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http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=78776 Gulf News February 27, 2003 Depleted uranium munitions pose untold dangers to eco system Dubai By Jay B. Hilotin -"The earth is a closed environmental system. DU is a pollutant that does not respect boundaries. Its presence is a threat to both the local environment where it has been used, and the areas surrounding it," said Dr Al Delphi, who has published 15 papers on the environment, energy, mathematical modelling and has two published engineering textbooks to his credit. ...13 per cent of U.S. troops known to have contracted the "Gulf War syndrome" after 1991 are most likely victims of exposure to DU, said Dr Al Delphi. Out of those exposed, 66 per cent are known to have children with various forms of deformities and degenerative diseases, he added. -"However, war does not end there. The effects remain long after the bombs cease to fall, the environmental damage is irreversible. I do not mean to underestimate in any way the loss of human lives, but the loss of land, or agriculture, and of natural resources will forever affect the living. Hanging in the air, invading the soil, polluting the water supply, and ending up in the system of infants, this menacing poison cannot be stopped. It can't even be located." -"My sister was perfectly healthy until a rocket fell not far from her house during the Gulf War in 1991. She was not physically affected, but her cancer was first diagnosed in 1994. We spent a lot of money to help her. We have no history of cancer in the family. Two months ago, my sister died. She's not the first one to suffer from the effects of DU." Depleted uranium used as bunker or armour-piercing tips of "super weapons" of the 1990s poses untold danger to the environment and the human population. This was stressed by Dr Hassan Hassoon Al Delphi, a visiting Iraqi professor of environment and mathematics in the Department of General Education at Dubai University College (DUC). He was speaking at a monthly meeting organised by the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG). "DU as used in armour-piercing munitions must be considered weapons of mass destruction. The radiation they cause threaten the environment and civilian population long after the war is over," he said. Dr Al Delphi, who has a PhD in environmental engineering from the UK's Bristol University, said: "Depleted uranium is a deadly but invisible pollutant." Internationally, the issue of depleted uranium has gained prominence over the past few years drawing the interest of the World Health Organisation, and the establishment of bodies such as the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium in 1999. Dr Al Delphi, who worked at the B.O.C Linde Refrigeration Ltd., England, said that there are currently 15 countries using DU in their weapons system. Three of these countries are in the Middle East, though he did not name them. Normally, spent uranium from nuclear power plants is kept in safe containers and buried 200 metres underground. Using DU to produce "super weapons" is a trend pioneered by the U.S. in the 1950s, which involves the reprocessing of waste products of nuclear reactors for military applications. A DU-tipped bullet or rocket can produce up to 5,000 degrees Centigrade of heat on impact, enough to instantly melt any metal, and sending tiny, one-millionth of a metre in size radioactive and toxic glass-like dust particles in the air, water, ground and underground. "The earth is a closed environmental system. DU is a pollutant that does not respect boundaries. Its presence is a threat to both the local environment where it has been used, and the areas surrounding it," said Dr Al Delphi, who has published 15 papers on the environment, energy, mathematical modelling and has two published engineering textbooks to his credit. Contrary to the muddled press reports earlier, 13 per cent of U.S. troops known to have contracted the "Gulf War syndrome" after 1991 are most likely victims of exposure to DU, said Dr Al Delphi. Out of those exposed, 66 per cent are known to have children with various forms of deformities and degenerative diseases, he added. During the past three years, Dr Al Delphy has been directing his work to the contemporary environmental issues specifically focused on the Arabian Gulf region. He founded a charity to help Iraqi children suffering from various diseases. The lethal remnants of DU is also blamed by an expert UN team for the thousands of deformed Iraqi new-born children, said Dr Al Delphi. He has held a number of engineering and consultancy positions in various countries, including Iraq. During the meeting, Habiba Al Marashi, chairperson of the EEG, said: "We are now standing at the threshold of war. When we mention war, our first thoughts go towards the direct effects of war; we see images of broken down buildings, of homes torn down, images of a great loss of human lives. "However, war does not end there. The effects remain long after the bombs cease to fall, the environmental damage is irreversible. I do not mean to underestimate in any way the loss of human lives, but the loss of land, or agriculture, and of natural resources will forever affect the living. Hanging in the air, invading the soil, polluting the water supply, and ending up in the system of infants, this menacing poison cannot be stopped. It can't even be located." According to Dr Al Delphi, a third of the rockets used in the first Gulf War were tipped with depleted uranium. Thousands of DU-tipped weapons used in the 1991 Gulf War left thousands of tonnes of radioactive metals scattered in the Iraqi desert today. The use of DU explains the gross deformities recorded by UN scientists among Iraqi and even Kuwaiti children, as well as the rise in cancer cases, he said. "My sister was perfectly healthy until a rocket fell not far from her house during the Gulf War in 1991. She was not physically affected, but her cancer was first diagnosed in 1994. We spent a lot of money to help her. We have no history of cancer in the family. Two months ago, my sister died. She's not the first one to suffer from the effects of DU," he said. "If scorched earth policy is banned in wars, then the 'dead earth' policy with the use of DU should be banned too. When it comes to this issue, silence is a sin." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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