Go on. Suck it up.
May. 19th, 2003 01:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksAs usual, I can't leave you guys alone for a minute...
Depleted uranium lingers in Iraq
Scientists hope to test battlefields for any dangers
By Joseph B. Verrengia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
But radioactivity is not quite the issue (even if Scott Peterson has discovered that DPU fragments register 1,000 times the normal background radiation on Geiger counters). The thing is that DPU is 1.7 times denser than lead, a metal which is toxic, and in general heavy metals are toxic and have significant ecological impact, especially on water sources and soil. DPU contamination of the groundwater may lead to very serious consequences, whether scientists have linked it to Gulf War syndrome or not (and long-term exposure has not been studied). Let's put it this way - if you don't want lead or other heavy metals anywhere near drinking water, I wouldn't want DPU dust all over the landscape either.
Depleted uranium lingers in Iraq
Scientists hope to test battlefields for any dangers
By Joseph B. Verrengia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 21 - As soon as it's safe, the United Nations and international scientists plan to fan out over Iraq's smoking battlegrounds to investigate whether the leftovers of American firepower pose serious health or environmental threats. Thousands of rounds containing tons of depleted uranium were fired in Iraq over the past four weeks.US officials have claimed that DPU poses no significant risk to the Iraqi populace, and in particular, V Corps Command Sgt-Maj Kenneth O. Preston has been reported as saying that "emits 40 percent less radiation than uranium occurring in its natural state. Depleted uranium is also 1.7 times heavier than lead, and thus does not stay suspended as dust particles for very long."
FRAGMENTS OF the armor-piercing munitions now litter the valleys and neighborhoods between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. That's where most of the combat occurred and where most of Iraq's 24 million people live.
Wounded fighters and civilians also may carry depleted uranium shrapnel in their bodies.
Many medical studies have failed to show a direct link between DU exposure and human disease, though a study of rats linked intramuscular fragments with increased cancer risk. Test-tube experiments also suggest DU may trigger potentially dangerous changes in cells.
The munitions are conventional and do not generate a nuclear blast. Depleted uranium, a very dense metal fashioned from low-level radioactive waste, allows them to easily pierce armor and buildings that would deflect other projectiles.
The Pentagon vigorously defends the decisive battlefield advantage that the super-hard metal provides and says the munitions do not create pollution or health hazards. Tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and A-10 attack jets all fire depleted uranium rounds. Some missiles also contain the material.
"There's going to be no impact on the health of people in the environment or people who were there at the time," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, a top Pentagon health official.
"You would really have to have a large internalized dose," Kilpatrick said. "You are not going to get that with casual exposure."
However, experts differ as to what qualifies as casual exposure.
But radioactivity is not quite the issue (even if Scott Peterson has discovered that DPU fragments register 1,000 times the normal background radiation on Geiger counters). The thing is that DPU is 1.7 times denser than lead, a metal which is toxic, and in general heavy metals are toxic and have significant ecological impact, especially on water sources and soil. DPU contamination of the groundwater may lead to very serious consequences, whether scientists have linked it to Gulf War syndrome or not (and long-term exposure has not been studied). Let's put it this way - if you don't want lead or other heavy metals anywhere near drinking water, I wouldn't want DPU dust all over the landscape either.
