DEPLETED URANIUM is POISON DUST. It is killing our soldiers

[BrklynLiberal]

http://www.iacenter.org/poison-dust.htm

During the current Iraq War the U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons increased from 375 tons used in 1991 to 2200 tons. Geiger counter readings at sites in downtown Baghdad record radiation levels 1,000 and 2,000 times higher than background radiation. The Pentagon has bombed, occupied, tortured and contaminated Iraq. Millions of Iraqis are affected. Over one million U.S. soldiers have rotated into Iraq. Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn children.

The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater. Many other countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billions years

There are many links and lots of info at the above site.

...................................................................
Contamination of Persian Gulf War Veterans and Others by Depleted Uranium

by Leonard A. Dietz

July 19, 1996 (last updated Feb. 21, 1999)
<snip>
Conclusion

We have shown how easily micrometer particles of DU can spread over a large region and poison many people both radiologically and chemically. The promotion and sale of DU munitions by U.S. arms manufacturers (with U.S. government approval) and by other arms manufacturers to the armies and air forces of many nations will guarantee that in future conflicts thousands of soldiers on both sides will inhale and ingest acute doses of DU aerosols, and many in armored vehicles struck by DU penetrators will receive dangerous doses of non-removable uranium shrapnel in their bodies. The human cost of using DU munitions in conflicts is not worth the perceived short-term advantages, especially if it results in U.S. veterans and others becoming ill and in genetic defects in their offspring. A comprehensive epidemiological study should be made of all Gulf War veterans and their families, searching for evidence of residual DU in their bodies and for causes of genetic defects in their children. The health issues associated with DU munitions should be investigated and evaluated by independent medical and scientific experts separated completely from the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, National Laboratories, U.S. military services and their contractors.

http://www.wise-uranium.org/dgvd.html


They are still using Depleted Uranium in Iraq, even after this warning which was first published in 1996!

[tatertop]

1. It is truly the worst of all worlds

[cantstandbush]

37. Has any "journalist" ever asked Bush about this subject?

If not, why not? Can we even get a journalist on the inside to understand this issue. Dan Rather probably could have, but now he is essentially muted.

[tatertop]

38. I have never seen this mentioned in the national press.

Now that you mention it.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Link to another excellent thread about Depleted Uranium....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2533

[AwakeAtLast]

4. Self-delete

Replied to wrong post. Sorry!

[Flabbergasted]

3. Gulf War Syndrome

The symptoms of Gulf Was Syndrome are the exact same as DU Exposure. You can cross-reference the veteran website with the any medical Analysis of DU exposure.... This is the Bush family's idea of supporting the troops

[AwakeAtLast]

5. Recommendation from me.

As the wife of a soldier currently in Iraq, I read all of these reports with fear and trepidation.
I am taking solace in the fact that my husband works on a base around top brass, who I don't think
would knowingly be around this stuff, but who's to say? I have asked my husband about this a few
times, and each time he assures me he is not at risk. I wish I could be so sure. :(

Thanks for posting, I am keeping this site bookmarked!




edit for spelling - yeah, I'm an idiot! :)

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Here's hoping that he..and you stay safe and well. There are so many

good people over there...involved against their better judgement, and in some cases, even against their will.

:hi: :hug: :pals:

[AwakeAtLast]

30. Thank you!

I have received so much support from fellow DUers throughout his deployment this past year.
Only 5-6 more months to go!

[JohnyCanuck]

24. I wish you and your husband all the best

And I don't want to be alarmist. However, I would like to suggest to you, and to anyone else in a similar predicament who reads this thread, that you keep the following site bookmarked www.umrc.net , just in case.

The Uranium Medical Research Centre (www.umrc.net) was founded by Dr. Asaf Durakovic, formerly the head of nuclear medicine at a VA medical facility in Wilmington, Delaware. He was fired when he refused to take the hint from his superiors that he should discontinue his investigation into the effects of DU on his patients, veterans from GW 1.

Dr. Durakovic and other medical specialists and scientists are continuing to investigate the effects of DU on military and civilian personnel through UMRC

http://www.umrc.net/about_umrc.aspx

About UMRC
The Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1997 to provide objective and expert scientific and medical research into the effects of uranium, transuranium elements, and radionuclides produced by the process of uranium decay and fission. UMRC is also a registered charity in the United States and Canada.

