ok.. im looking for info.. and after a bad attempt on google i figure you guys might have a lot on tap.. I have to do an essay about an enviromental problem, and i figured the use of DU in ammunations would be a good one.. so.. can anyone give me good info, or links to infomation on it, particularly in Iraq, but it was used in Vietnam also wasnt it.. anyways thanks to anyone who can help.
DU wasn't used in Vietnam, at least not to the extent it is being used now. In Vietnam, the big problem was with the defoliant Agent Orange, which made a lot of soldiers extremely sick. DU was first extensively used by the US in the 1991 Gulf War. It is currently being used in Iraq. Three times the amount is being used now than in '91. Here is the entry on depleted uranium from Wikipedia. Also: Broadcast Exclusive: U.S. Soldiers Contaminated With Depleted Uranium Speak Out Depleted Uranium Deaths Examined Joyce Riley's website also provides a great source for information on the effects of DU and Gulf War Illness, which is believed to be attributed in-part to DU exposure... www.gulfwarvets.com
I went to the website listed below those photos, and wow... I have never seen anything like the deformities shown on that website. Terrible.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has conducted several in depth studies of the impact of DU weapons. Scroll down on this page: http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications.htm or try this report, one of their more extensive studies, on Bosnia. http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/BiH_DU_report.pdf The reports have been essentially ignored by activists since they don't reach the "correct" conclusion, which is that Americans caused a genocidal baby mutating apocalypse. However, in contrast to a lot of what you will find on the web, the studies are back by actual science and do not rely on "data" from Saddam's ministry of information.
Most Iraqi children effected by DU die of cholera or dysentery before they get the chance to die of leukemia, because their weakened immune systems are susceptible to infection, and the US still hasn't repaired the water and sewage treatment plants it bombed in '91 or brought adequate sanitation to hospitals devastated by the sanctions. DU has the same half-life as "non-depleted" uranium. Basicly it is spent nuclear fuel. So we are creating a legacy that will last as far into Iraq's future as Iraq's history reaches into the prehistoric past.
Most Iraqi children effected by DU die of cholera or dysentery before they get the chance to die of leukemia, because their weakened immune systems are susceptible to infection, and the US still hasn't repaired the water and sewage treatment plants it bombed in '91 or brought adequate sanitation to hospitals devastated by the sanctions. DU has the same half-life as "non-depleted" uranium. Basicly it is spent nuclear fuel. So we are creating a legacy that will last as far into Iraq's future as Iraq's history reaches into the prehistoric past.
This is so wrong its laughable. For one, the half life is irrelevant. DU's primary danger comes from being a heavy metal, not from being radioactive. It is not "basicly" spent nuclear fuel, it is what's left after the most radioactive parts have been separated out to be used as fuel. And while there is no evidence that anyone is getting any kind of cancer from depleted uranium, it would be essentially impossible to be exposed to enough DU radiation to get leukemia.
Here are several links on DU and leukemia: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/iraq2002/95178_du12.shtml http://www.nukewatch.com/du/20023dudamage.html http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du_iraq.htm Essentially what happpens is that particles of DU, aerosolized when the ammunition pierces armor, are later ingested or inhaled, and enter the body where the alpha radiation causes cell mutations leading to birth defects and cancer. Half life is relavant because these particles will remain part of the environment as the bodies of victims decay, and are widespread in the environment throughout southern Iraq. As long as they remain radioactive they remmain dangerous.
This is a good essay with a wealth of unbiased facts examining the significant military benefits and major ethical concerns of using DU: http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/StudentWebPages/IPesic/ResearchPaper.htm
I can already tell I am wasting my time, but... You are already contaminated with uranium. Everyone is. You ingest uranium every day. Yes you, and yes that uranium has a half life of 800 quadrillion years or whatever. Everyone on this planet is contaminated with NATURAL uranium, which is MORE toxic that depleted uranium. If you've ever been on an airplane, that airplane probably contained depleted uranium as ballast. Medical radiation treament equipment uses depleted uranium as radiation sheilding. The ground underneath your feet is contaminated with still more uranium. So try to think about that before concluding that depleted uranium fired in a desert battlefield can comehow contaminate cities miles away and cause cancer epidemics. It would be essentially impossible to contract leukemia from depleted uranium. In the body, uranium concentrates on the bone surface rather than in bone marrow. Under these conditions irradiation of bone marrow by uranium’s alpha particles would be almost impossible. You have to realise, alpha particle radiation from DU can be blocked with a piece of paper. It is simply not realistic to imagine that somebody could ingest enough depleted uranium to cause leukemia, and in any case they would still be more at risk because depleted uranium is a heavy metal and therefore toxic. Please stop linking and start reading.
