Autism-PDD Message Boards: Depleted Uranium in Hawaii

This is an Article I stumbled across while printing off Autism resources. Very interesting and scary read. It makes me nervous to get preg. and Have another baby ( while was the plan) at least while we live there....

Military Pollution

For over sixty years, the land and residents of Hawai'i have endured tremendous toxic pollution exposure from military use and munitions' training in the islands. The 2004 Defense Environmental Restoration Program report to Congress listed 798 military contamination sites at 108 installations in Hawai'i, 96 of which were contaminated with unexploded ordnance, seven of the military contamination sites were considered "Superfund" sites. These sites have not been cleaned up. Meanwhile, the toxic components of this pollution leach into our environment.

Hawai'i residents have a right to live in an environment without toxic pollution and contamination of our air, water and soil. The quality of air that we breathe will NEVER be less than significant to us! Since the discovery of depleted uranium spotting rounds on Schofield Barracks, many residents are seriously concerned about DU contamination and being exposed to high levels of radiation. HB 1452 (to test for DU is tabled for another year) Sadly for the islands, the biggest polluter of Hawai'i today is the biggest unregulated dirty industry polluting our planet: The United States Military. Presently, the best that we can hope for is that next year (2008) the Hawai'i State legislaure will take our concerns seriously and Test Hawai'i for Depleted Uranium. DU has an extremely long half life and vaporized DU dust can not be cleaned up. Our goal at Protect Hawaii is for the military to stop disrupting the artillery ranges with more live-fire training and remediate land contaminated by their activity.

Health Problems in Hawai'i

and Official Stonewalling

One in seventeen births in Hawai'i has a "recognizable abnormality," according to the Hawaii Birth Defects Program website. Cases of diabetes and asthma are on the rise, especially in communities downwind from live-fire training ranges, like Waianae, Oahu. Heart disease and cancer are the first and third leading cause of death in Hawai'i. According to the National Center of Health Statistics the national rates for cancer and heart disease are dropping while Hawai'i's rates are climbing. The Starbulletin reported on March 11, 2004 that 23,000 children in Hawai'i are in Special Education and 720 children were identified as having autism. "Childhood autism in Hawaii is growing at an epidemic rate, according to Autism Society officials." No one knows why? It could be genetic or environmental (chemical exposure)."

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Education (DOE) spending for special education needs has risen from approximately 75 million dollars a year in 1994 to over 350 million dollars annually in 2004. The State of Hawai'i government has never seriously examined military toxins as a cause of the high incidence of life altering and life threatening illness among Hawai'i's residents. Stonewalling is common with government officials . Activists are denied access to pertinent public health information.

More on Military Contamination of Hawaii

"According to the Navy, the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex alone contains approximately 749 contaminated sites and is treated as a giant superfund site. Military installations made up five of the top ten polluters in Hawai‘i responsible for releasing persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, which include lead, dioxins mercury, and polycyclic aromatic compounds. Military contamination hazards include unexploded ordnance, various types of fuels and petroleum products; organic solvents such as perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene; dioxins and PCB; explosives and propellants such as RDX, TNT, HMX and Perchlorate; heavy metals such as Lead and Mercury; napalm, chemical weapons, and radioactive waste from nuclear powered ships." (by Kyle Kajehiro of American Friends Service Committee.)

Radiation and Chemical Releases

"Cobalt–60, a radioactive waste product from nuclear-powered ships, has been found in sediment at Pearl Harbor . Between 1964 and 1978, 4,843,000 gallons of low level radioactive waste were discharged into Pearl Harbor . 2,189 steel drums containing radioactive waste were dumped in an ocean disposal area 55 miles from Hawai‘i. The military recently disclosed that from 1941 to 1972 it had dumped more than 8,000 tons of chemical munitions, including blistering agents mustard gas and lewisite, in the shallow seas off O‘ahu island. Fishermen have been burned when they accidentally raised this toxic catch. For many years, the military denied ever using depleted uranium in Hawai‘i. However in January 2006, activists forced the Army to admit the presence of depleted uranium contamination on O‘ahu." (by Kyle Kajehiro for more information go to www.dmzhawaii.org )

The U.S. Army's SEIS Confirms High Radiation Readings

The U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) is published in July 2007. See http://www.sbct-seis.org/

In chapter 3 page 7 of this report it states: “Forty-five separate locations showed Gamma levels higher than background…In total nine samples were collected (six soil samples and three fragments)…Laboratory analysis indicated that three soil samples exhibited uranium-238 above background levels. Additionally, spectroscopy analyses confirmed that the three fragments collected are comprised of DU.”

We are not out of the woods yet a previous paragraph states: “In October 2006, a third survey of the area was conducted in areas made more accessible by a successful prescribed burn of the impact area.”

ANNOUNCEMENT NEWS UPDATE

AUGUST 21, 2007

U.S Army confirms the presence of depleted uranium at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), Hawaii Island