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Outrage at Solway Firth weapons tests |
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008 |
Green and Nationalist MSPs have joined with environmental activists to protest at the resumed testing of depleted uranium weapons at a firing range at Dundrennan on the Solway Firth.
Depleted uranium is derived from nuclear waste and is one of the densest substances known to man. It is used on the tips of shells to punch through armour-plating on tanks and other defences. It has been used extensively by US and British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been associated with severe birth defects and increased rates of cancer among Iraqi civilians after the first Gulf War.
The MoD has fired more than 6000 rounds of ammunition at the Dundrennan site over the last 20 years, which campaigners say equates to more than 20 tonnes of nuclear waste.
Green Co-convener Robin Harper MSP said:
“Depleted uranium shells leave behind the kind of pollution normally associated with dirty bombs, radioactive material that damages the environment and risks future health problems. There is no safe place to test these shells, and there is no appropriate battlefield to use them on either. The MoD should be ashamed of going back to Dundrennan with this discredited technology, and should instead commit to the ban requested by the European Parliament.”
A spokesperson for the SNP said:
“When they were serving in areas where uranium weapons had been used, service personnel were issued with warning cards. That would suggest that the UK Government were well aware of the health problems associated with its use. We want to ask the Secretary of State for Defence about the UK’s position with regard to these international developments. Although we don’t have any powers over defence policy we are responsible for the health and well being of the people and service personnel of Scotland.”
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