Depleted uranium & congenital abnormalities

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Dec, 2004  by Jule Klotter

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Coalition bombs and shells containing depleted uranium (DU) have exposed the soil, water, and inhabitants of Iraq to "abnormally high levels of the artificial transuranic isotope 236U," according to field research performed by the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC). The US has used ammunition made from DU--a radioactive heavy metal--since the 1991 Gulf War. The military downplays the hazards of depleted uranium. (See www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_library/.) Independent research, however, shows that inhaled or ingested dust from depleted uranium has serious health consequences for Iraqis living in the area and for coalition soldiers.

UMRC performed a field radiation survey, collected biological and environmental samples, and conducted a public health survey in September/October 2003. Dr. Axel Gerdes of Frankfurt, Germany, analyzed the field samples with a plasma mass spectrometer. Nearly the entire city of Baghdad, the target of the Shock and Awe bombing campaign, is contaminated; and biological samples taken from Iraqis who were present during the bombing are also positive for depleted uranium. UMRC's investigation also turned up evidence of a new class of anti-tank and bunker-defeat uranium weapons, being used by the US and UK, with "explosively-loaded penetrators" that disperse DU more widely.

This exposure to depleted uranium has severe consequences. UMRC team member Dr. Siegwart-Horst Guenther surveyed Iraqi hospital patients and interviewed doctors. Dr. Jenan Hassan, living in Basra, told him that cancers have increased ten-fold since the 1991 Gulf War and congenital deformities have increased twenty-fold. Civilians are not the only ones affected. Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a former Colonel in the US Army, became aware of DU's health risks when 24 Gulf War veterans were referred to him while he worked at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Durakovic is a leading specialist in Nuclear Medicine. The veterans, who had taken part in cleaning up DU-contaminated equipment while in Iraq, showed evidence of uranium isotopes in their urine. They suffered from serious health conditions involving the immune system, respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, and kidneys. Two of the veterans died of lung cancer within a couple of years of exposure. No follow-up was performed on the other veterans. The military closed Boston VA Radiochemistry Lab, where the veterans' urine tests were performed, in 1996. The next year, Dr. Durakovic founded UMRC "to help address the veterans' symptoms and continued suffering from multiple illnesses." In addition to the conditions already mentioned, UMRC research has found "significant chromosomal aberrations" in DU positive patients. UMRC intends to examine the link between genetic mutations and uranium levels in patients' bone and urine by expanding its study to include nuclear workers, civilians living near nuclear sites and DU sites, and inhabitants of other countries where DU munitions have been used (Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq).

Meanwhile, coalition soldiers now serving in the current Iraq war are still using and being exposed to depleted uranium. A New York Daily News article (19 April 2004) reported that as many as 800 Gls turned in a 24-hour urine test for DU to military doctors. In addition, hundreds of other soldiers are reportedly seeking evaluation after learning about four soldiers from the 442nd Military Police Company who have become sick from the radiation. Independent uranium experts, however, have indicated that the Army's instruments for determining radiation toxicity are insensitive and inaccurate.

UMRC's web site (www.umrc.net) recommends that urine analysis be performed at independent laboratories that use Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry or Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry with ion pulse counting. The web site also gives information about tests for internal radiation damage, clinical assessments, and illnesses associated with inhaled or ingested radiation exposure. UMRC suggests using toxic metal elimination techniques such as chelating agents and heat (e.g., sauna) as well as antioxidant supplementation as possible treatments.

The Doctors, the Depleted Uranium, and the Dying Children (Press release) 13 August 2004. www.commondreams.org

G.I.s press Army for uranium test. New York Daily News, 19 April 2004.

UMRC and Research Activities. www.umrc.net

Weyman, Tedd. The US and UK deploy new uranium weapons contaminating Iraq's environment, civilian, and the Coalition's own troops. 10 August 2004 www.traprockpeace.org

briefed by Jule Klotter

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