Monday, April 14, 2003
I received a number of e-mails asking to explain what Depleted Uranium is. It is the stuff nightmares are made of.
Depleted Uranium or DU as it is called in the community is still uranium. There are three types of uranium, U238, U234 and U235. Uranium 234 and 235 are fissionable material, the kind used in bombs. Depleted uranium is what is left over when the U234 and U235 are removed. The remaining U238 is still radioactive.
One of it's main uses is in tanks and in munitions. It has been in use by the United States for about 40 years. Who knew?
Why is it used in weapons?
A DU round is made from the leftover U238. The real punch comes from the solid depleted uranium metal rod in the shell. A 120-mm tank round contains about 4,000 grams or 10 pounds of solid DU. A DU rod is very dense - about 1.7 times as dense as lead. Almost as hard as somepeople's heads!
Has DU been used in combat?
It has been used in tanks and in munitions. In the 1st Gulf War, the U.S. fired as many as a million DU rounds, leaving a battlefield littered with 1,400 wrecked radioactive Iraqi tanks. No need for streetlights at night, when we leave them radioactive tanks.
DU shell holes in the vehicles along the Highway of Death are 1,000 times more radioactive than background radiation, according to Geiger counter readings done for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Dr. Khajak Vartaanian, a nuclear medicine expert.
The desert around the vehicles was 100 times more radioactive than background radiation; Basra, a city of 1 million people, some 125 miles away, registered only slightly above background radiation level, but that was before we shelled Basra.
NewWar on Iraq's Estimated use of DU
Before Gulf War II it was estimated that at least 1500 additional tons of Uranium weapons will be used to support US war plans in Iraq, greatly increasing existing Uranium contamination from the 1991 Gulf War, and jeopardising allied troops and Iraqi civilians alike.
How dangerous is depleted uranium, really?
DU can be dangerous once it has been used on a battlefield. Then DU can be considered both a chemical and toxic waste hazard, and a radiation hazard. I guess we found those weapons of Mass Destruction, WE, brought them to the party.
What happens when a shell explodes?
At high speed, DU slices through tank armor like a hot knife through butter, triggering the explosive content and creating a fire hot enough to melt aluminum. The depleted uranium also burns on impact, creating flying bits and dust that are toxic and radioactive with a half-life of 4.2 billion years. That is Billion with a "B".
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 be spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the food chain.
Ecological Problems Galore!
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 U.N. Environmental Program. If a chemical form of DU that is soluble in water is present, then the DU can be either absorbed by breathing or by ingestion, then the hazard comes from inhaling the dust. The dust could be deposited in the lungs and could, over a long period, be a cause of lung cancer. That could cause heavy metal chemical toxic effects in the kidneys.
Studies show it can remain in human organs for years.
BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ
At the Saddam Teaching Hospital in Basra, Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, a British-trained oncologist, displays, in four gaily colored photo albums, what he says are actual snapshots of the nightmares.
Even before the doctors heard about DU. The doctors in southern Iraq were making comparisons to the birth defects that followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII.
There were photos of infants born without brains, with their internal organs outside their bodies, without sexual organs, without spines, and the list of deformities went on and on. There also were photos of cancer patients.
It is therefore no major surprise that Cancer has increased dramatically in southern Iraq.
On a tour of one ward of the hospital, doctors pointed out boys and girls who were suffering from leukemia. Most of the children die, the doctors said, because there are insufficient drugs available for their treatment.
What can we expect now?
Just six months before the Gulf War, the Army released a report on DU predicting that large amounts of DU dust could be inhaled by soldiers and civilians during and after combat. The Infantry were identified as potentially receiving the highest exposures, and the expected health outcomes included cancers and kidney problems.
Here is a real Life Story of DU and it's affect on Soldiers.
Dr. Doug Rokke was an Army health physicist assigned in 1991 to the command staff of the 12th Preventive Medicine Command and 3rd U.S. Army Medical Command headquarters. Rokke was recalled to active duty 20 years after serving in Vietnam, from his research job with the University of Illinois Physics Department, and sent to the Gulf to take charge of the DU cleanup operation.
