Shells tipped with depleted uranium were used to blow up tanks and buildings in the Iraq war. While the United States and Britain say depleted uranium (DU) poses no long-term health or environmental risks, scientists are raising questions.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) plans to send a team of scientists to Iraq to examine the effects of DU, which is both radioactive and toxic. Although past studies have found no significant risk from either effect, experts say that a combination of the two effects could cause harm.
DU is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process and is chemically equivalent to natural uranium. It is used in the tips of shells because it is very dense--1.7 times as dense as lead--and can pierce armor and "self-sharpen" upon impact, rather than flattening like other heavy metals.
In the Gulf war in 1991, about 350 tons of DU was fired at Iraqi tanks. It is estimated that a similar amount will be used in the current Iraq war. Since 1991, southern Iraq doctors have reported a significant increase in cancers and birth defects, which they believe may have been caused by DU contamination.
Both the British and American governments maintain that DU cannot cause such health effects given its low radioactivity.
However, uranium is ‘genotoxic,’ which means it chemically alters DNA. It has been suggested that this alteration, which switches on genes that would otherwise not be expressed and causes abnormally high activity in cells, could trigger tumor growth.
Additionally, the radiological effects of DU are not well established. It could be that low-dose radiation emitted from DU causes subtle effects that have gone unnoticed.
Further, research in the past 10 years has shown that the effects of radiation may not appear in the short-term. Damage to genes may increase as cells divide, which means that the consequences may not be seen until many generations after exposure.
There have also been concerns that DU may be moving through the ground and contaminating water supplies, or could be stirred up in dust and inhaled. UNEP recommend environmental sampling of affected areas to investigate further.
The potential effects of DU on troops are also under question. Studies have yielded conflicting results with some researchers finding an increase in abnormalities among troops exposed to DU while others found no association.
Experts say that many scientific investigations will need to be done before the safety of DU can be determined.
New Scientist April 15, 2003
It is encouraging that investigations into depleted uranium are beginning, but often it comes out too late that exposure to toxic substances causes harm.
Many have already been harmed by exposure to toxins that have been previously deemed ‘safe.’ Think of vaccinations, water fluoridation and mercury amalgams.
The important thing to remember here is that you need to make your own decisions about what is safe because the ‘truth’ may not prevail until harm has already been done.
That is the purpose of this site, to give people reliable information so they can make their own informed decisions.
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