Vision
UMRC's vision for the world is a full awareness of the risks of using nuclear products and by-products AND to contain the still reversible alterations of the earth's biosphere since the advent of nuclear events and the resulting contamination.

There needs to be an appreciation of the enormous effects and damage of uranium on the environment and human health. Governments, scientific communities, and the general public need to understand the many forms of contamination and specific effects. Continued abuses of uranium and radioisotopes will only lead to the steady degradation and eventual end of meaningful life on earth.

Mission
UMRC's mission is to contribute to the vision by providing independent, objective, and expert scientific and medical research on the effects of uranium and transuranic elements.

Research into the effects of uranium products and by-products cannot be subject to considerations of economic, political, or military expediency. The true, unfiltered facts about its effects must be available to all persons and communities in order to further the goal of full awareness and containment.

Core Activities
UMRC's core activities include: research, medical assessment, clinical treatment, and dissemination to scientific and medical communities

If your husband does start to experience any symptoms which could be indicative of contamination by DU, you might want to consider contacting the people at UMRC as soon as possible. Dr. Durakovic maintains that the standard tests which are generally given to detect depleted uranium contamination are not adequate, and he and his colleagues have developed a more rigorous testing procedure that uses very specialized laboratory equipment. See this article for furher details: Methodology and the Difficulties of Testing for DU by Leonard Dietz. Dr. Dietz (recently deceased) was a nuclear scientist and a colleague of Dr. Durakovic.

I am no medical authority, but I understand that in some cases if DU contamination is detected there is a method called chelation that can be used to help remove at least some of the DU from the body. In chelation a drug is administered usally by IV (I believe). It chelates or binds with the target heavy metal (in this case the DU) and then it gets flushed out through the kidneys. However since DU is toxic to the kidneys the process has to be carefully monitored, and you want to make sure that you have a doctor who really knows what he is doing around DU contamination.

Dr. Durakovic served as Chief of Professional Clinical Services of the 531 Medical Detachment during the Desert Shield phase of the Gulf War. When he returned to the Veteran's Administration (VA) Nuclear Medicine facility in Wilmington, Delaware, which he headed, he was asked to assess 24 soldiers of the 144th Transportation and Supply Company of New Jersey for evidence of DU in their bodies. He recalls: "They had been based in Saudi Arabia from January to August 1991, working with damaged tanks hit by DU armour-piercing shells from 'friendly fire.'" Durakovic's team performed a whole-body count of uranium 238 on the troops and found that 14 of the 24 had been contaminated. According to Durakovic's June 26, 1997, testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, the government 'lost' all records of these examinations. And shortly thereafter, Durakovic 'lost' his job.

Durakovic may have been forced to step down from his VA position at Wilmington, but the army could not strip him of his ethics as a medical doctor. In the interests of his patients he founded the Uranium Medical Research Center, an independent non-profit institute which studies the effects of uranium contamination and challenges Pentagon claims that "exposures to depleted uranium have not to date produced any observable adverse health effects attributable to DU's chemical toxicity or low-level radiation." Dr. Durakovic explains that when depleted uranium is blown up at high temperatures, it changes to tiny particles. If inhaled, the uranium particles can get into the bloodstream and can be lodged in the bone, lymph nodes, lungs or kidneys causing damage by emitting low-level radiation in the body over a long period of time. The price can be cancer, necrosis and genetic deformity. Inexplicable, then, the Pentagon's refusal to comply with a 1993 congressional mandate to study the health effects of inhaled and ingested depleted uranium dust.

http://www.nuclear-free.com/english/durakovic.htm

Good luck, WakeMeUp, and I do sincerely hope you and your husband never have need to take advantage of the above advice.

[AwakeAtLast]

29. Thanks so much!

I did bookmark it and will keep it in mind as he proceeds through his final months in country
and demobilization. If I didn't have such great people at DU watching out for stuff like this,
I would be just another military wife blindly believing what my government tells me. I truly
appreciate it!

[NI4NI]

34. God Speed

To your husband and to each and every one of our men and women.

[seabeyond]

6. anyone have a map of where the du locations are in this country?

[MadHound]

7. In which country, US or Iraq? n/t

[seabeyond]

8. this country as in u.s. thanks

[MadHound]

10. Don't thank me too soon,

DU is spread out and about throughout this country. It is kept stockpiled in both military and civilian locations, in addition to being used for various corporate operations. It is even moving our transportation system, land, water and sea, either acting as ballast, shielding, or just in the process of being transported. I really have no clue to exact locations, for in many ways it is as ubiquitous as any other industrial heavy metal like tungsten.

Why do you wish to know?

[seabeyond]

12. curious

thanks for the information. why am i interested, well i wanted to know if i had any near me. we have pantex 10 miles out of town. but i think they do a pretty good job with their stuff from what i heard. the way you explain it, doesnt really matter. here htere and everywhere.

[MadHound]

21. Oh lord, DU is the least thing you have to worry about

Much more wicked stuff at a Pantex plant than DU. You've got enriched uranium(U238) and plutonium(Pu239) going through those facilities in combination with high explosives. In addition, since the Rocky Flats site has discontinued plutonium processing, Pantex is doing short-midterm storage of plutonium pits.

Your level of worry should be about as much as that of any other reactor in your neighborhood, probably won't adversely effect you, but there is that chace, like TMI showed us. One thing that you don't have to worry about is a radioactive steam release. But if there is a fuckup and some of that explosive goes, move as quick as you can away and upwind from the plant., because the fallout is going to be widespread and thick. And chances are you will pick up a large dose even if you survive. But I wouldn't over-worry about this, procedures are in place, buildings are stout, and security is tight. These places answer to at least four different governmental agencies, and have to meet very tight specs, and are inspected at least once a year. And from ten miles away, you are in no danger of radioactive exposure during the course of normal operations there. Plus, there are multiple, redundant systems in place to keep everything contained. Yes, things can go wrong, but the odds of multiple fail safes and backups all going wrong at once are long. Hope that helps.

But actually you can purchase DU fairly easily if you have a legit use for it.

[seabeyond]

22. oh madhound a huge thanks

i have been in that site twice reading the stuff. yes yes to what you say, not du. lol. thank you for the info on that plant though. i do know people that work there and my husband has gone there to work on some stuff. everyone seems pretty confident in everyones ability and our safety, which has been comforting. always good to know what to do though, just in case.

from what i understand though they had t and t and didn't dispose of it properly and so worried about that going into our aquifer.

so husband is in here talking to me and deciding plant is east of us so probably wind would blow it away anyway, but then he is laughing at me saying depends what the issue is. if it is a nuclear detonation, oh well, shit out of luck. detonator is removed before shipped here. oh ya, now he is trying to make me feel better. lol lol men are horrible.

but you were nice. hubby not. lol lol. thank you mad hound

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Here is some info on DU in the US. May be more at the site

http://www.abolition2000.org/groups/depleted/

<snip>
DU weapons were first used in conflict during the first Gulf War in 1991. Over 350 tons of DU were left in the soil, air, and water of Iraq and Kuwait at that time. DU was also definitely used in Bosnia (1994-1995), Kosovo (1999), and Iraq (2003), and may have been used in Afghanistan (2001-2003).

DU has been processed and tested at dozens of locations throughout the U.S. , creating extensive contamination.

• The National Lead Industries factory in Colonie , NY , closed in 1980 after DU particles were found 26 miles away and DU levels in soil were 500 times higher than neighboring areas. (Len Dietz, 1996)

• The Starmet plant in Concord , MA dumped 400,000 pound of DU and other toxic substances into an unlined pit over twenty-five years. DU contaminated soil and groundwater, and is moving toward drinking water supplies. (Citizens Research and Environmental Watch, Concord , MA )

• The former Jefferson Proving Ground in Madison , IN contains over 150,000 pounds of DU shells and fragments. The U.S. Army wants to walk away from the contamination without performing any cleanup or ongoing environmental monitoring. ( U.S. Army & Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
<snip>

[seabeyond]

17. wow. i went into the pantex site. plutonium. and does the pit

lol lol have been in the site twice, and still dont get it. i dont know all this shit. but read your article.

[progressoid]

19. They're everywhere munitions are stockpiled

Also used as plating in tanks etc.