Today, in poor health, he has become an outspoken opponent of the use of DU munitions.
"DU is the stuff of nightmares," said Rokke, who said he has reactive airway disease, neurological damage, cataracts and kidney problems, and receives a 40 percent disability payment from the government. He blames his health problems on exposure to DU.
Rokke and his primary team of about 100 performed their cleanup task without any specialized training or protective gear. Today, Rokke said, at least 30 members of the team are dead, and most of the others -- including Rokke -- have serious health problems.
Rokke said: "Verified adverse health effects from personal experience, physicians and from personal reports from individuals with known DU exposures include reactive airway disease, neurological abnormalities, kidney stones and chronic kidney pain, rashes, vision degradation and night vision losses, lymphoma, various forms of skin and organ cancer, neuropsychological disorders, uranium in semen, sexual dysfunction and birth defects in offspring.
He said "This whole thing is a crime against God and humanity." How can that be when God told Bush to attack Iraq? I am confused about why God would allow us to spread this poison all over Iraq, and all over our servicemen and women?
Speaking from his home in Rantoul, Ill.,, "When we went to the Gulf, we were all really healthy, and we got trashed."
Rokke, an Army Reserve major who describes himself as "a patriot to the right of Rush Limbaugh," said hearing the latest Pentagon statements on DU is especially frustrating now that another war against Iraq appears likely.
"Since 1991, numerous U.S. Department of Defense reports have said that the consequences of DU were unknown," Rokke said. "That is a lie. We warned them in 1991 after the Gulf War, but because of liability issues, they continue to ignore the problem." Rokke worked until 1996 for the military, developing DU training and management procedures. The procedures were ignored, he said.
"Their arrogance is beyond comprehension," he said. "We have spread radioactive waste all over the place and refused medical treatment to people . . . it's all arrogance. Gee, where did I hear that word arrogance used before?
"DU is a snapshot of technology gone crazy."
By the way:
The UN is aware of the controversial use of this material but as we have all seen the US has little regard for international law in its military operations. God have mercy on our service men, women and all the innocent people in Iraq, whose only curse, was living in a land that has oil.
Depleted Uranium or DU as it is called in the community is still uranium. There are three types of uranium, U238, U234 and U235. Uranium 234 and 235 are fissionable material, the kind used in bombs. Depleted uranium is what is left over when the U234 and U235 are removed. The remaining U238 is still radioactive.
One of it's main uses is in tanks and in munitions. It has been in use by the United States for about 40 years. Who knew?
Why is it used in weapons?
A DU round is made from the leftover U238. The real punch comes from the solid depleted uranium metal rod in the shell. A 120-mm tank round contains about 4,000 grams or 10 pounds of solid DU. A DU rod is very dense - about 1.7 times as dense as lead. Almost as hard as somepeople's heads!
Has DU been used in combat?
It has been used in tanks and in munitions. In the 1st Gulf War, the U.S. fired as many as a million DU rounds, leaving a battlefield littered with 1,400 wrecked radioactive Iraqi tanks. No need for streetlights at night, when we leave them radioactive tanks.
DU shell holes in the vehicles along the Highway of Death are 1,000 times more radioactive than background radiation, according to Geiger counter readings done for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Dr. Khajak Vartaanian, a nuclear medicine expert.
The desert around the vehicles was 100 times more radioactive than background radiation; Basra, a city of 1 million people, some 125 miles away, registered only slightly above background radiation level, but that was before we shelled Basra.
NewWar on Iraq's Estimated use of DU
Before Gulf War II it was estimated that at least 1500 additional tons of Uranium weapons will be used to support US war plans in Iraq, greatly increasing existing Uranium contamination from the 1991 Gulf War, and jeopardising allied troops and Iraqi civilians alike.
How dangerous is depleted uranium, really?
DU can be dangerous once it has been used on a battlefield. Then DU can be considered both a chemical and toxic waste hazard, and a radiation hazard. I guess we found those weapons of Mass Destruction, WE, brought them to the party.
What happens when a shell explodes?
