The United States and United Kingdom were accused this week of ”callous disregard” for the health of Iraqis and the fate of radioactive substances near a looted nuclear site south of Baghdad.
Iraqis living near the Tuwaitha facility are reported to have suffered nosebleeds, rashes and other symptoms of radiation poisoning.
Looters stole uranium storage barrels which local people later used as drinking water containers after Iraqi troops guarding the site fled at the start of the war.
A team from Greenpeace handed American troops a large, abandoned canister of ”yellow cake” — low-enriched uranium powder used as raw material for radioactive fuel.
In a ramshackle home it also discovered a metal container it said was giving off levels of radiation 10 000 times above normal. Another reading 3 000 times background levels was found outside a primary school.
Mike Townsley, head of the Greenpeace team, said United Nations nuclear experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be brought in to carry out a full survey of the area.
”The people in this community are contaminated. The IAEA have been here for two weeks and they have only been allowed inside to count containers,” he said. The US has prevented IAEA scientists from conducting a proper survey of the area.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Melanson, the US officer in charge of the radiation protection team for the American forces inside the Tuwaitha facility, said he would recommend that the IAEA and World Health Organisation get involved and carry out a health survey immediately.
Preventing the UN agencies from conducting a full survey was a political decision taken by the British and the Americans, Townsley said. ”[Prime Minister] Tony Blair should be applying as much pressure as he can on [President] George Bush to allow the IAEA to come in,” he said.
He added: ”I think at best it’s callous disregard. We know there’s radiation. We know people are suffering from nosebleeds and lethargy. It’s common sense that there should be urgent action. It’s what would happen in any other country. Why Iraq is different I don’t know … They managed to secure the oil industry.”
IAEA inspectors said on Sunday they had accounted for most of the missing uranium. US authorities deny there is a health risk to the population or to soldiers guarding the site. — Â