(DU) Depleted Uranium is Genocide

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Depleted Uranium: The Facts And Their Fictions And More...

From: www.umrc.net

Depleted Uranium: the facts & their fictions + more..

From the Uranium Medical Research Center

Links at bottom: DU: Facts & Fiction There are a vast number of fictions about DU. UMRC would like to respond to a few of these.

Fiction: Uranium is ubiquitous in nature and therefore is no cause for concern

Fiction: DU is not harmful; it is depleted in U235

Fiction: Alpha particles can't penetrate clothes and skin

Fiction: Governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) have tested for DU

Fiction: Uranium usage levels is too low to be a concern or merit investigation

Fiction: There are no serious effects from low-level exposure to Uranium

Fiction: DU weapons dust soon dissipates and does not travel far from the explosion site

Fiction: Uranium is ubiquitous in nature and we are exposed daily. There is no cause for concern.

Fact: Uranium is present in nature in trace amounts, about 3 parts per million (ppm) by weight. It takes about 5 tonnes of dry soil or rock to produce 1 teaspoon of what is called "natural uranium." It is "natural" in that is has the isotopic proportions that exist in nature. However, what is "unnatural" is when uranium is presented in concentrated quantities. In these concentrations of radioactivity its effect on human health and the environment become dangerous.

When Uranium is exposed to the natural chemical action of the environment it can become solublized and can then migrate into the water supply. Uncontained uranium waste is a problem when left in the open as it oxidizes. This is the case all over the world in nuclear waste repositories.

URANIUM IS MOST DANGEROUS WHEN IT BURNS AND IS AEROSOLISED AS HAPPENS WHEN IT IS USED IN WEAPONS.

Fiction: DU is depleted" in the amount of U235 and is therefore less radioactive than the uranium in our natural environment.

Fact: The term Depleted uranium is a misnomer. DU is depleted" only in the isotopes U234 and U235 which constitute less that 1% of the total uranium. The fact is that both depleted" uranium and "natural" Uranium are over 99% composed of Uranium 238. Depleted uranium is almost as highly concentrated as pure uranium and may contain plutonium in trace amounts.

Fiction: Alpha particles can't penetrate clothes and skin.

Fact: This statement ignores the most prevalent and dangerous pathway for Uranium to get into the human body. Inhaled Uranium can remain in the lungs and bones for years where it continues to emit alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Each alpha particle can traverse up to several hundred cells causing somatic and genetic alterations. Multiply this by billions of such particles and a huge amount of cellular damage becomes possible. The majority (50-70%) of the airborne DU particles sampled during the testing of 105 mm DU projectiles were in the respirable range and capable of reaching the non-ciliated bronchial tree. Studies also indicate that the half-time in the lungs is up to 5 years.

Soluble DU compounds have rapid access to the bloodstream with consequent toxic effects on the target organs and the bone where it is incorporated. Mass spectrometry results of deceased Canadian veteran, Captain Terry Riordon, confirmed that Depleted Uranium was present in his bone. From there it can compromise the immune system and affect the stem cells that travel throughout the body thereby affecting many other organs. Soldiers inside a tank or armoured vehicle can inhale tens of milligrams of DU after the shell goes through the tank. Compare this to the maximum allowable yearly dose in the U.S. for inhaled Uranium is 1.2 milligrams per year.

Fiction: Governments in Canada, the US, the UK, and the World Health Organisation have carried out DU testing on individuals exposed to inhalational DU.

Fact: Although tests have been conducted, they did not employ the proper methodology and equipment to quantify inhalational exposure to DU. They tested individuals for total uranium. DU is always mixed with a natural Uranium background so you have to measure the DU in the presence of Natural Uranium. That requires an isotopic analysis of U235, U238 at least and preferably also of U236 which does not exist in natural Uranium. The U238/U235 ratio of 137.9 indicates natural uranium; ratios above 140 provide unequivocal evidence of the presence of depleted uranium. It is essential to determine whether the uranium is depleted, enriched or natural uranium in order to determine how long it has been in the body. If DU or enriched uranium is found in the body, we can postulate that it has been internally irradiating the victims since their exposure.

The total Uranium measurement by itself is not important, most people have Uranium which they take in and eliminate on a daily basis though water or food. The US DU testing program tested shrapnel victims; they have not tested for inhalational exposures. The WHO study did not test human samples. The Canadian and Belgian studies used equipment that could not measure U235.

Fiction: Uranium usage and levels are too low to be a concern or merit investigation.

Fact: It is estimated that 300 - 800 metric tons of DU were deposited in the battlefield in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. Dr. Doug Rokke (DU expert and former US army physicist) estimated that 120 to 480 million grams of DU would be aerosolized if 40% of the DU were burnt up.