At high speed, DU slices through tank armor like a hot knife through butter, triggering the explosive content and creating a fire hot enough to melt aluminum. The depleted uranium also burns on impact, creating flying bits and dust that are toxic and radioactive with a half-life of 4.2 billion years. That is Billion with a "B".
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 be spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the food chain.
Ecological Problems Galore!
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 U.N. Environmental Program. If a chemical form of DU that is soluble in water is present, then the DU can be either absorbed by breathing or by ingestion, then the hazard comes from inhaling the dust. The dust could be deposited in the lungs and could, over a long period, be a cause of lung cancer. That could cause heavy metal chemical toxic effects in the kidneys.
Studies show it can remain in human organs for years.
BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ
At the Saddam Teaching Hospital in Basra, Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, a British-trained oncologist, displays, in four gaily colored photo albums, what he says are actual snapshots of the nightmares.
Even before the doctors heard about DU. The doctors in southern Iraq were making comparisons to the birth defects that followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII.
There were photos of infants born without brains, with their internal organs outside their bodies, without sexual organs, without spines, and the list of deformities went on and on. There also were photos of cancer patients.
It is therefore no major surprise that Cancer has increased dramatically in southern Iraq.
On a tour of one ward of the hospital, doctors pointed out boys and girls who were suffering from leukemia. Most of the children die, the doctors said, because there are insufficient drugs available for their treatment.
What can we expect now?
Just six months before the Gulf War, the Army released a report on DU predicting that large amounts of DU dust could be inhaled by soldiers and civilians during and after combat. The Infantry were identified as potentially receiving the highest exposures, and the expected health outcomes included cancers and kidney problems.
Here is a real Life Story of DU and it's affect on Soldiers.
Dr. Doug Rokke was an Army health physicist assigned in 1991 to the command staff of the 12th Preventive Medicine Command and 3rd U.S. Army Medical Command headquarters. Rokke was recalled to active duty 20 years after serving in Vietnam, from his research job with the University of Illinois Physics Department, and sent to the Gulf to take charge of the DU cleanup operation.
Today, in poor health, he has become an outspoken opponent of the use of DU munitions.
"DU is the stuff of nightmares," said Rokke, who said he has reactive airway disease, neurological damage, cataracts and kidney problems, and receives a 40 percent disability payment from the government. He blames his health problems on exposure to DU.
Rokke and his primary team of about 100 performed their cleanup task without any specialized training or protective gear. Today, Rokke said, at least 30 members of the team are dead, and most of the others -- including Rokke -- have serious health problems.
Rokke said: "Verified adverse health effects from personal experience, physicians and from personal reports from individuals with known DU exposures include reactive airway disease, neurological abnormalities, kidney stones and chronic kidney pain, rashes, vision degradation and night vision losses, lymphoma, various forms of skin and organ cancer, neuropsychological disorders, uranium in semen, sexual dysfunction and birth defects in offspring.
He said "This whole thing is a crime against God and humanity." How can that be when God told Bush to attack Iraq? I am confused about why God would allow us to spread this poison all over Iraq, and all over our servicemen and women?
Speaking from his home in Rantoul, Ill.,, "When we went to the Gulf, we were all really healthy, and we got trashed."
Rokke, an Army Reserve major who describes himself as "a patriot to the right of Rush Limbaugh," said hearing the latest Pentagon statements on DU is especially frustrating now that another war against Iraq appears likely.
"Since 1991, numerous U.S. Department of Defense reports have said that the consequences of DU were unknown," Rokke said. "That is a lie. We warned them in 1991 after the Gulf War, but because of liability issues, they continue to ignore the problem." Rokke worked until 1996 for the military, developing DU training and management procedures. The procedures were ignored, he said.
"Their arrogance is beyond comprehension," he said. "We have spread radioactive waste all over the place and refused medical treatment to people . . . it's all arrogance. Gee, where did I hear that word arrogance used before?
"DU is a snapshot of technology gone crazy."
By the way:
The UN is aware of the controversial use of this material but as we have all seen the US has little regard for international law in its military operations. God have mercy on our service men, women and all the innocent people in Iraq, whose only curse, was living in a land that has oil.
# posted by Thomas @ 1:30 AM 