However, it's mostly a problem after the explosion when the D.U. becomes dust.

The extremely dense DU shells easily penetrate steel armor and burn on impact. The fire releases microscopic, radioactive and toxic dust particles of uranium oxide that travel with the wind and can be inhaled or ingested. They also spread contamination by seeping into the land and water.

[seabeyond]

23. thank you. i have gotten a whole lot of info on stuff i dont get

appreciate it.

[Benhurst]

9. Samuel Butler:

"For as you sow, ye are like to reap."

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Additional links with info on Depleted Uranium

http://traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html

Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road, Deerfield, MA 01342 [phone] www.traprockpeace.org
Together We Explore Nonviolence, Foster Community, Work to end war, Promote Communication & Take Initiatives on Environmental and Justice issues

http://www.abolition2000.org/groups/depleted/
Depleted Uranium Working Group
Military Toxics Project “Depleted” Uranium Ammunition:
Nuclear Waste as a Weapon

Enrichment of uranium for use in nuclear weapons and reactors produces various waste products, including so-called “depleted” uranium (DU). For the past twenty-five years, the U.S. Department of Defense has produced ammunition using this nuclear waste, which is both radioactive and chemically toxic. Evidence of environmental and human health damage caused by “depleted” uranium has steadily increased, despite Pentagon assertions that such impacts would not occur. The United Nations Human Rights Commission Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities considers DU munitions to be “weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminant effect” and incompatible with international humanitarian law.

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/uranium.htm
What is uranium used for?
Uranium metal is very dense and heavy. When it is depleted (DU), uranium is used by the military as shielding to protect Army tanks, and also in parts of bullets and missiles. The military also uses enriched uranium to power nuclear propelled Navy ships and submarines, and in nuclear weapons. Fuel used for Naval reactors is typically highly enriched in U-235 (the exact values are classified information). In nuclear weapons uranium is also highly enriched, usually over 90% (again, the exact values are classified information).
The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel commercial nuclear power plants, where fuel is typically enriched in U-235 to 2-3%. Depleted uranium is used in helicopters and airplanes as counter weights on certain wing parts. Other uses include ceramic glazes where small amounts of natural uranium (that is, not having gone through the enrichment process) may be added for color.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0108-05.htm
Published on Monday, January 8, 2001 in the Independent / UK
The Truth About Depleted Uranium
by Robert Fisk

<snip>
And still the Americans and the British try to fool us. The Americans are now brazenly announcing that their troops in Kosovo have suffered no resultant leukemias – failing to mention that most of their soldiers are cooped up in a massive base (Fort Bondsteel) near the Macedonian border where no DU rounds were fired by Nato. Needless to say, there was also no mention of the tens of thousands of US troops – women as well as men – who believe they were contaminated by DU in the Gulf.

So it goes on. British veterans are dying of unexplained cancers from the Gulf. So are US veterans. Nato troops from Bosnia and now Kosovo – especially Italians – are dying from unexplained cancers. So are the children in the Basra hospitals, along with their parents and uncles and aunts. Cancers have now been found among Iraqi refugees in Iran who were caught in Allied fire on the roads north of Kuwait. Bosnian authorities investigating an increase in cancers can get no information from Nato. This is not a scandal. It is an outrage.
<snip>

[alittlelark]

14. My cousins' husband is there on his 3rd deployment (NG)

They decided not to have any more children (they have 1) after his 2nd deployment. They are thinking about adoption, because she doesn't want her daughter to be an only child.

Just another real world situation.

They are both smart and CONCERNED.She got her tubes tied (and had to pay for it).

[BrklynLiberal]

18. How sad...

But BushCo supports the troops. :grr:

[Rex]

16. Bad weapon. Immoral.

Yet we shower everyone in Iraq with radioactive fragments. I can't even believe we use this shit. I think for 600 billion dollars the military can come up with an armor piercing substance that will only kill the intended targets and not future generations.

http://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/01-19/uranium.html

[Clara T]

20. A way to eliminate a nasty PR problem for the DOE

It has been over a decade since the end of the Cold War but the world still lives under the threat of nuclear weapons. The United States holds about 11,000 nuclear weapons, and Russia has about 19,500. Rarely mentioned in the news, thousands of these Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles remain armed, targeted and poised waiting for only a few short computer signals to fire. Almost all of these weapons are packed with Depleted Uranium (DU).

