Jeffrey Miller wrote: > Russell Chapman wrote: > >>The Fool wrote: >> >> >>>The U.S. did in fact coat most of the munitions used in the Iraqi >>>conflict with depleted uranium. But that a different argument about >>>morality... >>> >>Where's the morality issue in depleted uranium? It's heavy enough that >>artillery rounds go through armour instead of exploding on the surface, but >>it is barely radioactive. Of all the weaponry deployed on the modern >>battlefield, something that is specifically aimed at destroying tanks and >>other armoured vehicles is positively angelic. >> > > Last time I checked, there's still an open issue about the toxicity of > the dust/particles produced during the use/firing/destruction of said > rounds. Lots of stuff on the web, including: No DU weapons risk, say experts http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1205000/1205632.stm "'In the case of the average back garden, there is as much uranium as you would find in a shell,'" More research urged on DU http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1344000/1344023.stm "'There is no evidence of a significant increase in deaths from any cause, or from all cancers, or individual types of cancer, in the large cohorts of uranium workers whose health has been monitored.'" DoD Updates its Depleted Uranium Environmental Exposure Report http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/news/na_du_ii_19dec00.htm "The primary hazard associated with uranium is due to its chemical properties, not its radiological properties. ATSDR cites that "no human cancer of any type has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium" and further states that because of the low radiation from natural and depleted uranium, "no radiological health hazard is expected from exposure to natural or depleted uranium." Case says the ATSDR report adds credibility to DoD's environmental exposure report because it provides a thoroughly peer-reviewed evaluation of uranium by an independent agency outside the Defense Department. In addition, the Institute of Medicine recently released a report that supports the environmental exposure report's conclusions. In "Gulf War Health, Volume I: Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, and Vaccines," the IOM reported its comprehensive assessment of the scientific literature available on four potentially harmful agents. In its review of depleted uranium, the committee concluded "there is limited/suggestive evidence of no association between exposure to uranium and clinically significant [kidney] dysfunction." " -- Doug email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.zo.com/~brighto And when I fear, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never have relish in thy faery power Of unreflecting love!-then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink. from When I Have Fears, John Keats
