivity, as the arguments of the critics were worth considering:

  • Members of the expert group serve in government agencies; it may be difficult for them to express an opinion different from the government which supports Japan.
  • Japan will not allow experts to take radioactive water samples at the power plant site and will not accept the results of the safety assessment of the Korean inspection team, a clear indication that Japan does not want a full objective inspection.
  • Japan does not allow Korean journalists to accompany the inspection team. The lack of transparency and openness may cause concern.

However, the Yoon administration and the ruling People Power Party claimed that there is no need for the public to be alarmed because Japan will permit an additional inspection if a problem is discovered at the facility and the Korean delegation will have the chance to examine and assess the advanced cleaning system developed at the Fukushima plant.

On the third hand, the democratic opposition started its resistance right away. On May 10, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung called on the government to reconsider its plan to send an inspection team “that has no power to conduct a substantial and thorough inspection and verification,” saying that the visit could end up approving the planned discharge of contaminated water from the damaged plant. “It appears the government is trying to be a volunteer helper for Japan’s plan to dump contaminated water from the nuclear power plant into the ocean.”

On May 13, the Democratic Party called on the government to withdraw its plan to send an inspection team to Japan, saying it would only justify Japan’s plan. The Democrats pointed out that the Japanese government has no plans to allow the Seoul delegation to verify the safety of the discharge and will proceed with the plan in July, regardless of the team’s actions. This means that the inspection team is just a formality.

On May 21, the experts arrived in Japan. On May 22 they met with the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), presenting them with a list of facilities they want to inspect. Before the meeting, Yoo Guk-hee noted that the experts will check with their own eyes the K4 tanks intended for storing and measuring the radioactive substance and will ask the Japanese authorities for the necessary data. Yoo also promised to study the ALPS treatment system, and assess whether the treated water is safe enough to discharge into the sea.

In brief, the purification process is as follows: contaminated water goes through the procedure of preliminary purification from suspended solids and then enters the ALPS unit, which removes radionuclides except tritium. Then its samples are evaluated, and if they meet the established safety parameters, the water is diluted with pure seawater in a separate facility to reduce the concentration of tritium. Later, it is supposed to be discharged into the ocean.

On May 23-24, experts inspected the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP. As Yoo Guk-hee noted, the main focus was on the radioactive water storage tanks and treatment system.

On May 23, the ALPS equipment, the central control room, the K4 tank for measuring water concentration before discharge, and the transportation equipment were inspected.

On May 24, the experts inspected the first power unit of the plant, including the radiological analysis laboratory. Additionally, by comparing the concentration of water before and after treatment, the experts evaluated the effectiveness of the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS).

The team visited the nuclide analysis facility and inspected the seawater dilution system and discharge facilities, including the capacity of the dilution pumps and how they functioned. The experts took a close look at the shut-off valves that would be triggered if the water contamination level exceeded the norm.

Additionally, Tokyo gave them reports from IAEA officials it had invited to observe the procedure and data it had collected on water control.

After the inspection, Yoo told reporters that “we examined all the facilities we wanted to see … but we need to engage in additional analysis of their function and role.” Although the team was not able to collect water samples on their own, they analyzed those previously collected by the IAEA.

When asked whether the South Korean government would release its security assessment before the IAEA releases its final report, Yoo declined to comment.

On May 25, the delegation held consultations with Japanese counterparts, and Yoo Guk-hee reported that the commission had completed its task by requesting additional data to be sent from Japan and analyzed. Only then will the final report be made public.

On May 26, the group returned home. The opposition and some civil society organizations criticized the visit, calling it “government-led tourism,” saying that the Yoon Seok-yeol government was simply following Japan’s lead and risking the health of Koreans. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin rejected such criticism, saying that experts were carefully examining the sites, resolving all concerns with the Japanese authorities, and obtaining scientific data. “It is not right to devalue the work of our team that is working hard (in Japan).”

On May 30, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo asked the group of experts to present the results of their inspection transparently and comprehensively. On May 31, the group held a press conference to announce the main results of the visit.

The specialists spoke in detail about TEPCO’s procedure for cleaning and testing radiation-contaminated water, as well as the sites visited as part of the inspection. They also learned the procedures to stop water discharge in case of emergency and the process of maintaining the machinery used in water treatment. The unique cleaning technique and the equipment for assessing radiation levels received special attention.

In the process of familiarization with the water treatment facilities at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP, the South Korean expert group received data from the Japanese side on the performance of the ALPS for the last four years. This includes data regarding the water’s chemical composition at the ALPS system’s input and exit, which made it possible to assess the system’s effectiveness and gauge the degree of pollution before and after treatment. The experts made sure that all major equipment was installed in accordance with current standards, and that the system for preventing leakage of contaminated water was operating normally. In particular, there are emergency valves to automatically stop water discharge in case of a sudden power and communication failure. In addition, equipment for double-checking the composition of water is in operation. However, there has not been a “yes or no” answer: significant progress has been made during the Fukushima inspection, but further analysis is needed for a more accurate conclusion.

This did not dampen the excitement, and on June 22, Hahn Pil-soo, a South Korean nuclear energy expert who formerly served as director of the IAEA’s radiation, transport and waste safety division, said that IAEA investigation reports have reliable objectivity and credibility. “The credibility of the final report is directly related to the status of the IAEA. Thus lawyers and experts are involved to ensure that not a single word is misspelled,” he said, stressing that the agency works hard to produce professional, objective and reliable results.

On June 26, Park Ku-yeon said that there is no alternative to Japan’s decision to release contaminated water from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant because there is no other way to dispose the water.  In the mid-2010s, there were extremely complex discussions in Japan, with various options for water disposal (solidifying water in concrete or storing water in massive tanks), but “the current water discharge method was finalized as the most realistic alternative when scientific precedents and safety were fully taken into account.” Therefore, the IAEA approved the method to be implemented, taking into account its safety and based on scientific data.

Park Koo-yeon noted that the NRA would begin trial operation of the water dilution and pumping units on June 28.

On June 27, after a month of his group’s return, Yoo Guk-hee, reported that South Korea is in the final stages of analysis: “We have been scientifically and technologically reviewing Japan’s plan based on the results of the on-site inspection and additional data obtained afterward.” In addition, Yoo said six types of radionuclides have been detected in the water stored in the tanks at concentrations in excess of acceptable limits, even after treatment with ALPS, but most cases occurred before 2019, so “this is the aspect of radionuclide that we need to closely examine.”

The final report will eventually be published in early July. However, in a politicized environment, its meaning becomes a matter of trust, particularly because the opposition prematurely declared the commission’s findings invalid and launched a loud campaign, which the author will discuss in the section after this one.

Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, is a leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of China and Modern Asia at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

July 15, 2023 Posted by | Environmentalism, Nuclear Power | , , , | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »