'Demilitarization' of University Campus

[Corey Darling]

Doesn't Canada use Tungsten rounds?

Did some digging on the DU issue.

From his blog...

"The reality, though, is that recruiters often omit important information - risk of exposure to depleted uranium"

Source?

From http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/pub/fs-fd/fs-fd-du-ua-eng.asp

"...The tests indicate the total uranium present and they are very reliable. The tests also provide an isotope ratio that is very reliable. It should be noted that all humans have uranium in their bodies. Exposure to very small amounts of uranium ten years ago may not be reflected in an isotope ratio conducted a decade later because we excrete uranium in our urine daily; however, exposure to such a small amount would not constitute a health hazard."

"No depleted uranium found in Canadian Forces personnel who served in the Gulf War and in Kosovo

A uranium bioassay program was conducted involving 103 active and retired Canadian Forces personnel who had required tests. There was no control group.
The total uranium concentrations in each of two 24-h urine collections were analyzed separately at independent commercial laboratories by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The mean and median concentrations were determined to be 4.5 ng/L and 2.8 ng/L, respectively, from ICP-MS and 17 ng/L and 15 ng/L, respectively, from INAA. The total uranium concentrations were sufficiently low so that isotopic (238U:235U ratio) assays could not be performed directly from urine samples.
Isotopic assays were performed on hair samples from 19 of the veterans participating in the testing. The isotopic hair assays were scattered around the natural 238U:235U ratio of 137.8, ranging from 122 +/- 21 to 145 +/- 16 (1 sigma).
A single bone sample (vertebrate bone marrow) from a deceased member of the Canadian Forces was also analyzed for total uranium content and isotopic ratio by ICP-MS. The sample was shown to have 16.0 +/- 0.3 µg/kg uranium by dry weight and a 238U:235U isotopic ratio of 138 +/- 4, consistent with natural uranium.

    An Examination of Uranium Levels in Canadian Forces Personnel Who Served in The Gulf War And Kosovo, by E. A. Ough, B. J. Lewis, W. S. Andrews, et al., in: Health Physics Vol. 82 (2002) No. 4 (April), p. 527-532 "

 

[Kat Stevens]

There you go again, letting a little thing like the facts get in the way of a good old fashioned foaming at the mouth anti military rant.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Doesn't Canada use Tungsten rounds?

Did some digging on the DU issue.

From his blog...
Source?

From http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/pub/fs-fd/fs-fd-du-ua-eng.asp

The possibility of coming into contact with DU or any other substance in an operational area is not explicitly related to the use of it by your own forces.

Anyway, he's not looking to debate the issue on facts, nor are the members of his target audience interested in doing so.  Attending university and seeking knowledge are not necessarily the same thing.

 

[GDawg]

As long as he thinks he's relevant.  He'll probably graduate with a fine arts degree, $60K in debt and, after failing to sell his screenplay while working as a Starbucks barista, will land in a dead-end office bureacracy only to die at 45 of a massive coronary because his underlings are putting the wrong cover sheet on their "TPS Reports."

.... so there I was ...

As an aside, I fail to understand why this fellow, and many others like him feel that the state owes them a free post secondary education. On his blog he states that "education is a right" and it is, primary and secondary school are provided to all children in this country. Adults have to pay for their own education. Is it my fault that his parents didn't set aside money for his education? Is it my fault that he didn't seek summer or part time employment during high school and learn to be pennywise? Is it my fault that he didn't excel in academics, athletics, or community involvement and earn himself a scholarship? I know it isn't my fault, so why am I on the hook (for him to not learn but not comprehend) as a tax payer???

Post secondary institutions and tuition are already sponsored in this country, and the government provides loans as well. Millions of Canadians have gone through our post secondary system on their own dime, and millions more with the assistance of loans and gone on to become gainfully employed and paid off their loans on their own in the manner of grown ups.

The Canadian poverty draft argument is laughable. It a is mindless "copypasta" agitprop talking point from another country. How many people enter the ROTP in any given year? I'd wager around a thousand nationwide. That is hardly an intake size worthy of a massive national conspiracy. The ROTP, RMC in particular, tends to be competitive and the candidates who are accepted into the CF's own post secondary institution are the type of students who have the motivation and basic adult skills sets that would have allowed them to succeed in obtaining an education on their own anyways.


I noticed in the talkback on his blog he pondered why people keep telling him to grow up...maybe this glue bag needs to take a hint.
Work like a man, earn things like a man, and you will be treated like a man.

 

[Corey Darling]

^^ Well said.

The possibility of coming into contact with DU or any other substance in an operational area is not explicitly related to the use of it by your own forces.

Sure.

According to a table on Wiki, Canada has no DU. But the US and Russia each have about 500,000 tonnes.


Also, DU isn't as bad as natural Uranium. Its primary radiation of alpha particles can penetrate only a foot or so of air, and are easily blocked. According to wiki - "can be blocked by a sheet of paper".

I probably got a higher dose of Gamma radiation from my Quantum lab a few weeks ago handling Cobalt-60.  It took ~7cm of lead before the count rate began to drop even close to background  :-\

Ofcoarse, this is different than possible inhalation or ingestion of DU dust from a war zone. not good if that gets into someone 

 

[jp86]

Election results came out today; Mr. Symons placed 9th out of 10 candidates for the position.  Guess we can all go home now.

 

[PMedMoe]

Glad to know some of the students have some sense!

 

[[RICE]]

Agreed!

 

[Teeps74]

I always found it kind of funny how these "demilitarized campuses" clowns are so pro-censorship. They will never engage in debate, they oly seek to shout down ideas that they are against, hence depriving those they would "protect" the ability to make an informed decision.

Not to mention the fact that their campaigns are usually based on a house of blatent lies.

 

[Dirt Digger]

I've actually conducted environmental sampling in Afghanistan for DU - never found anything.  (Analysis by a accredited, non-military, third party lab using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for those interested.)

As mentioned, a suitable physical barrier would be to hide behind a sheet of paper.  The "theoretical risk" of DU is an inhalation hazard, but the possible path for exposure is pretty far out there "theoretically" as well. 

 

[Michael OLeary]

I always found it kind of funny how these "demilitarized campuses" clowns are so pro-censorship. They will never engage in debate, they oly seek to shout down ideas that they are against, hence depriving those they would "protect" the ability to make an informed decision.

Not to mention the fact that their campaigns are usually based on a house of blatent lies.

It's the totalitarianism approach to student leadership.  Only those advocates who are willing to "protect" the herd of mindless drones around them from the dangers only they are aware enough to recognize try to step forward as the self-proclaimed worthies for leadership offices.  As proven by his placement in their election, the "herd" sees through such BS.  And we wonder where people learn to ignore the political process.