This study provides a comprehensive nationwide assessment of explosive residues and their degradation products in French water resources and drinking water, including mainland and overseas territories.
A total of 54 target compounds were selected based on historical usage, environmental persistence, and analytical feasibility. Between 2020 and 2022, water samples from nearly 300 sites—representing resources for 20–25% of the French population—were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Explosive residues were detected in 11% of the 797 samples.
Read more…
Source:Science Direct
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- ‘Iron harvest:’ A Belgian team unearths unexploded ammunition from WWI
August 4, 2023
In a muddy field in Flanders, in northern Belgium, there are signs of a recent harvest along its edge — raw potatoes here and there. But toward the back of the field, members of DOVO, the Belgian military’s bomb disposal unit, inspect something else yielded by the harvest — an artillery shell that is more than ...
- US to provide depleted-uranium tank rounds to Ukraine
June 14, 2023
The United States is expected to approve the transfer of depleted-uranium anti-tank shells to help Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move follows weeks of internal discussions on the subject between the White House and the Pentagon, the WSJ reported on Tuesday. Read more… Source: Polskie Radio
- Ukraine says destruction of Kakhovka dam and flooding will not derail its counter-offensive
June 6, 2023
Kyiv has vowed that the destruction of the huge Nova Kakhovka dam and flooding of frontline areas in southeastern Ukraine will not derail its planned counter-offensive as it accused Russia’s occupation force of destroying the facility on the Dnipro river in a “panic”. The Kremlin denied responsibility for the breach early on Tuesday morning, and accused ...
- The Radioactive Legacy of Depleted Uranium Ammunition Comes to Ukraine
March 23, 2023
The United Kingdom is sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine equipped with armor piercing depleted uranium rounds. Countries like the U.S., U.K., and Russia manufacture ammunition using depleted uranium because the metal is heavy and dense, making it ideal to break apart enemy armor. But it’s a highly controversial weapon because it’s radioactive and toxic, ...
- NATO Confirms To United Nations Use Of Depleted Uranium During Kosovo Conflict
September 22, 2022
GENEVA, 21 March (UNEP/HABITAT) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has confirmed to the United Nations that depleted uranium (DU) was used during the Kosovo conflict. But, according to the Joint UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force (BTF), the information provided is not of sufficient detail to facilitate an accurate field assessment of the environmental and ...
- USAID to continue helping Việt Nam with post-war dioxin decontamination, mine clearance
May 15, 2022
Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had a meeting with Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power in Washington DC on May 13 (US time), as part of his activities while on a working visit to the US. At the meeting, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính highly appreciated USAID’s contribution to the ...
- ‘Everything Living Is Dying’: Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq
December 21, 2021
As far back as 2005, the United Nations had estimated that Iraq was already littered with several thousand contaminated sites. Five years later, an investigation by The Times, a London-based newspaper, suggested that the U.S. military had generated some 11 million pounds of toxic waste and abandoned it in Iraq. Today, it is easy to ...
- The Victims of Agent Orange the U.S. Has Never Acknowledged
March 22, 2021
The main focus of the War Legacies Project is to document the long-term effects of the defoliant known as Agent Orange and provide humanitarian aid to its victims. Named for the colored stripe painted on its barrels, Agent Orange — best known for its widespread use by the U.S. military to clear vegetation during the Vietnam ...
- Syrians face toxic time-bomb of radiation, poison and pollution
February 21, 2017
Syria faces public health catastrophes that will linger for decades due to toxic rubble dust, oil fire pollution and the US-led coalition’s use of depleted uranium weapons on Islamic State targets, campaigners have warned. The US last week admitted it had fired armour-piercing DU ammunition in its war against IS, and had hit not only military ...