"...At an intuitive level, it is clear that it cannot be healthy to transform thousands of tons of uranium into a micro-particle gas that will remain suspended in the air and radioactive for its half-life of over 4 billion years...."

The past month has been hopeful for residents of Helena who care about the health of our troops, civilians, and the environment we all depend on for life. On Nov. 10 the countries of the United Nations voted 122 to 6 to urge member states to reexamine the health hazards posed by the use of uranium weapons. Also during November the European Parliament passed a resolution that for the fourth time calls for uranium weapons to be banned.

More locally, on Nov. 1, Lt. Governor John Bohlinger and half a dozen members of Gov. Schweitzer's staff met with Helena residents who are members of the Montana Uranium Weapons Education Project to talk about the long-terms health hazards that uranium weapons pose to members of the Montana Army National Guard who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. And on Nov. 6 Carroll College awarded an honorary doctorate to Sr. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., for her research detailing the long-term health hazards caused by the use of uranium weapons.

These recent actions regarding uranium weapons may leave some readers scratching their heads, as the news media in our country have largely ignored what critics regard as the most startling and troubling development in warfare in the last half century. The largely ignored fact is this: beginning with the Gulf War in 1991 and continuing through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. troops have shot in combat an estimated 3,000 tank shells and bombs made of a radioactive material that the military and the nuclear industry call "depleted" uranium. Hundreds of Montanans have been in combat environments where these weapons have been used. Some troops returning from these war zones believe that being present where uranium weapons have been used has contributed to a degradation of their health commonly known as Gulf War Syndrome.

Natural uranium, freshly mined from the earth, is 99.27 percent U-238 and just 0.72 percent U-235. Because U-235, when concentrated, is prone to the fission reactions used in nuclear bombs and reactors, most of this isotope is removed from natural uranium to make nuclear fuel and bomb material. The over 99% of the natural uranium that is left over is then referred to as "depleted" uranium. It is uranium that is depleted of the very small percentage of material that is used for nuclear reactors and bombs, but it is still radioactive. Just one milligram (0.0000352 of an ounce) of "depleted" uranium's U-238 gives off 1,071,000 alpha particles in one day. Each alpha particle releases 4,000,000 electron volts of energy. Just 6 to 10 electron volts are needed to cleave the nuclear DNA strand in a cell. So if this milligram of U-238 were resting next to some living cells, its potential to wreak havoc is apparent.

Because uranium is present in soil, in varying fractional degrees, we ingest very small amounts of natural uranium most days. Though we take it in through our mouths, our stomach and intestinal walls block 99 percent of it from entering into our bodies, and so we harmlessly pass it. Those who claim that uranium weapons are relatively harmless in the environment are making the mistake of assuming that troops' and civilians' encounter with it is similar to our encounter with natural uranium. But it couldn't be more different.

Uranium is pyrophoric, meaning that it easily burns. A uranium bullet, tank shell, or missile will begin to burn as it passes out of a weapon and travels through the air at high speed. When it hits the side of an armored vehicle, the uranium projectile will burn at between 3,000 and 6,000 degrees Celsius, cutting through the armor like butter, vaporizing up to 70 percent of the uranium and the people inside the vehicle. This makes it a terrifyingly effective weapon, but the side effects of this extraordinary fire may be even more terrifying, though they are ignored by apologists for the weapons.

The uranium fume that is created as it burns is made up of radioactive particles that can be as small as a nanometer, which is one-millionth of a millimeter (imagine dividing the tiny millimeter on your ruler into one million pieces). Particles that are this small are invisible. They can be suspended in the air indefinitely through Brownian motion. There is no gas mask that can filter them out. They easily pass the lung-blood barrier and enter the body. They lodge at the cellular level. And not only does the intense heat of burning uranium create a metal fume of infinitesimally small particles, but it transforms these micro-particles into a ceramic form, just as a potter's kiln fires ordinary earth into something more like glass. Ceramicizing these uranium particles changes them from a water-soluble to an insoluble state, making them resistant to the body's protective, filtering, and excreting mechanisms, which depend on water solubility to work.

Micro-particles of uranium embedded at different sites in the body have the potential to damage cellular DNA, damage the mitochondria of cells (which perform the cells' functions), initiate mutations and tumors, cause heavy-metal poisoning, and negatively affect the human reproductive and developmental process. Veterans and civilians who have been in battle zones where these weapons have been used claim they have suffered negative effects. At an intuitive level, it is clear that it cannot be healthy to transform thousands of tons of uranium into a micro-particle gas that will remain suspended in the air and radioactive for its half-life of over 4 billion years.

Our elected leaders in Washington need to hear from citizens on this issue. Veterans affected by uranium weapons should not be denied recognition and help as were Vietnam veterans who suffered from Agent Orange. Our country also needs to join the vast majority of nations and stop using these weapons. Their short-term effectiveness as weapons pales in comparison to the harms they could continue to cause for Earth's inhabitants for billions of years.

Jonathan Matthews, Ph.D., is a Carroll College professor and a member of the Montana Uranium Weapons Education Project.