False Allegations Regarding Depleted Uranium Rumors of adverse health effects
proved inaccurate
There is a great deal of misinformation and unwarranted fears about
depleted uranium (DU), which U.S. armed forces use in several types of
ammunition to take advantage of its unsurpassed ability to penetrate armored
vehicles.
Depleted uranium is a derivative of natural uranium, a very common element in
our environment. Many people don't realize that our environment contains small
amounts of natural uranium, which we breathe, eat, and drink every day.
U-235 and U-234 are the highly radioactive isotopes in natural uranium,
extracted to make nuclear fuel or enriched weapons-grade uranium. Depleted
uranium is what is left over after much of these highly radioactive isotopes
have been removed. Depleted uranium is actually 40% less radioactive than the
natural uranium in the environment around us, and much less radioactive than
fuel-grade or weapons-grade uranium. Unfortunately, most people confuse
depleted uranium with these dangerous substances.
The Health Effects of Depleted Uranium
In April 2001, the World Health Organization report Depleted Uranium:
Sources, Exposure, and Health Effects, stated: "no increase of leukemia or
other cancers has been established following exposure to uranium or depleted
uranium." (chapter 13, p. 132)
A March 2001 European Commission report concluded, "exposure to DU could not
produce any detectable effect on human health under realistic assumptions of
the doses that would be received." (p. 11)
A January 2001 NATO study found that, "based on the data today, no link has
been established between depleted uranium and any forms of cancer."
In 1999, a RAND Corporation study on depleted uranium concluded: "no evidence
is documented in the literature of cancer or any other negative health effect
related to the radiation received from exposure to natural uranium, whether
inhaled or ingested, even in very high doses." (chapter 2, pp. 36-37)
Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of the lack of a link between depleted
uranium and cancer is the case of 20 Gulf War veterans who were struck by
shrapnel from depleted uranium shells that hit the armored vehicles in which
they were riding. Some have shrapnel pieces up to 20 mm long still embedded in
their bodies. The veterans have very high levels of uranium in their urine
samples, but not one has developed leukemia, bone cancer, lung cancer, or any
kidney abnormalities, despite the fact that they are walking around with
depleted uranium inside their bodies. In addition, none of the children born to
any of these men has any reported birth defects. A study of these veterans,
"Elevated Urine Uranium Excretion by Soldiers with Retained Uranium Shrapnel,"
published in the November 1999 issue of Health Physics concluded, "there is no
evidence of adverse clinical outcomes associated with uranium exposure at this
time in any of these individuals."
Accusations that depleted uranium has caused cancer in Iraqi newborns are
groundless. In fact, Iraq's use of chemical weapons -- known cancer-causing
agents -- is a much more likely cause of the cancers and birth defects blamed
on depleted uranium.
Independent studies have shown large increases in cancers and birth defects
where the Iraqi regime has used chemical weapons. According to Dr. Fouad Baban,
Chairman of the Department of Medicine of Suleymania University in northern
Iraq, "congenital abnormality rates" in Halabja, where the Iraqi regime killed
5,000 Kurds with chemical weapons in 1988, are "four to five times greater than
in the post-atomic populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Dr. Baban says,
"rare and aggressive cancers in adults and children are found at levels far
higher than anywhere in the world."
For accurate, authoritative information on depleted uranium, see information
from:
The United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency
The U.S. Department of Defense's Health Deployment Directorate
The UK Ministry of Defence
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/24-107572.html
The above is from th US State Dept Home page in the section on "identifying
misinformation" This site identifies by name--RENSE/Vialls/Conspiracy Planet
as top stereotypical "dis-info" sites, and the above 3 GOVERNMENT sites as
being reliable.
Take care, UncBob
ps Ck Top Ten Censored Stories of 2003-2004 This non-depleted uranium
is even more toxic than the depleted uranium which, according to Lauren Moret,
President of Scientists for Indigenous People and ...
www.preferrednetwork.com/Top_Ten_Censored_Stories_of_2003.htm - 52k -
Depleted Uranium (Lone Star Iconoclast)
LoneStarICON.com News - HAVE DU WILL TRAVEL (many interviews with Experts)
http://www.lonestaricon.com/2006/Archives/09/default.htm
Want more info?---google (Lauren Moret d.u.) and /or (Karl WB Schwarz d.u.)
or Joyce Riley
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