Rumors of adverse health effects of D.U. proved inaccurate

[Guest guest]

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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