Military Pollution

Several environmental and Hawaiian groups have accused the US Army of misleading the public after the the discovery of depleted uranium was at the Schofield Barracks' range complex. During community discussions in 2004, Army officials assured the public that depleted uranium was never used in Hawaii.

Depleted uranium has been used by the U.S. military in bullets and other armor piercing weaponry. Group representatives state "DU is a heavy metal similar to lead. It can be toxic particularly to the kidneys," and could cause lung cancer if the metal in dust form is inhaled. Some researchers suspect that exposure to depleted uranium might have caused chronic fatigue and other symptoms in veterans of the first Gulf War, but there is no conclusive evidence it has.

But U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii officials said the recovered depleted uranium has low-level radioactivity and does not pose a threat to the public.

Posted on the Human Stain