U.S. Lied to Britain about Use of Napalm During Iraq War
From the Independent (UK)
Excerpt: "...Despite persistent rumours of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of incendiary weapons such as napalm, Adam Ingram, the Defence minister, assured Labour MPs in January that US forces had not used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.

But Mr Ingram admitted to the Labour MP Harry Cohen in a private letter obtained by The Independent that he had inadvertently misled Parliament because he had been misinformed by the US. "The US confirmed to my officials that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the basis of my response to you," he told Mr Cohen. "I regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the position. ..."
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Labels: iraq, napalm, UK

Blair Targets Toddlers as "Potential Criminals"
From the Sunday Times (UK)
Excerpt: "A CONFIDENTIAL Home Office report recommends that children should be targeted as potential criminals from the age of three. It says they can be singled out by their bullying behaviour in nursery school or by a history of criminality in their immediate family.
It proposes parenting classes and, in the worst cases, putting more children who are not 'under control' into intensive foster care instead of care homes. Nursery staff would be trained to spot children at risk of growing up to be criminals."
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Labels: Tony Blair, UK

London: Prozac Found in Drinking Water
From Reuters
Excerpt: Traces of the anti-depressant Prozac have been found in the drinking water supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned about potentially toxic effects.
The Observer said that a report by the government's environment watchdog found Prozac was building up in river systems and groundwater used for drinking supplies.
The exact quantity of Prozac in the drinking water was unknown, but the Environment Agency's report concluded Prozac could be potentially toxic in the water table...

... But environmentalists called for an urgent investigation into the findings.
Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it looked "like a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".
"It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water," he told the Observer. More

Labels: environment, health, UK

Use of depleted uranium weapons lingers as health concern
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Excerpt: The ideal legacy of the war in Iraq is a free and democratic society, but a sinister legacy of another kind is possible as well -- cancers and birth defects.
Depleted uranium weapons used by the U.S.-led forces in the war have left battle sites throughout Iraq contaminated with abnormally high levels of radiation...

The Pentagon and United Nations estimate that U.S. and British forces used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of armor-piercing shells made of depleted uranium during attacks in Iraq in March and April -- far more than the estimated 375 tons used in the 1991 Gulf War.

U.S. tanks, Bradley fighting machines, A-10 attack jets and Apache helicopters routinely used depleted uranium rounds, but in the recent war, the ammunition was used in and near heavily populated areas, not just in the desert...

Labels: depleted uranium, health, iraq, UK