The misnamed "Depleted" Uranium is an extremely dense, toxic, and deadly metal that is left after enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium 238 in order to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. It is still radiologically hazardous, as it spontaneously burns at room temperature and, on impact, creates tiny aerosolized glass and dust particles that are small enough to be inhaled.

The United States Department of Defense became interested in using DU in the 1950s because it was cheap and available in huge quantities. Now, it is practically free for military and arms manufactures and is used in tank armor and extensively in armor-piercing shells known as depleted uranium penetrators.

Last summer, the reported radiation levels at six sites from Basra to Baghdad had 1,500 times the normal radiation levels indicating that the USA and Britain have used as much as 2,200 tons of shells made with DU during the attacks on Iraq in March and April, 2003. That's as much as 1,825 tons more than what was used in the first Gulf War. It may be too soon to draw conclusions regarding the amount of damage done due to warfare this time around, but researchers predict that the effects of DU will be enormous.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQV/is_1_33/ai_113304635

[JohnyCanuck]

25. Ike wasn't just blowing smoke out his rear

when he warned us of the dangers posed by the military industrial complex.

Tungsten has another drawback: It's expensive. Depleted uranium, on the other hand, is dirt cheap. Tons of it, over 500 million pounds the last time anyone counted, is lying around in various states of nuclear "decay" at government repositories throughout the country.

In an attempt to reduce this over-abundance of nuclear waste, the Defense Department provides depleted uranium to munitions makers such as Alliant Techsystems -- the largest maker of depleted uranium projectiles in the world -- at no cost and buys it back as completed weapons.

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,57959,00.html?tw=wn_story_related

[EstimatedProphet]

26. You know, here's the thing...

How many reporters do we have in Baghdad? You would think that they would wake up about this at least. after all, THEY are getting cancer in the future thanks to the government. Why aren't they screaming this at the top of their lungs? It's their lives!

[Clara T]

27. And leave the green zone?

Can you imagine one of these "on the scene" NPR (Annie Garrolts) or NY Times reporters actually getting into risky places such as those that are actually on the scene?

They are relatively safe in their embeddedness.

[EstimatedProphet]

28. But they aren't safe though!

The DU dust is going to get into the green zone too, just like everywhere else. I's gotta be all over Iraw by now!

[Clara T]

31. In the food and water also

as the dust cycles and becomes the ground upon which vegetables and grains are grown. And the acquifer is poisoned for who can count the years. A slow motion holocaust. A toxic legacy.

The amount of DU dust in Iraq from Desert Storm is staggering and the amount is accruing.

[dailykoff]

32. If they're dumb enough to believe the stuff they report

they're probably dumb enough to believe Uncle Sam wouldn't lie to them about their DU exposure.

[JohnyCanuck]

33. Baghdad is still relatively unaffected from effects of DU

Actually most of the cancers and birth defects to date have been showing up in the South of Iraq around Basra, not Baghdad, and have been attributed to the DU ammo used in GW 1. It might take a few years yet before the effects of the latest round of DU contamination from the 2003 invasion starts to show up in more diverse locations across Iraq.

From accounts I've been reading recently most of the Western reporters remain holed up in the Green Zone and don't venture out to do much reporting on their own because of concerns about kidnapping etc. That probably means they are relying on official sources and press briefings etc. even more than usual to get material for their stories. If they go too far in making waves by printing stories the Pentagon or the new Iraqi government feel are "not helpful" there goes their access. No more invites to the press conferences and no more access to the usual sources when they need to call someone to get some information.

Beyond all that, as the following Project Censored story shows, the big media companies are tied into the rest of corporate America, including the defense industries. The editors, producers and executives know which side of their bread is buttered, as shown by their craven toadying and unquestioning regurgitation of White House and Pentagon press releases and Colin Powell's blatant lies to the UN in the runup to the invasion. Bear in mind that if this information about the hazards of DU was widespread throughout the US, it has the potential to cripple the US military's ability to continue recruiting their future cannon fodder. This could even force the US into an unplanned and hasty withdrawal from Iraq, and there would go the Cheney/PNAC/Neocon plans for empire down the tubes in one fell swoop. How many mainstream reporters or editors would be willing to put their necks on the line when the consequences could be so significant? And should they screw up the necessary courage to cover this, would their own bosses even let them proceed?

