How US Media Learned to Love Depleted Uranium Shells Amid Ukraine Counteroffensive

Washington's decision to supply depleted uranium (DU) munitions to Ukraine has been met with little if any criticism in the Western press, even though decades ago American and European journalists rang alarm bells over health and environment hazards triggered by the weapon. Why is that?

The Biden administration has announced it will provide Ukraine with depleted uranium (DU) anti-tank 120 mm rounds which will be used to arm the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks expected to be delivered to the Kiev regime in the fall.

US media hastened to dispel anxieties associated with the use of uranium: even though rounds retain "some radioactive properties," but they "can't generate a nuclear reaction like a nuclear weapon would," AP wrote citing a RAND expert. Per the US media, depleted uranium is not that "radioactive", but rather toxic. And again, most of it would be excreted, and just some can enter the bloodstream and cause kidney damage.

At the same time, DU projectiles – which were developed by the US to destroy Soviet tanks during the Cold War, the media highlights – can easily and effectively penetrate the enemy tanks' armor. On top of that, the depleted uranium shells "saved the lives of many service members in combat," the media underscores, quoting a Pentagon spokesman. Nothing to worry about, it's just "an exotic metal dart fired at an extraordinarily high speed." That is, advantages outweigh the disadvantages, in the newspaper's view.

However, over almost three decades the US media has held a strikingly different stance.

How Did Western Press Assess DU Shells Before?

In January 1993, the New York Times shed light on the sinister consequences of the use of depleted uranium projectiles during the 1991 Iraq War. The media cited a confidential report by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, written in April 1991 and leaked to the press, which estimated that at least 40 tons of depleted uranium were dispersed in Iraq and Kuwait during the war. The newspaper cast doubt on the Pentagon's assertions that depleted uranium is "very, very mildly radioactive", referring to the post-war increase in childhood cancer and mysterious swollen abdomens is at least in part due to the radioactive shells.

"UN personnel and aid workers have seen children playing with empty shells, abandoned weapons and destroyed tanks. In Basra, a foreign doctor saw a child using depleted uranium shells as hand puppets," the newspaper wrote. "Most doctors and scientists agree that even mild radiation is dangerous and increases the risk of cancer."

In 1999, the Western media repeatedly raised concerns over the use of depleted uranium munitions during the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. In March 2000, NATO confirmed to the United Nations that depleted uranium was used during the conflict in Kosovo, saying that "a total of approximately 31,000 rounds" of DU ammo was used during NATO's bombings of Yugoslavia.

NYT article on depleted uranium published in 2001

© Photo : Screenshot/ New York Times

In January 2001, NYT cited the US Joint Chiefs of Staff document dated July 1, 1999, which urged allied armies to use precautions on entering Kosovo after the use of munitions containing depleted uranium. It specifically warned "against touching spent ammunition or other contaminated materials" adding that personnel handling the heads of DU anti-tank shells or entering wrecked vehicles should "wear protective masks and cover exposed skin."

The same year, US media reported mounting pressure on NATO after reports that six Italian soldiers died from leukemia after serving in the Balkans and apparently being exposed to depleted uranium from spent NATO ammunition.

LAT article on depleted uranium

© Photo : Screenshot/ Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times echoed that leukemia deaths among those serving in the Balkans were on the rise in Europe: nine Balkans veterans were diagnosed with the condition; Spanish, Portuguese and Czech peacekeepers reportedly have succumbed to the blood cancer; France said four of its former Balkans servicemen were under treatment for leukemia. The Europeans called upon the Clinton administration to be open about health issues related to depleted uranium shells.

CNN article on depleted uranium

© Screenshot/ CNN

CNN joined the chorus at the time stressing that a host of European countries whose soldiers served with NATO in Kosovo and Bosnia were imposing pressure on the NATO leadership. It was suggested that the "Balkans Syndrome" was caused by the uranium-tipped ammo.

WaPo article on the effects of depleted uranium shells

© Screenshot/ The Washington Post

Meanwhile, in March 2001, the Washington Post cited concerns of the Iraqi government about the increase in cancer cases and abnormal incidence of genetic problems among children in the aftermath of Washington's Gulf campaign. As per the media, the World Health Organization (WHO) lent a sympathetic ear to Baghdad's concerns at the time and sent a team to probe the potential link between the use of depleted uranium shells in the Gulf War and cancer and birth defect rates in Iraq.

Remarkably, in 2006, Dr. Keith Baverstock, a WHO radiation expert, claimed that 2001 research from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute of the US Department of Defense indicating a carcinogenic effect of the depleted uranium use in southern Iraq was "deliberately suppressed" at the time.

The controversy surrounding the use of depleted uranium has continued to simmer for years with the British press exposing the US in 2014 over using depleted uranium in civilian areas during its invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Dutch peace group Pax managed to obtain coordinates (previously hidden by the Pentagon) of areas where US jets and tanks fired nearly 10,000 DU rounds in breach of official advice to prevent unnecessary suffering of civilians.

WaPo revealed Pentagon lies on DU shells use

© Photo : Screenshot/ The Washington Post

In 2017, the US press busted the Pentagon over the covert use of the "controversial" munitions that "has been blamed for long-term health complications" again, in 2015, in Syria. The Pentagon had to acknowledge that US aircraft fired thousands of rounds during two high-profile air raids in Syria in November 2015. Prior to the strikes, the US Department of Defense pledged not to use DU ammo.

The newspaper further cited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 2014 report stressing that direct contact with depleted uranium through the handling of scrap metal, for instance, could "result in exposures of radiological significance."

What Does UN Say About DU Shells?

In December 2022, the UN recognized weapons containing DU as toxic and dangerous, adding that the existing research does not provide a sufficiently complete understanding of the consequences of the use of depleted uranium weapons on humans and the environment.

Earlier, on June 29, 2022, the UN General Assembly released memos by some member states with regard to their views on the effects of the use of armaments and ammunition containing depleted uranium.

In particular, a Belgian memo said that the state has prohibited the use of these weapons systems starting from June 20, 2009, because of their hazardous effect. For its part, Serbia outlined both radiological and chemical risks of DU munitions citing extensive analysis by the Military Technical Institute (VTI/MTI) of the consequences of NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.

However, in March 2023, the UK government announced that it didn't agree with the UN resolution concerning DU munitions and would provide Kiev with the ammo. The US government has snubbed UN concerns too, by green-lighting the provision of the controversial shells. This time, the British and the US media have sided with their respective governments.

In response to Washington's latest announcement, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson of the UN secretary general, made it clear that the international body is firmly against the use of depleted uranium projectiles, no matter where in the world it occurs.