Teach-in targets depleted uranium weapons manufacturing in Scranton

On Tuesday, April 22, the same day as Pennsylvania's presidential primary, there will be a teach-in about the depleted uranium weapons and ammunitions produced by General Dynamics in Scranton, 50 miles northeast of Hometown. The event is organized by We the People, a New Hampshire-based organization that promotes campaign finance reform, and the New York-based No DU Coalition of the Hudson Valley. The event will take place at noon at General Dynamics' Scranton headquarters, located at 135 Cedar Ave.

Invitees include presidential candidates John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mike Gravel and Ralph Nader, along with senior executives from General Dynamics and the Pentagon. Confirmed speakers include Herbert Reed, an Iraq veteran contaminated by depleted uranium.

A byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, depleted uranium is a very high-density metal used to make anti-tank munitions and armor-plating for tanks. DU is chemically toxic as well as slightly radioactive, and its main exposure route is thought to be inhalation of dust formed when DU munitions hit targets. The British government has attributed health problems and birth defect claims from a 1991 Gulf War veteran to DU poisoning, and scientific studies have suggested a link between chronic DU exposure and leukemia as well as other genetic, reproductive and neurological problems.

To date, most of the opposition to DU weapons has focused on their impact on veterans and civilians in war zones. But what about DU's impact on the communities where the weapons are manufactured? Could the DU weapons facility in Scranton be a factor in the unusually high cancer rates in Northeastern Pennsylvania?

Listed in the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory as the "U.S. Army Scranton Army Ammunition Plant," the facility in 2006 reported releasing to the environment 13 pounds of toxic chemicals -- the metals chromium, copper, manganese and nickel. However, uranium and depleted uranium are not included among the chemicals covered by the TRI.


(Photo of Iraqi baby believed to be have been deformed by depleted uranium contamination by Dr. Jenan Hassan courtesy of Mindfully.org. For more photos of babies believed to have been impacted by DU, click here -- but please be warned that these images are quite graphic and disturbing. For more about Dr. Hassan's work, click here.)