David Norris (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. The matter I want to raise concerns depleted uranium and its use in weapons systems. I raise it in a very positive context. Earlier in this session a very useful Bill was introduced by Senator Boyle to ban uranium weapons. This was in the aftermath of Belgium becoming the first country in the world to introduce such a ban. We are in a useful position because we do not actually have any of the resource referred to. Therefore, we can take an ethical position that would not cause any disruption to employment. We can give a moral lead.

I raise this issue in the context of the commitment of the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Roche. I refer to his very forceful and powerful intervention in the previous debate. He said the use of the weapons in question was cynical and that Ireland was committed to doing what it could. In the context of the successful moves made by Ireland and other countries to have cluster munitions banned, the banning of depleted uranium weapons is the next stage in the battle against the use of really vicious weapons.

There was recently a briefing session in the AV room given by Mr. Doug Weir, co-ordinator of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. He was brought here by AfrI. He gave a very stark, clear, logical and precise outline of the dangers posed by uranium. Depleted uranium is nuclear waste and comes from the nuclear industry, in which uranium is used in power generation and experiments. It is very unstable and can produce a self-sustaining series of nuclear reactions if neutrons are fired at it. This releases huge amounts of energy and is the reason uranium-235, in particular, is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Depleted uranium is the waste from which a lot of other material has been drained. It is a chemically toxic, strongly radioactive compound. When it was first manufactured in the 1940s by the United States and the USSR which were involved in their nuclear weapons programmes, they found they had a by-product which had no use. Subsequently, in the 1970s, it emerged that the Soviet army was using armoured plating on tanks that was not capable of being pierced by conventional weapons. The Pentagon discovered that it was possible to penetrate this strengthened armour by using projectile weapons containing depleted uranium. The difficulty in this regard relates to the radioactive nature of uranium and the fact that when it explodes against a hard surface, it creates a fine dust.

The weapons to which I refer were first used extensively in the first Gulf War. The dust to which they give rise tends to be blown all over the place, especially in desert conditions, and gives rise to very serious health problems for those exposed. For example, this dust can get into one's lungs and, from there, uranium compounds are deposited in one's lymph nodes, bones, brain and testes. Hard targets that are hit and penetrated by depleted uranium weapons are usually surrounded by this dust which can travel several kilometres when it is suspended freely in air. Partially exploded depleted uranium weapons can be left buried in the ground.

The effects the dust to which I refer can have on people's health are quite grim. Unfortunately, there is not time to list them in detail but I do have in my possession a list of academic papers on the subject. I will state, however, that normal functioning of the kidneys, brain, liver, heart and numerous other systems can be affected by exposure to uranium such as that to which I refer.

The uranium in question gives rise to alpha radiation which, when inhaled or ingested, is the most damaging form of ionising radiation known to man. Alpha radiation is very disruptive within the human body and leaves a trail of ionised free radicals that disrupt finely tuned cellular processes in its wake. This leads to genomic instability which is a precursor to cancer.

In every location where this material has been used, birth defects, cancers, etc. have resulted. The results of a study carried out in respect of 15,000 US veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, which were published in 2001, found that there was a doubling of the number of birth defects in the children of fathers who had been exposed. The increase in respect of children born to mothers who had been exposed was threefold. The United Kingdom, whose personnel were also exposed to uranium, established the Pensions Appeals Tribunal Service which attributed birth defect claims from February 1991 Gulf War combat veterans to poisoning resulting from exposure to depleted uranium. An evidence trail has, therefore, been established.

In 2001, doctors in Serb-run hospitals reported numbers of patients suffering from malignant diseases and an increase of 200% in the incidence of such diseases. Again, while I have in my possession numerous scientific papers which underpin what I am saying, I do not have time to read them all into the record and, in any event, doing so could prove quite tedious.

It is astonishing that the World Health Organisation, WHO, an agency of the UN, and other groups appear to have distanced themselves from the evidence to which I refer by stating that nothing concrete had been found. The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, came to the same conclusion and queried the impact of depleted uranium weapons. These agencies are mere functionaries of the UN and I am pleased to inform the Minister of State that the General Assembly of the UN refused to accept what they stated. The General Assembly insisted that further reports be compiled and passed a resolution highlighting the health hazards to which depleted uranium weapons can give rise. The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that the effects these weapons could have did not have to be proved and that the mere possibility that they could cause serious damage to people's health should lead to caution being exercised in respect of their development or use.

The Prohibition of Depleted Uranium Weapons Bill 2009 has had its Second Stage reading. I hope this legislation will soon pass into law. I urge the Minister of State to ensure progress is made in this regard. To date, only the United Kingdom and the United States have used depleted uranium weapons. They are manufactured in the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, China, South Korea and South Africa. The countries which are believed to have depleted uranium weapons in their arsenals are the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, Belarus, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, China, India and Taiwan.

The situation in respect of depleted uranium weapons is highly dangerous and their legal status is not completely clear. There is a moral argument against their use. The use of those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required is outlawed. The prohibition to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering and the principles of precaution and proportionality must also be taken into account.