However, mainstream media no longer produce news for the mainstream population—nor should we consider the media as plural. Instead it is more accurate to speak of big media in the US today as the corporate media and to use the term in the singular tense—as it refers to the singular monolithic top-down power structure of self-interested news giants.

A research team at Sonoma State University has recently finished conducting a network analysis of the boards of directors of the ten big media organizations in the US. The team determined that only 118 people comprise the membership on the boards of director of the ten big media giants. This is a small enough group to fit in a moderate size university classroom. These 118 individuals in turn sit on the corporate boards of 288 national and international corporations. In fact, eight out of ten big media giants share common memberships on boards of directors with each other. NBC and the Washington Post both have board members who sit on Coca Cola and J. P. Morgan, while the Tribune Company, The New York Times and Gannett all have members who share a seat on Pepsi. It is kind of like one big happy family of interlocks and shared interests. The following are but a few of the corporate board interlocks for the big ten media giants in the US:

New York Times:Caryle Group, Eli Lilly, Ford, Johnson and Johnson, Hallmark,
Lehman Brothers, Staples, Pepsi
Washington Post: Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, Dun & Bradstreet, Gillette,
G.E. Investments, J.P. Morgan, Moody's
Knight-Ridder: Adobe Systems, Echelon, H&R Block, Kimberly-Clark, Starwood Hotels
The Tribune (Chicago & LA Times): 3M, Allstate, Caterpillar, Conoco Phillips, Kraft,
McDonalds, Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Shering Plough, Wells Fargo
News Corp (Fox): British Airways, Rothschild Investments
GE (NBC): Anheuser-Busch, Avon, Bechtel, Chevron/Texaco, Coca-Cola, Dell, GM,
Home Depot, Kellogg, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble,
Disney (ABC): Boeing, Northwest Airlines, Clorox, Estee Lauder, FedEx, Gillette,
Halliburton, Kmart, McKesson, Staples, Yahoo,
Viacom (CBS): American Express, Consolidated Edison, Oracle, Lafarge North America
Gannett: AP, Lockheed-Martin, Continental Airlines, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Target,
Pepsi,
AOL-Time Warner (CNN): Citigroup, Estee Lauder, Colgate-Palmolive, Hilton

Can we trust the news editors at the Washington Post to be fair and objective regarding news stories about Lockheed-Martin defense contract over-runs? Or can we assuredly believe that ABC will conduct critical investigative reporting on Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq? If we believe the corporate media give us the full un-censored truth about key issues inside the special interests of American capitalism, then we might feel that they are meeting the democratic needs of mainstream America. However if we believe — as increasingly more Americans do— that corporate media serves its own self-interests instead of those of the people, than we can no longer call it mainstream or refer to it as plural. Instead we need to say that corporate media is corporate America, and that we the mainstream people need to be looking at alternative independent sources for our news and information.

http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/big_media_interlocks.html

[BrklynLiberal]

36. But Baghdad sure seems to be getting its fair share

http://www.iacenter.org/poison-dust.htm

During the current Iraq War the U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons increased from 375 tons used in 1991 to 2200 tons.Geiger counter readings at sites in downtown Baghdad record radiation levels 1,000 and 2,000 times higher than background radiation. The Pentagon has bombed, occupied, tortured and contaminated Iraq. Millions of Iraqis are affected. Over one million U.S. soldiers have rotated into Iraq. Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn children.

The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater. Many other countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billions years

[BrklynLiberal]

35. More important information on Depleted Uranium

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=31414&mesg_id=31814

[mom cat]

39. Check out this site for uraniun screening for Iraq vets and NGOs

http://www.umrc.net/pdf/iraqi_freedom_bioassay_program.pdf
and this also from the Uraniun Medical Research Center:


Latest News

12/26/2005
Operation Iraqi Freedom, UMRC's Veteran's DU Screening
UMRC is conducting a uranium bioassay and clincal studies program for veterans of US Operation Iraqi Freedom, UK Operation TELIC, and AU Operation Falconer; as well as, civilian residents and NGO staff. Click here for more information.
12/26/2005
Uranium Biological Effects Study – Port Hope
UMRC is pleased on its official participation in the Port Hope Biological Studies Project, Port Hope Ontario. Port Hope is the home of two nuclear industry facilities: Zircatec Precision Industries and Cameco Nuclear Fuels Division. Cameco acquired the Port Hope uranium refinery, conversion and metals processing facility from the original Canadian Crown Corporation, Eldorado Nuclear. Eldorado participated in the Manhattan Project and now as Cameco, supplies UF6 to the US uranium enrichment program and UO2 to Zircatec and other fuel rod manufacturers.

