http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BUL20060122&articleId=1777
Nothing
depleted about 'depleted uranium' Disturbing photos of children
By Abel Bult-Ito
January 22, 2006 news-miner.com
and uruknet.info
Iraqi and visiting doctors,
and a number of news reports, have reported that birth defects
and cancers in Iraqi children have increased five- to 10-fold
since the 1991 Gulf War and continue to increase sharply, to
over 30-fold in some areas in southern Iraq Currently, more than 50 percent of Iraqi cancer patients are children
under the age of 5, up from 13 percent. Children are especially
vulnerable because they tend to play in areas that are heavily
polluted by depleted uranium.
The
Pentagon has been using radioactive weapons for at least a decade
and a half with full complicity of at least three White House
administrations and Republican and Democratic congressional
legislators. Conservatively, at least 300 tons and 1,700 tons
of depleted uranium were used in the Gulf War and the current
Iraq War, respectively. This is about 70 grams of depleted uranium
per Iraqi citizen, and if inhaled or ingested, it is enough
to kill them all.
Is
this not radioactive genocide, especially when our troops used
and continue to use most of the depleted uranium munitions in
densely populated areas such as Baghdad and Fallujah? Depleted
uranium has a half-life of billions of years. Consequently,
Iraq will be a
wasteland forever and essentially uninhabitable for anyone.
After
the 1991 Gulf War, about 1 in 4, or 150,000, U.S. veterans came down with what
is referred to as "Gulf War Syndrome." Most of the
ailments characteristic of Gulf War Syndrome are consistent
with radiation or heavy-metal poisoning. Veterans' children
are now also born with higher proportions of birth defects and
other genetic disorders, according to sporadic accuonts. The
Pentagon continues to deny the harmful effects of depleted uranium
or its role in Gulf War Syndrome.
As
described by a report of the World Health Organization Depleted
Uranium Mission to Kosovo, uranium can be found in rocks and
soil and contributes to natural background levels of radioactivity.
Depleted uranium is a waste product of uranium enrichment for
nuclear reactors and is about 60 percent as radioactive as naturally
occurring uranium. Depleted uranium is considered weakly radioactive.
Nevertheless,
depleted uranium is considered nuclear waste and has to be disposed
of accordingly, which is expensive and a potential environmental
hazard. The nuclear industry must be very pleased the U.S. military has found a way to get
this stuff off their hands cheaply.
Depleted
uranium is really a misnomer, because the potentially harmful
effects are by no means depleted. Research reports have found
that when depleted uranium is ingested or inhaled, it can cause
cancers and birth defects. It has considerable heavy-metal toxicity.
Photos of Babies Deformed at Birth as a Result of
Depleted Uranium (DU) 2003
photos: Dr. Jenan
Hassan
As
stated in the WHO report, because of its high density, depleted
uranium is used in armor-piercing ammunition and as reinforcement
against conventional weapons. Upon impact, the depleted uranium
fragments burn at intense heat, and 10 to 35 percent of it becomes
aerosolized. This aerosolized uranium "dust" is the
most harmful component because it can easily be ingested or
inhaled.
Wind
and people walking though it also easily diserse the depleted
uranium dust. This dust is a predominant byporduct of military
user of depleted uranium, in contrast to, for example, exposures
in uranium minues or nuclear reactors. Our troops in Iraq will
be severely affected by this radioactive war, not only because
a lot more depleted uranium has been used and continues to be
used, but also because they have been there alot longer than
during the Gulf War. Hundreds of thoughsands of our troops will
come down with Gulf War Syndrome as a result of depleted uranium
poisonin, and thousands will die from it. Thousands of their
children will be born with genetic diseases, cancers and birth
defects.
The continued use of depleted
uranium harms our own troops and innocent civilians exposed
to our war machine, is un-American, and a crime against humanity.
We need a worldwide ban on depleted uranium use. You have probably
noticed Fairbanks Daily News-Miner staff writer's reports as
an "embedded journalist" with the 1172nd Stryker Brigade
Combat Team in Mosul, Iraq. Her "feel-good" stories
do not tell you the reality of what is happening in Iraq. Will
she report on depleted uranium poisoning as a result of heavy
U.S. bombing of Mosul?
Sadly, she and those of
the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, if they survive the war,
will have a high change of coming down with Gulf War Syndrome.
How much support do you think they will then get from our government
or their employers?
Abel Bult-Ito is an associate professor of biology at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks
and is a member of the Fairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice.
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