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Bwambuga
Are a Ugandan?
Do you know what is happening in the North?
-------Original Message-------
Date: Wednesday,
October 16, 2002 04:40:19 PM
Subject: ugnet_: DO
UGANDANS KNOW THIS???MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ATTACKING IRAQ]
DO UGANDANS KNOW THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE
NORTH?????
THEY SHOULD READ
THIS.
BWAMBUGA.
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject:
[Mwananchi] MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ATTACKING IRAQ
>From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Fri,
October 11, 2002 1:19 pm
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
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>Helen
Caldicott Thursday, October 10,
2002
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>As
the Bush administration prepares to make war on the Iraqi people
--
>and make no mistake, it is the civilian population of that
country and
>not Saddam Hussein who will bear the brunt of the
hostilities -- it is
>important that we recall the medical
consequences of the last Gulf War.
>That conflict was, in effect, a
nuclear war.
>During the 1991 Gulf War, the United States deployed
hundreds of tons of
>weapons, many of them anti-tank shells made of
depleted uranium 238. This
>material is 1.7 times more dense than
lead, and hence when incorporated
>into an anti-tank shell and
fired, it achieves great momentum, cutting
>through tank armor like
a hot knife through butter.
>What other properties does uranium 238
possess? First, it is pyrophoric:
>When it hits a tank at high speed
it bursts into flames, producing tiny
>aerosolized particles less
than 5 microns in diameter that are easily
>inhalable into the
terminal air passages of the lung. Second, it is a
>potent
radioactive carcinogen, emitting a relatively heavy alpha
particle
>composed of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Once inside the body
-- either in
>the lung if it has been inhaled, or in a wound if it
penetrates flesh, or
>ingested since it concentrates in the food
chain and contaminates water
>-- it can produce cancer in the lungs,
bones, blood, or kidneys. Third,
>it has a half-life of 4.5 billion
years, meaning the areas in which this
>ammunition was used in Iraq
and Kuwait during Gulf War will remain
>effectively radioactive for
the rest of time.
>Children are 10 to 20 times more sensitive to the
effects of radiation
>than adults. My fellow pediatricians in the
Iraqi town of Basra, for
>example, are reporting an increase of 6 to
12 times in the incidence of
>childhood leukemia and cancer. Yet
because of the sanctions imposed upon
>Iraq by the United States and
United Nations, they have no access to
>drugs or effective radiation
machines to treat their patients.
>The incidence of congenital
malformations has doubled in the exposed
>populations in Iraq where
these weapons were used. Among them are babies
>born with only one
eye or missing all or part of their brain.
>The medical consequences
of the use of uranium 238 almost certainly did
>not affect only
Iraqis. Some U.S. veterans exposed to it are reported, by
>at least
one medical researcher, to be excreting uranium in their urine
a
>decade later. Other reports indicate it is being excreted in
their semen.
>(The fact that almost one-third of the American tanks
used in Desert
>Storm were themselves made of uranium 238 is another
story, for their
>crews were thereby exposed to whole-body gamma
radiation.)
>Would these effects have surprised the U.S.
authorities? No, for
>incredible as it may seem, the American
military's own studies prior to
>Desert Storm warned that aerosol
uranium exposure under battlefield
>conditions could lead to cancers
of the lung and bone, kidney damage,
>non-malignant lung disease,
neurocognitive disorders, chromosomal damage
>and birth
defects.
>Do George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz,
Condoleezza Rice, and
>Donald Rumsfeld understand the medical
consequences of the 1991 war and
>the likely health effects of the
next one they are now planning? If they
>do not, their ignorance is
breathtaking; even more incredible though --
>and alas, much more
likely -- is that they do understand, but do not
>care. Helen
Caldicott has devoted the last 25 years to an
international
>campaign to educate the public about the medical
hazards of the nuclear
>age. She spoke in San Francisco recently in
a benefit for the Nuclear
>Policy Research Institute, which she
founded
an
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