Our DU Are Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Misty L. Trepke

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CANCER Spreads like wildfire in IRAQ

 

Cancer and birth defects have been spreading like wildfire in

Iraq since the 1991 US-led Gulf War, prompting doctors to describe

them as the Iraqi version of flu.

 

Depleted uranium (DU) used by the United States and its allies

against Iraq has taken its toll on around 120,000 to 140,000 Iraqis,

according to the latest estimates released by the Iraqi health

ministry.

 

With Iraq becoming an almost radioactive toxic wasteland, the

number of birth defects and cancer-infected Iraqis is on the rise day

in and day out due to the lingering effects of the deadly nuclear

substance, the London-based Al-Quds Press news agency reported

Tuesday, July27 .

 

Dr Abdul Kazimi, director of Baghdad only nuclear medicine

hospital, said 7500 Iraqis are being infected with cancer ever year.

 

The substance is also blamed for the so-called Gulf War

Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has reportedly plagued

hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans.

 

Press reports say about 100,000 tons of DU munitions had been

used in the Desert Storm military operation, the first time such a

weapon was used in a warfare.

 

On January 16 ,1991 , the US launched its allied Desert Storm

military operation to liberate Kuwait.

 

The unprecedented US-led aerial bombardment and DU armor-

piercing shells forced the Iraqi troops to desperately retreat from

Kuwait on February 27 .

 

Abdul Hamid Khalifa, an Iraqi specialist on carcinogens, said

the crippling 13 -year-old US sanctions slapped on Iraq after the war

have made matters worse.

 

" It is a disaster in the broad sense of the word that has

slipped out of control, " he said.

 

" Cases of cancer-infected Iraqis started emerging following the

1991 Gulf War with most of the cases concentrating in the south and

women taking the brunt. "

 

The specialist added that infantry troops were identified as

receiving the highest exposures to DU radiation.

 

He further said that contaminated water, expired imported food

stuff and devastated health infrastructure added insult to injury.

 

Khalifa stressed that environmental pollution is causing 70

percent of cancer cases and food 30 percent.

 

Farras Abd, an Iraqi citizen whose uncle is a DU victim, said

prayers are his one and only option.

 

" The hospital is running out of medicine and can't cope with

the increasing number of cancer patients, who can't afford traveling

abroad for treatment, " he noted.

 

Deadly Substance

 

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP),

depleted uranium is a highly dense metal that is the byproduct of the

process during which fissionable uranium used to manufacture nuclear

bombs and reactor fuel is separated from natural uranium.

 

Uranium, a weakly radioactive element, occurs naturally in soil

and water everywhere on Earth, but mainly in trace quantities.

 

A second, potentially more serious hazard is created when a DU

round hits its target.

 

As much as 70 percent of the projectile can burn up on impact,

creating a firestorm of ceramic DU oxide particles.

 

The residue of this firestorm is an extremely fine ceramic

uranium dust that can spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into

the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of

the food chain.

 

Once lodged in the soil, the munitions can pollute the

environment and create up to a hundredfold increase in uranium levels

in ground water, according to the UNEP.

 

DU is said to be radioactive for about 4 thousand years.

 

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20040728092303616