Discounted Casualties
Part III Contaminated Earth
Disclosure
Akira Tashiro
Test Firing of Radioactive Weapons
"Entry prohibited. This is as far as we go. That mountain in front is the firing range," said Damacio Lopez (56), who was wearing a black cap and sunglasses. He handled the wheel carefully. "A patrol car could come along any minute. You can only take pictures from inside the car."
Entry Blocked by Barbed Wire
We made a U-turn in front of the headquarters of the Energetic Materials Research test Center affiliated with New Mexico Institute of Mining and technology. Lopez checked to be sure no patrol cars were around, then drove along a rough road lined with shrubs. He parked in the shade of a tree not far from the firing range. We climbed fifty or sixty meters up a crumbly hillside. From that height, we looked down on a barbed wire fence stretching into the distance. At regular intervals, fence signs warned, "NO TRESPASSING, PROHIBIDOENTRAR." About three kilometers (less than two miles) to the east lay the town of Socorro, population 8,000, its houses fanning out into the desert.
We were about 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of trinity, where the first atomic test in history took place on July 16, 1945.
"The former pro-golfer of mixed Hispanic and Native American ancestry now works for an NGO (non-governmental organization). To escape poverty, he joined the US Air Force at 17. At 22, after leaving the service in 1965, he went to university where he played for the golf club. IN 1969, he turned pro and appeared frequently in tournaments until 1985. Near the end of that year he was injured in an auto accident and returned to his hometown to recuperate.
Strong Blasts and Cracks in the Walls
"The tests began right after I arrived in Socorro--tremendous explosions. It was so bad we got cracks in our walls" Lopez was so surprised, he attended a meeting of the university's Board of Regents and asked what the tests were and who was conducting them. "They're nothing but tests of simple conventional weapons." Surprised to be confronted by questions no one had asked before, the university authorities answered guardedly.
Several weeks later, some cardboard boxes were delivered to Lopez by workers at the firing range. "They were full of contracts and other documents exchanged between the university and the companies manufacturing DU munitions regarding the use of the firing range and even the money involved."
Inspired by the President's Insults
Lopez, who now understood that radioactive weapons were being tested near his home, went directly to the president of the university to request a halt to the testing. He was armed with plenty of evidence. The irate president answered, "What's the matter with you, boy? Don't you understand English? It's depleted uranium. There's no radioactivity so it doesn't make any hazard. You should learn English."
The term "depleted" does mean "used up" or "made empty," so when many Americans hear it, they assume that depleted" uranium must not be dangerous. To Lopez, however, the president's words were an insult to Native Americans and Hispanics, the sort of discrimination to which American society regularly subjects them.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the president's words changed my life." That was the first step in Lopez' long journey investigating the health effects of depleted uranium.
Notes:
I've been hearing a lot about how depleted uranium is safe to clean up, only too crazy!
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