Reply #120: I don't know of any research by the WHO [View All]

[ronnie624]

on the absorption of nanoparticles of DU. Their data on uranium toxicity are primarily concerned with exposure in an industrial setting - mining and the application of DU in manufacturing - where the occurrence of particles is rarely below 10 microns, in which case they will usually be filtered from the body. This does not address the effects of the material after it has been burned at 5000 degrees centigrade and recombined by exotic chemical processes into rare, ultra fine and highly toxic oxides and other compounds, both metallic and non-matallic. And measuring background radiation with a Geiger counter is not what I would call sound science when trying to assess the long term health effects of nanoparticles of uranium oxide, which can be absorbed by the body's tissues, where they will remain until death (which is almost always thereafter lingering, miserable and premature). It isn't really radiological toxicity that concerns thousands of doctors and researchers worldwide - although there is cause for concern among researchers about damage to cellular chemistry by the close proximity bombardment by radioactive particles. It is chemical toxicity, which is considerable and of great concern.

Weaponized DU, by the way, is not just uranium, but a highly specialized alloy consisting of uranium, titanium, molybdenum, zirconium, and niobium with traces of plutonium-239, americium-241, neptunium-237 and technetium-99. Each one of these elements is highly toxic, either chemically and/or radiologically, and manifest themselves on human physiology in a variety of harmful ways. How would you like to step into a swirling witches brew of dust particles from such a concoction? I am absolutely certain that you would not voluntarily do so.

It is only a matter of time before a cascade of definitive research shows what every doctor that has ever worked with the victims of DU weapons has suspected for a long time: that so called depleted uranium is in fact THE cause of the tremendous increase in cancer and birth defects in the areas where these weapons are used. News of such will no doubt be posted to Democratic Underground, and I am certain that you will scrupulously avoid taking part in the following discussion.