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Iraq Vets Speak of DU Poison |
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Two Iraq War Veterans, G. Matthew and H. Reed, spoke
Wednesday, June 29, 7:00 PM
Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center
110 Bethune Blvd., Spring Valley, NY (for dir. call 845-425-8910)
Army National Guard Spec. Gerard
Matthew with his baby born with a deformed right hand.
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In
early September 2003, Army National Guard Spec. Gerard
Darren Matthew was sent home from Iraq, stricken by
a sudden illness.
One
side of Matthew's face would swell up each morning.
He had constant migraine headaches, blurred vision,
blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he urinated.
Shortly
after his return, his wife became pregnant. On June
29, 2004, she gave birth to a baby girl who was missing
three fingers and most of her right hand.
They
have seen photos of Iraqi babies born with deformities
that are eerily similar. |
Another
guardsman from New York, Herbert Reed, told at the U.N. on
May 3, 2005, that he has serious physical debilities and suffers
memory loss. No one in the military would give him a straight
answer about the origin of the illnesses he suffered after
returning from Iraq a couple of years ago - body aches, rashes,
boils, joint aches and nerve damage.
Matthew
believed that his illness and his daughter's deformity were
caused by his exposure to depleted uranium (DU), a component
used in tank armor and weapon shells. He asked the Army to
test his urine for DU, but never got the test results. Finally
Matthew and Reed sought help from the New York Daily News
to arrange for independent urine testing for DU. They
both were tested positive for depleted uranium (DU).
DU is
a radioactive, heavy metal denser than lead, which allows
it to penetrate armor easily. Additionally, when DU hits a
tank's metal armor, the heat of the impact can melt the armor
and generate clouds of DU dust which can be inhaled or ingested
by soldiers or civilians. The DU particles lodged
inside bodies become a nightmare for health hazard.
The
U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
has found that DU produced chromosome (genetic) damage
and caused delayed reproductive death (J. Inorg.
Biochem. 2002, 91: 246-52 and J. Environ. Radioact. 2003,
64: 247-59). In 2002, the United Nations
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
declared that DU was a weapon of mass destruction,
and its use a breach of international law.
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