DU implicated in Italian court case ... link to the Italian PeaceLink
version below ...

Wes Rehberg
Wild Clearing
www.wildclearing.com
Skype: wildclearing

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Kazashi <nkazashi@...>
> Date: January 13, 2009 9:26:28 PM EST
> To: NODU International-2
> Subject: Fw: Historic sentence in Florence Italian Court recognizes
> the link between cancer and depleted uranium
>
> Dear all,
>
> For your reference , Kazashi
>
> ==========
> Historic sentence in Florence
> Italian Court recognizes the link between cancer and depleted uranium
> 13 January 2009 - Stefania Divertito
> http://www.peacelink.it/disarmo/a/28323.html
>
> A sentence that could represent a milestone has been pronounced by
> a Court in
> Florence, Italy: the Ministry of Defence will have to compensate
> 545,061
> euros to Gianbattista Marica, parachutist who was deployed in
> Somalia, during
> the Ibis mission, for eight months between December 1992 and July
> 1993.
> Marica is an ex-soldier who got ill with cancer. The sentence is
> significant
> not only for the extent of the compensation, but because it states an
> important principle: the causal link between the presence of
> depleted uranium
> and the illness of the soldier.
>
> The judicial measure is dated 17 December 2008 but it has been
> announced
> yesterday by Falco Accame, president of Anavafaf, an association which
> assists italian veterans; among them Marica, who asked for their
> support in
> 2001.
> The Court's statement includes the report of a technical consultant
> who
> maintains that there's a causal link between the Hodgkins Lymphoma
> developed
> by the soldier (which is currently in definitive remission) and the
> exposure
> to depleted uranium.
> The expert, appointed by the Court, says that the findings of the
> scientific
> investigation by the Mandelli Commission, who claimed that it was not
> possible to prove the causal link, "are groundless because of the
> mistakes in
> the research process".
>
> The responsibilites of the Ministry of Defence are then denounced
> by the
> judges in the sentence details, published yesterday and available
> on the
> internet [1]: the Ministry did not take the necessary precautions
> to protect
> the members of the mission in Somalia, in spite "it was in the eyes
> of the
> international community the specific danger of this war zone, and
> in spite of
> the adoption of particular prevention measures by other military
> forces".
>
> According to the judges, "besides the recommendations which were or
> should
> have been known by the Ministry, the fact that American soldiers
> were ordered
> to use particular protections should have warned the italian
> authorities,
> even if they were lacking information."
>
> In any case, "the attitude of the Ministry of Defence has not been
> inspired by
> the principles of caution and responsibility, as the Ministry
> ignored the
> information, which was in his hands since long time, about the
> presence of
> depleted uranium in the areas of the mission and its danger for the
> soldiers'
> health; and the Ministry didn't take all the necessary measures to
> protect
> the soldiers' health and ignored the use of measures by other
> countries
> involved in the same mission, in spite of the many times this fact
> had been
> noted by the italian soldiers".
>
> "Marica immediately denounced [reported] that U.S. soldiers in
> Somalia, even with 40
> degrees [centigrade] in the shade, were using overalls, masks,
> gloves and glasses, while
> the italian ones were dressed with shorts and t-shirts" Accame says,
> underlining the importance of the sentence and reminding that
> "Italian corps
> were made aware of the danger only on 22nd November 1999, when
> information
> about precautionary measures was finally given to soldiers in the
> Balkans".
>
> Accame raises another question too: "The sentence is dated 17
> December 2008,
> exactly the day before Mr. La Russa, Ministry of Defence, during a
> press
> release, announced the funding of 30 million euros for the victims of
> depleted uranium and nanoparticles". [2]
> Is it a coincidence? Or the Ministry decided to show a
> collaborative attitude
> towards what had just been decided by the Court?
> In any case - concludes Accame - "we are extremely happy of this
> achievement".
>
> [1] http://www.altalex.com/index.php?idnot=44275
> [2] http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/222.html
>



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