ロシア外相が、NATO軍はユーゴに対して「放射性の新型爆弾」を使っている可
能性があると指摘しています。それを報道するBBCのニュースを転載しておきます
が、新しい情報は前半部分だけです。
ロシア外相は、「コソボの多くの地点で、専門家が大気中及び地面から高い放
射線レベルを検知した」と言っているのですが、この「専門家」とはどういう人
たちなのかは分かりません。
英国の国防相は、「劣化ウラン弾が使われているとは思わない」とコメントし
ていますが、爆撃に反対する労働党議員は「十分ありうる」と言っています。
いずれにしても、劣化ウラン弾問題が、外交レベル・マスコミレベルの問題に
なってきたということです。こんなことは現地へ行けばすぐに確認できることだ
し、米軍が誰よりもよく知っていることなのですが。戦時にはすべてが隠蔽され
てしまいます。
戦時ではないですが、表面化した限り、海外でこの劣化ウラン弾が最も派手に
使われたのは日本（沖縄鳥島）なのに、日本のメディアが全くこの問題を報道し
ないのはある意味で不思議です。
余計なことですが、BBCにはEnvironment Correspondentというのがあるんです
ね。
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<BBC>
Friday, April 9, 1999 Published at 15:36 GMT 16:36 UK
World: Europe
Uranium weapon fears in Kosovo
A-10: Can fire depleted uranium shells
By Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby
Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov says he believes
Nato forces may be using weapons containing radioactivity
against Yugoslavia.
"In a number of areas of Kosovo, experts have detected
enhanced radiation levels in the atmosphere and on the
ground," Mr Ivanov said.
"This gives grounds for thinking that Nato may be using
new types of weapons against Yugoslavia, ones with
radioactive components."
His suggestion echoes other unconfirmed reports that
Nato aircraft are using munitions containing depleted
uranium (DU).
The Ministry of Defence said it did not think DU weapons
were being used by Nato.
But the Labour MP Tam Dalyell, who opposes the use of
force against Yugoslavia, told BBC News Online he
thought it was "more than possible".
The A-10 jets being used over Kosovo against tanks were
also used to attack Iraqi forces in 1991.
During that war, the jets fired 30 mm rounds reinforced
with DU, a waste product of the uranium enrichment
process.
The substance is 1.7 times more dense than lead and is
used in an alloy form in shells to make them better
penetrate targets.
Danger for the region
John Catalinottto of the International Action Center in
New York, set up by former US Attorney-General Ramsey
Clark and others to oppose US military involvement
around the world, said: "As the shell hits its target, it
burns and releases uranium oxide into the air.
"The poisonous and radioactive uranium is most
dangerous when inhaled into the body, where it will
release radiation during the life of the person who inhaled
it."
The IAC said the Pentagon's decision to use the A-10s in
the conflict was "a danger to the people and environment
of the entire Balkans".
And it claimed "solid scientific evidence" that DU
residues in southern Iraq are responsible for a large
increase in stillbirths, birth defects, childhood leukaemia
and other cancers.
Many allied troops who served
in the 1991 war say they are
victims of Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS), characterised by
chronic fatigue, weight loss,
and defects in children born
subsequently.
In February, 16 British Gulf
War veterans said they had
proof that they were suffering
from radiation poisoning,
which they thought could be a
factor in GWS.
Doctors in Iraq say children
there have been damaged by
the same radiation.
But the US Defense Department said there was no
evidence of a link between cancer and DU, which was no
more radioactive than lead.
A report from the Ministry of Defence in London said last
month that DU was unlikely to have contributed to GWS.
It said DU presented two hazards - a radiation and a
chemical toxicity risk.
The report said the radiation risk was low, and the
chemical toxicity risk "similar to that posed by other
heavy metals such as lead".
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****************************
Masahiko Aoki
青木雅彦
btree@pop11.odn.ne.jp
****************************