Currently Zircatec and Cameco process commercial natural uranium, depleted uranium, and enriched uranium stocks. As Eldoradeo, the refinery supplied Canadian and US Defense Departments with uranium and depleted uranium metals and extruded rods for kinetic energy penetrator research. Retired employees confirm that DU-KEP extruded rods were manufactured in Port Hope in the 1960’s onwards. The Cameco facility hosts one of the largest uranium metal processing capacities in the industry.

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, UMRC’s Director of Research has been appointed to the Medical Advisory Committee, Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee. Tedd Weyman, UMRC’s Deputy Director is leading the field investigations at Port Hope.

Click here for the program application.

10/24/2005

http://www.umrc.net/

[JohnyCanuck]

40. US & UK deploying new types of uranium weapons?

The US and UK deploy new uranium weapons contaminating Iraq’s environment, civilians and the Coalition’s own troops


In September/October 2003, five months after the cessation of the Shock and Awe bombing campaign and the Rapid Dominance ground force advance into Iraq, the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) sent in a team to collect biological and environmental samples, conduct a public health survey, and a field radiation survey. UMRC’s objective for this field research is to determine the extent and nature of radiological contamination derived from the deployment of coalition weapons containing uranium. UMRC was guided by Dr. M. Al Shaickly. Dr. Shaickly and the UMRC staff, led by Tedd Weyman , traveled with Dr. Siegwart-Horst Guenther to survey Operation Iraqi Freedom battlefields in Baghdad and Al Basra. Dr. Guenther also conducted an independent survey of Iraqi hospitals and patients, interviewing physicians and surveying the medical effects and symptomotologies of both Gulf War I and the 2003 Iraq War of civilian patients coincidentally exposed to battlefield contaminants and the fallout of US and UK bombs and missiles.

<snip>

The recent Iraqi field samples collected by UMRC were analysed by plasma mass spectrometer by Dr Axel Gerdes, Institute of Petrology and Geochemistry, JW Goethe University, Frankfurt. The human and environmental samples have been found to contain Depleted Uranium and abnormally high levels of the artificial transuranic isotope, 236U. The isotope composition of Depleted Uranium found in civilians as well as in surface soils and water courses shows the weapons used in Iraq were manufactured from two and perhaps three different metallurgical sources (stockpiles of uranium metals). The soil and water samples indicate DU was deployed in both mechanized battlefields and urban neighborhoods where aerial bombing took place.

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Viewers will see in the film, evidence of a new class of uranium weapons. The new weapons identified by their unique ballistic signature in the field are high explosive, anti-tank and bunker-defeat warheads (as distinguished from bunker-buster bombs). One example can be seen in the film where a high level of radioactivity is detected on the surface armor of an Iraqi tank displaying unusual spallation, surface craters and holes forged through the hull. The ballistics of this warhead is unlike the clean penetration channels of “inert DU kinetic energy penetrators” (non-explosive types) shown in other examples throughout the film.

The US and the UK have not yet publicly admitted to the use of uranium in their armor and bunker defeat warheads, which are a relatively unknown class of warheads called “explosively-loaded penetrators”. Two new types of explosively-loaded penetrators using uranium have been identified in Iraq: (1) explosively-formed penetrators; and, (2) shaped charge penetrators. The ballistic effects of the EFP-type can be seen in the film on a tank inspected by Dr Guenther. Similar radioactive and ballistic effects were logged separately by UMRC showing the use of uranium in explosively-formed penetrators along with the better known inert depleted uranium penetrators in both US and the UK battlefields.

http://www.traprockpeace.org/tedd_weyman_10aug04.html

[Clara T]

41. kick for info