Compare these numbers to the allowable limits for radiation releases in the US. The National Lead Industry Plant in Colonie, NY was closed down for violating a New York state court order which limited the amount of radiation released to 387 gram of DU metal per month. The plant closed down in February of 1980 for exceeding this limit and closed permanently in 1983. The area has been decontaminated. The engineering report states that the soil from 53 of the 56 nearby properties was beyond the radiation limits and had to be removed to a low-level radiation storage site. The cost was over 100 million USD. The cleanup cost was 1000 USD per cubic meter.

DU in the US must be processed in a facility that is licensed to handle radioactive material. The military has rules to handle radioactive emissions when they store or handle radioactive rounds. However, there are no controls whatsoever and no rules for cleaning up after a cannon round is fired and the danger is far greater when the Uranium becomes aerosolized.

More than 100,000 DU shells were fired during the Gulf War. More than 30,000 rounds were fired by NATO forces during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, most of them by US tank-busting A10 ground support crafts. Around 10,000 rounds were fired in operations around Sarajevo, in the latter stages of allied operations in Bosnia.

Fiction: There are no serious effects from low-level exposure to Uranium

Fact: The effects of internal contamination with Uranium have been well documented. For a review of 200 years of scientific literature on the medical effects of internal contamination with Uranium see Dr. Durakovic's review paper "Medical Effects of Internal Contamination with Uranium" CMJ 1999, Vol 40, No 1

Serious Long-Term Effects Include: Compromised immune system, metabolic, respiratory and renal diseases, tumours, leukemia, and cancer. A 1998 study conducted by Dr. Livengood showed that DU contamination transforms normal bone cells into tumorous ones.

Fiction: DU weapons dust soon dissipates and does not travel far from the explosion site

Fact: The smaller the particles of DU, the greater the danger. Particles less than 5 microns can be inhaled and deposited in the lungs where they can remain for years. A study found DU particles 42 km away from the source. However, there is reason to suspect that DU particles can travel many times that distance (see L. Dietz: "Contamination of Persian Gulf War Veterans and others by Depleted Uranium

www.umrc.net/factsAndFictions.asp

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WHO ‘suppressed’ scientific study into depleted uranium cancer fears in Iraq


Radiation experts warn in unpublished report that DU weapons used by Allies in Gulf war pose long-term health risk
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
www.sundayherald.com/40096


An expert report warning that the long-term health of Iraq’s civilian population would be endangered by British and US depleted uranium (DU) weapons has been kept secret.

The study by three leading radiation scientists cautioned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing DU, which is radioactive and chemically toxic. But it was blocked from publication by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which employed the main author, Dr Keith Baverstock, as a senior radiation advisor. He alleges that it was deliberately suppressed, though this is denied by WHO.

Baverstock also believes that if the study had been published when it was completed in 2001, there would have been more pressure on the US and UK to limit their use of DU weapons in last year’s war, and to clean up afterwards.

Hundreds of thousands of DU shells were fired by coalition tanks and planes during the conflict, and there has been no comprehensive decontamination. Experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have so far not been allowed into Iraq to assess the pollution.

“Our study suggests that the widespread use of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq could pose a unique health hazard to the civilian population,” Baverstock told the Sunday Herald.

“There is increasing scientific evidence the radio activity and the chemical toxicity of DU could cause more damage to human cells than is assumed.”

Baverstock was the WHO’s top expert on radiation and health for 11 years until he retired in May last year. He now works with the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Kuopio in Finland, and was recently appointed to the UK government’s newly formed Committee on Radio active Waste Management.

While he was a member of staff, WHO refused to give him permission to publish the study, which was co-authored by Professor Carmel Mothersill from McMaster University in Canada and Dr Mike Thorne, a radiation consultant . Baverstock suspects that WHO was leaned on by a more powerful pro-nuclear UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“I believe our study was censored and suppressed by the WHO because they didn’t like its conclusions. Previous experience suggests that WHO officials were bowing to pressure from the IAEA, whose remit is to promote nuclear power,” he said. “That is more than unfortunate, as publishing the study would have helped forewarn the authorities of the risks of using DU weapons in Iraq.”

These allegations, however, are dismissed as “totally unfounded” by WHO. “The IAEA role was very minor,” said Dr Mike Repacholi, the WHO coordinator of radiation and environmental health in Geneva. “The article was not approved for publication because parts of it did not reflect accurately what a WHO-convened group of inter national experts considered the best science in the area of depleted uranium,” he added.

Baverstock’s study, which has now been passed to the Sunday Herald, pointed out that Iraq’s arid climate meant that tiny particles of DU were likely to be blown around and inhaled by civilians for years to come. It warned that, when inside the body, their radiation and toxicity could trigger the growth of malignant tumours.

