Aerojet Ordnance plant in Jonesborough, Tennessee, is a major producer of depleted uranium (DU) munitions, made from a waste product of nuclear power plants. Employing about 120 workers, Aerojet mills and molds the penetrator core of the various shells used by the US military.
Christian Peacemaker Teams Stop DU delegation has made several trips now to Jonesborough, Tn., and other du munitions sites. Along with concerned local citizens they've worked to raise awareness to bring a halt to the production of DU weapons.
The url below links to a blog of their delegation's trip in Nov.- Dec. 2006.
A health survey of the area around Aerojet was conducted on CPT's return visit in
January 2007. A report of the health survey follows (see below):
Friends,
Here is a brief report of our health survey of the area around Aerojet Ordnance. Those of you who were on the trip or otherwise involved may have corrections and additions to this summary.
Ethel Umble, Juanita Shenk, Denis Murphy, Mabel Brunk and Cliff Kindy traveled to Jonesborough, TN on Monday, January 15. Faith Mahoney had already made copies of the questionnaire that would serve as a guide for those carrying out the poll. Faith was the only local person who participated in the polling, also doing much of the copying. That first evening Juanita suggested that we have a small sheet introducing ourselves and
saying "Sorry we missed you." That was a good suggestion that allowed us to leave notes during the day and follow up with interviews in the evening. Ethel wrote a letter to the editor that gave us even a bigger impact in the region. We traveled home January 20.
We made contacts with the homes within a half mile radius of the Aerojet plant. This totals about 97 homes, four of which were empty (no one living in them) and another 2 at which we only left a "sorry" sheet (one visit). At other homes we made two visits but found no one home, people were otherwise occupied, or did not want to grant an interview. One person had worked at Aerojet and had two friends working there so didn't want to even give an anonymous interview. Another family was working through a family disagreement. A mother had her child in the hospital and was just home to pick up some items and
return. Another man was in the middle of painting...
Forty-seven homes granted interviews, 52% of the 91 occupied homes we visited as completely as planned. These homes represented 120 people, some homes with only one person, others with six. I will try to summarize some of the data we collected. Perhaps the most important thing we did was to bring more visibility to the DU issue in the area near the Aerojet plant by helping to uncover a hidden problem.
Our assumption has been that production of depleted uranium weapons at Aerojet over many decades might have caused health and environmental problems. In fact, at places like National Lead in Colonie, NY, and Stamford in Concord, MA, there have been documentations of DU even 26 miles upwind and
downwind from the plant, contaminated groundwater, an elevated number of leukemia cases, soil that must be removed six inches deep... In Iraq, birth defects, high cancer and leukemia rates, contaminated areas - all in areas where there were high uses of DU weapons; and among US military personnel from Iraq - birth defects, gastrointestinal problems, cancer and leukemia, lung problems, headaches, and unexplained aches and joint problems.
So, what did we find near the Aerojet Ordnance plant outside of Jonesborough, TN, in Washington County? Five people mentioned headache problems, all of these living in the area for at least 14 years except one for five months who had also been in Iraq. No one reported birth defects, but Washington County had 687 cases/10,000 population from 2000 - 2002 while Tennessee had 275/10,000 during the same period. Seven people told of
asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, pulmonary disorders, emphysema. There was one report of a mother who died with breast and bladder cancer and a neighbor who also died of cancer. One interviewee was struck by lots of church people asking for prayers because of cancer. Others mentioned rheumatoid arthritis, hives, allergies, nephritis, lupus, joint problems, heart problems, and a mother who had recently died of a heart attack at 52. She lived in one of the now empty homes. We also noted that 13 of the 47 families use bottled water, have a purifier or filter, or otherwise refrain from using the city water that is piped into the area. We noted many homes for sale and heard reports of two suicides. Only six of the 35 people who responded to the questions about whether the area was safe and clean mentioned concerns about lack of safety or cleanness.
We visited the County
Health Department, Regional Health Center, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the local Agricultural Extension Office. In these locations we had access to health statistics, extensive files on the Aerojet plant, and opportunities to explore our many questions. Those visits probably added to our impact in the area.
The Aerojet files indicated plant compliance with air, water, and solid waste emissions from the DU production operation, at least since the early to mid-90's. We don't know about radioactivity problems or if the rules in place are adequate to prevent health and environmental problems. We also are not clear if our data indicate any significant health problems. We want to push out our findings to ascertain if we should encourage another group to do a more exhaustive
and scientific study. Your suggestions and observations will be helpful for us.
We plan to return to Jonesborough next Saturday to hold two meetings (one Sunday and one Monday) in Telford near the plant. We will return Monday evening after the meeting, maybe with an opportunity to meet some other folks while there. Fourteen people asked to be notified when we return to report our findings from the health survey and share some of the information about DU weapons that we have gathered over the last months and years. Ben Long, Val Knickrehm, and Cliff Kindy will be the group reporting on the survey.