--- The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.drudgereport.com/flash4.htm > PAPER: DANGEROUSLY HIGH LEVELS OF RADIATION MEASURED > AROUND BAGHDAD > > SOLDIERS and civilians in Iraq face a health > timebomb after dangerously high levels of radiation > were measured around Baghdad... <snippage> > DU rounds are highly combustible and tiny particles > of the radioactive > material are left on the battleground. > > If inhaled the material can attack the body causing > cancers, chronic > illness, long-term disabilities and genetic birth > defects - none of which > will be apparent for at least five years... > Even the Ministry of Defence, which has consistently > refused to accept > there are dangers involved in DU exposure or that it > has played role in > Gulf War illnesses is addressing the problem. > Soldiers returning from > this year's conflict will be routinely tested for > uranium poisoning. > Professor Malcolm Hooper, who sits on two committees > advising the > Government on Gulf health issues, said he is not > surprised by the radiation levels. > > He said: "Really these things are dirty bombs..."
A PubMed search is a little frustrating because many of the more recent articles don't have available abstracts; here are a few, however: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12500807&dopt=Abstract This work is an exposure assessment for a population living in an area contaminated by the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. RESRAD 5.91 code was used to evaluate the average effective dose at depths of 1, 10, 20 cm of contaminated soil, in a residential farming scenario. Critical pathways and groups are identified in soil inhalation and ingestion; critical group is identified in children playing with the soil. >From the available information on DU released at targeted sites, both critical and average exposure can produce toxicological hazards. The annual dose limit for the population can be exceeded within a few years from DU deposition for soil inhalation... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12500801&dopt=Abstract Selected soil samples, collected in Kosovo locations where DU ammunition was expended during the 1999 Balkan conflict, have been investigated...Although the results do not permit any legitimate extrapolation to all the sites hit by the DU rounds used during the conflict, they indicated that there can be "spots" where hundreds of thousands of particles may be present in a few milligrams of DU contaminated soil. The particle size distribution showed that most of the DU particles were <5 microm in diameter and more than 50% of the particles had a diameter <1.5 microm. Knowledge on DU particles is needed as a basis for the assessment of the potential environmental and health impacts of military use of DU, since it provides information on possible re-suspension and inhalation. While some studies state that "observable health effects are not expected," this assumes no long-term accumulation of DU in the body ("Urine, feces, hair and nails record recent exposures to DU."): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12500797&dopt=Abstract Experimental studies of embedded DU fragments find that "Additional information is needed with regard to the short-term behavior of migrating U and its accumulation in lymph nodes, brain, testicles, and other infrequently studied U repositories." [such as liver, bone and kidney] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12500806&dopt=Abstract A 2002 Army study finds: "We conclude that, although there is the potential for uranium exposures to cause renal damage or lung cancer, the risk of harm following depleted uranium exposure in military settings seems to be low..." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12469421&dopt=Abstract OTOH, this 2002 Bethesda study notes that "Published data from our laboratory have demonstrated that DU exposure in vitro to immortalised human osteoblast cells (HOS) is both neoplastically transforming and genotoxic...Taken together these data [which they list in this abstract] suggest that radiation can play a role in DU-induced biological effects in vitro." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12194305&dopt=Abstract The Royal Society Working Group on the Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions concluded in May 2001 that from a radiological standpoint, "Except in extreme circumstances any extra risks of developing fatal cancers as a result of radiation from internal exposure to DU arising from battlefield conditions are likely to be so small that they would not be detectable above the general risk of dying from cancer over a normal lifetime. "The greatest exposures will apply only to a very small fraction of the soldiers in a theatre of war, for example those who survive in a vehicle struck by a DU penetrator. In such circumstances, and assuming the most unfavourable conditions, the lifetime risk of death from lung cancer is unlikely to exceed twice that in the general population..." http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/statements/statementDetails.cfm?StatementID=143 The Part II conclusions of March 2002 are summarised: "- The risks to the kidney and other organs and tissues from the use of DU in munitions are very low for most soldiers on the battlefield and for those living in the conflict area. - In extreme conditions and under worst-case assumptions, soldiers who receive large intakes of DU could suffer adverse effects on the kidney and lung. - Environmental contamination will be very variable but in most cases the associated health risks due to DU will be very low. In some worst-case scenarios high local levels of uranium could occur in food or water that could have adverse effects on the kidney." http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/statements/statementDetails.cfm?StatementID=167%20target= Yet the first study cited above, from 2003, did find that children who play in comtaminated soil are a "critical group," and the second cited study above found 'local hot spots' of soil contamination. [Note that there seems to be a general consensus that the *chemical* toxicity is more of a risk than the *radiation* effects; "...DU radiological risk would be far overshadowed by its chemical toxicity." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12500808&dopt=Abstract I am not including a 2002 Military Medicine study which found DU in the urine of 14/27 samples, as I cannot access the 'erratum' comment. I also am not including any articles which are not in the PubMed database, as a Dogpile search turned up wildly opposing views, from 'the myth of DU toxicity' to 'DU caused my brain tumor & child with learning disability.' As it is, views expressed still range from the "very low" to the following: "...Immediate health risks associated with exposure to depleted uranium include kidney and respiratory problems, with conditions such as kidney stones, chronic cough and severe dermatitis. Long-term risks include lung and bone cancer. Several published reports implicated exposure to depleted uranium in kidney damage, mutagenicity, cancer, inhibition of bone, neurological deficits, significant decrease in the pregnancy rate in mice and adverse effects on the reproductive and central nervous systems. Acute poisoning with depleted uranium elicited renal failure that could lead to death. The environmental consequences of its residue will be felt for thousands of years. It is inhaled and passed through the skin and eyes, transferred through the placenta into the fetus, distributed into tissues and eliminated in urine...." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12015793&dopt=Abstract I think that 'local hot spots' will cause disease in those who live in them, but probably little otherwise; yet the use of DU munitions in heavily populated areas is irresponsible to me, particularly in view of genetic damage and placental passage. Baghdad has thus become an experiment in DU effects, both short-term and long-term. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