The study suggested that the low-level radiation from DU could harm cells adjacent to those that are directly irradiated, a phenomenon known as “the bystander effect”. This undermines the stability of the body’s genetic system, and is thought by many scientists to be linked to cancers and possibly other illnesses.

In addition, the DU in Iraq, like that used in the Balkan conflict, could turn out to be contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive waste . That would make it more radioactive and hence more dangerous, Baverstock argued.

“The radiation and the chemical toxicity of DU could also act together to create a ‘cocktail effect’ that further increases the risk of cancer. These are all worrying possibilities that urgently require more investigation,” he said.

Baverstock’s anxiety about the health effects of DU in Iraq is shared by Pekka Haavisto, the chairman of the UN Environment Programme’s Post-Conflict Assessment Unit in Geneva. “It is certainly a concern in Iraq, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

UNEP, which surveyed DU contamination in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002, is keen to get into Iraq to monitor the situation as soon as possible. It has been told by the British government that about 1.9 tonnes of DU was fired from tanks around Basra, but has no information from US forces, which are bound to have used a lot more.

Haavisto’s greatest worry is when buildings hit by DU shells have been repaired and reoccupied without having been properly cleaned up. Photographic evidence suggests that this is exactly what has happened to the ministry of planning building in Baghdad.

He also highlighted evidence that DU from weapons had been collected and recycled as scrap in Iraq. “It could end up in a fork or a knife,” he warned.

“It is ridiculous to leave the material lying around and not to clear it up where adults are working and children are playing. If DU is not taken care of, instead of decreasing the risk you are increasing it. It is absolutely wrong.”

22 February 2004

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U.S. Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Causes Dangerous Rise in Radiation Level in Iraq


TEHRAN (MNA) – Canadian research centers have reported that during the war against Iraq the U.S. military used depleted uranium (DU) weapons which caused the radiation level to rise at least 300 times above normal, and the weapons caused similar effects in Afghanistan.

U.S. troops have recently begun removing contaminated topsoil in Iraq, taking it to an unknown location.

Scientists believe the next generation of children of citizens of both countries exposed to DU will suffer from higher rates of birth defects and cancer.

The Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) issued a report based on a 13-day survey throughout the primary conflict zones in urban and rural areas of central and southern Iraq on October 2003, according to Risq News.

The team performed radiation surveys, nuclide analysis, interviewed civilians and community leaders, collected biological and field samples, and investigated the possible health effects of depleted uranium contamination on Iraqi civilians.

According to the report, the U.S. has used uranium oxide deposits as strong explosives in common and fire bombs.

The most disturbing circumstance was observed in the U.S. occupied base in southwestern Baghdad in the Auweirj district. It is close to the international airport and hosts one of the largest coalition bases around Baghdad, occupying the operational headquarters of the Iraqi Special Republican Guard. The area was subject to considerable aerial bombing and rocket fire prior to the coalition ground forces' arrival followed by several ground skirmishes along the main routes to the international airport and western entrances to the city.

Departing the coalition-occupied base was a long, a steady stream of tandem-axle dump trucks carrying full loads of sand, heading south away from the city. Returning from the south was a second stream of fully loaded dump trucks waiting to enter the base. As the team passed the base’s main entrance, the gates were opened to reveal bulldozers spreading soil while front-end loaders were filling the trucks that had just emptied their loads of soil (silt and sand). The arriving trucks were delivering loads of sand into the base while the departing trucks were hauling away the base’s topsoil.

The method of topsoil removal and replacement at U.S.-occupied bases, living facilities, and administrative buildings is mechanically resuspending tons of potentially contaminated particulate. The dust clouds are lofting above and spreading over the entire area -- 5,000,000 residents in Baghdad alone. It is also exposing thousands of U.S. military personnel and the many frequent foreign visitors including NGO staff, reconstruction crews, business and trade delegates, and diplomatic and foreign service employees.

It’s not just UMRC that has reported the high level of radiation in Iraq, many American journalists and researchers have also confirmed the reports.

The situation in Afghanistan is worse, with tests showing even higher levels of radiation than Iraq.

Soldiers in Desert Storm (Persian Gulf War I) knew the danger of uranium toxicity from U.S. and British ordnance, and many believe that Gulf War syndrome is caused by exposure to depleted uranium.

At a recent international conference on uranium contaminated weapons held in Hamburg, Germany, researchers and witnesses from the U.S., Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Greece, Spain, Iraq, and Afghanistan presented various types of undeniable evidence and documents to illustrate the connection between depleted uranium and Gulf War syndrome.