Archived press release

BAe faces AGM protest over depleted uranium weapons

29 April 2003

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth will quiz Directors of weapons manufacturer, BAe plc, tomorrow, over its potential liabilities arising from the use of depleted uranium in Iraq.

In the 1990s, BAe plc made depleted uranium shells for the British Army in two Royal Ordnance factories, in the West Midlands and in Lancashire. The British Army used depleted uranium shells during the invasion of Iraq [1].

Depleted uranium from used ammunition has been shown to linger for many years in the soil and water courses of countries where it has been used. DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years. When DU rounds punch through an enemy target such as a tank they disintegrate into uranium dioxide dust. This can be breathed in by anyone near the stricken vehicle for some time after the impact. Tanks and vehicles destroyed by DU weapons, many of which now litter the landscape of Iraq, may retain "radioactive hotspots".

Veterans' organisations and others have claimed that DU particles can cause brain, lung and lymph node cancers, and Iraqi doctors have linked DU use in the 1991 war with an increase in birth defects and cancers. The Royal Society has suggested that existing scientific evidence shows a small but significant increase in cancer risk from DU exposure and called for more detailed research.

Friends of the Earth campaigners will ask BAe what research it has undertaken to assess the health impacts of the depleted uranium used in its weapons, and whether it has commissioned legal advice on its liability for damage caused to people's health as a result of:

• the use of depleted uranium by the British Army;

• their employment by BAe in the manufacture of depleted uranium shells

• any accidental releases of depleted uranium from their manufacturing plant.

Hannah Griffiths, Corporates Campaigner are Friends of the Earth said:

"We want the directors of companies like BAe to take their duties to communities and the environment as seriously as they do their duties to the company's bottom line. That means caring about what happens to the soldiers who use DU weapons and the civilians who have to live in the polluted environment that DU weapons create. We will be exposing BAe for their lack of concern about the health and environmental risks of their behaviour".

[1] The Ministry of Defence has stated that UK forces have DU ammunition in the form of 120 mm anti-tank rounds (CHARM 3) fired by the Army's Challenger tanks.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust