Yet another reason for the Arab world to hate us.. Depleted Uranium

[ruiner4u]

---Im not tinfoiling or trying to crate a flamefest.. Just saying Aljazeera is reporting the use of this horrible weapon. And that means its going to piss off ALOT of people.. ----

http://aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=12389

Up till now, the battlefield remains a radioactive toxic wasteland -- and depleted uranium munitions remain a mystery despite many studies and many attempts by scientists to fully discover its secrets.

Once DU round strikes a solid object like a tank, it bursts into a burning spray of radioactive dust, which can remain on site for years.

Many reports and political experts confirmed that the U.S. and British troops fired more than 940,000 depleted uranium projectiles during the 1991 conflict.

"When you breathe in the dust the deeper it goes into the lung the more difficult it is to clear. The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part radioactive - and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung - and then later as that material diffuses into the rest of the body, and into the blood stream, a potential risk at sites like the bone marrow for leukemia, the lymphatic system and the kidney," Dr. Baverstock said, adding that this study was excluded from the report released earlier by WHO.




Talk about waking a sleeping giant..

[madrchsod]

1. du was also used in the balkan war

how many us service men and women are effected? i doubt we will ever know

[ruiner4u]

2. I know...

But what im pointing out is that its being pointed out in the Arab Media. I have a feeling this is going to come back to bite us in the ass... And not just with our service members getting sick.

[cassiepriam]

31. yes I think so too. This is going to come back to haunt us...... nt

[O.M.B.inOhio]

3. Perhaps another parallel to Vietman - the legacy of Agent Orange.

[H2O Man]

4. Good call.

I had not thought of that. Very good point.

[indepat]

5. Did I once read the half-life of DU is only four million years? If so, it's use would be criminal

beyond belief or comprehension.

[originalpckelly]

13. No, its half-life is 4.46 billion years, its more radioactive cousin...

has a half-life of about 700 million years.

That is comparatively short, hence the reason U-235 is the more radioactive cousin.

[Rainscents]

35. Your correct! That is what I heard too from experts.

[dubykc]

6. When did we start using DU rounds? I seem to remember the...

first time I heard of them was when I was stationed at Ft Hunter Liggett, CA, an Experimentation Command and we were testing the A10 Thunderbolt(or Warthog) and we were told it used DU rounds in its 30MM chain guns. That was in 1979. Have we been using them since? for both "live fire" exercises and all combat?

On edit: changed for 20MM to 30MM chain guns

[ruiner4u]

9. Well from what I gather from the news story

We have been using them in Iraq.. Another poster implied we used them in the Balkans..

[dubykc]

10. With the effects listed in the OP we should probably be concerned IF they are being used in...

live fire excercises in our own country, like in White Sands, NM, or NTC at Ft Irwin, CA or and other "live fire" range capable of supporting this kind of weapon usage.

[ruiner4u]

12. I'm sorry, but I lost you...

we used this in the Balkans and are using this in Iraq.. These are minuscule nuclear weapons being used with a frequency that causes dangerous fallout...

should we only be concerned if its used in our own country? I just don't get your post..

[dubykc]

15. If we are using these DU rounds for training live fire exercises..

like at ranges in White Sands or The National Training Center or even the NG Training Center at Camp Roberts, CA. Isn't that subjecting the surrounding areas to the same dangerous fallout?

[ruiner4u]

17. Oooooh.. No...we only use the safe purdy bullets on base

[dubykc]

19. Then how did we know the "tank buster" capabilities of the DU..

ordinance?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Another point to ponder about all of this.....

http://www.bcm.edu/fromthelab/vol02/is10/03oct_n1.htm


According to the study in the Sept. 23, 2003, issue of the journal Neurology, Gulf War veterans deployed to the Gulf Region have nearly double the risk of developing ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

In the study, sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs, researchers identified 40 Gulf War veterans with ALS out of the total of approximately 700,000 who participated in Desert Storm. They compared the incidence of the disease in this group of military personnel to the incidence of the disease in the 1.8 million veterans who were not sent to the 1990 Gulf War. The incidence of ALS in veterans deployed to the Gulf was twice as high as the incidence of the disease among those who did not go to the Gulf. An estimated one in 150,000 people are diagnosed with ALS every year.

[originalpckelly]

16. Of course what most people don't know is that the 9/11 workers are dying because of DU...

Large and modern Boeing airplanes use depleted uranium for their counter weights. Including the ones which crashed into the world trade center on 9/11. A recent study of New York, showed that it had elevated levels of radiation. I'd be interested to scrub a sidewalk with a power washer then look for radioactive silt to fall out. Basically, crashing those planes on 9/11 was also like detonating a dirty bomb.

The is a completely freakin' weird possibility, brought up by a recent study of an Hezbollah bunker targeted by Israel in the recent conflict, enriched uranium was found. I think by some completely and totally odd happening, the DU is being enriched, not just by separating out the little U-235 left in it, but by "shaking off" neutrons in the explosion. This is a totally nutty idea, but it at least appears to fit the results.

Put the two studies together, and the 9/11 recovery workers were breathing in enriched uranium.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/depleted_uranium.html

[dubykc]

18. I had no idea Boeing planes used DU for counter weights...

So essentially every boeing aircraft is a flying dirty bomb. Do other manufacturers use DU as well?

[originalpckelly]

20. I don't know...

I've only found out about that in my research.

[donsu]

25. the death rate for Gulf war one vets is astonishing

and already troops are dying from DU related causes in this occupation of Iraq

look up Iraqi birth deformities - it's awful. US birth deformity stats are hidden and misleading.

[Greeby]

8. John Pilger mentioned that it can be cleaned up

Because he talked to someone who was involved in cleaning up the DU used in Kuwait. But the US Government won't allow it

[originalpckelly]

21. Yeah, because the danger is no more than that of a dirty bomb...

you can powerwash sidewalks, buildings, and vehicles, but how you get it out of the dirt is beyond me.

[donsu]

26. it's a form of genocide, that's why

nt

[originalpckelly]

11. In Israel DU rounds, produced EU on impact/fire/explosion...

This is a big deal. Basically it is a way of enriching uranium, somehow either the intense quick explosion or the actual impact does something to the DU and "shakes" off neutrons far faster than its half-life. In other words, it is totally fucking weird. Something is happening which shouldn't be.

Some nuts tried to say that EU was used in place of DU, but that is like throwing away money. So that means there was some sort of reaction which occurred that produce enriched uranium out of a sample of depleted uranium.

[Jcrowley]

14. AMERICA'S GREATEST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

AMERICA'S GREATEST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY  / MILITARY USE OF DU 
 
" By illegally using hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq  ~  Britain and America have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world: "  Dr. Chris Busby, the British radiation expert and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk .
 
I originally posted this on Tuesday, May 03, 2005  but with the recent October forward Camp Falcon DU explosions ~ it is now even more pertinent.  
 
The game is up for Bush , Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and the Republicans  ~ we have not only fought an illegal war and occupation in Iraq but have endangered the whole world in the process.
 
Reporter James Denver, who writes and broadcasts internationally on science and technology, shares the terrible legacy of DU ( Depleted Uranium ) as well as the vital evidence and the enormous harm done by the government of the United States and Great Britain ~ who are both still officially in denial.
 
Excerpt: " Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they dramatically increased its use-from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war to at minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn't limited to anti-tank weapons-as it had largely been in the previous Gulf war-but was extended to the guided missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000-pound bombs used in Iraq's cities .... In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying, 'The Veterans Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body.' He concluded, 'uranium does cause cancer, uranium does cause mutation, and uranium does kill. If we continue with the irresponsible contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that human life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God and to all generations who follow.' "
 
Allen L Roland 
http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2006/10/31.html 

[donsu]

27. agree

nt

[mom cat]

33. Excellent article. Well worth the time.

[Jcrowley]

22. Depleted uranium risk 'ignored'

Depleted uranium risk 'ignored'

Both British and US troops have used depleted uranium in Iraq

UK and US forces have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings they pose a cancer risk, a BBC investigation has found.

Scientists have pointed to health statistics in Iraq, where the weapons were used in the 1991 and 2003 wars.

A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2001 said they posed only a small contamination risk.

But a senior UN scientist said research showing how depleted uranium could cause cancer was withheld.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6105726.stm

[ruiner4u]

23. Please revive this thread...

Its too important to archive...

[babydollhead]

24. kick

[ruiner4u]

28. Some vids...

http://www.ericblumrich.com/pl_lo.html



For the Brittish folk...



http://www.ericblumrich.com/brits.html


and for those who hate Rush...

http://www.ericblumrich.com/nazi.html

[w4rma]

29. DU is why I won't allow any child of mine (if/when that happens) to ever join the armed forces. (nt)

I don't want my decendents DNA messed with.

[ruiner4u]

30. same here.. you need to get the info out...

google deplted uranium and start threads on here..

This is something too important to be left to the news media...

[greeneyedboy]

32. our own servicewomen and men should be the maddest of all.

[Jcrowley]

34. Kick

[Karenina]

36. It's worse than you know...

but will surely be addressed when American white babies start showing unusual birth defects.

[JohnyCanuck]

37. If you know a vet who is concerned about possible exposure

to depleted uranium make sure they know about the Uranium Medical Research Centre, www.umrc.net . UMRC is a registered charity in both the US and Canada and is headed up by Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a former head of nuclear medicine at the US VA medical center in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Durakovic got fired from his job at the VA for refusing to cover up the depleted uranium contamination of some of his Gulf War 1 patients.

About UMRC
The Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1997 to provide objective and expert scientific and medical research into the effects of uranium, transuranium elements, and radionuclides produced by the process of uranium decay and fission. UMRC is also a registered charity in the United States and Canada.

Vision
UMRC's vision for the world is a full awareness of the risks of using nuclear products and by-products AND to contain the still reversible alterations of the earth's biosphere since the advent of nuclear events and the resulting contamination.

There needs to be an appreciation of the enormous effects and damage of uranium on the environment and human health. Governments, scientific communities, and the general public need to understand the many forms of contamination and specific effects. Continued abuses of uranium and radioisotopes will only lead to the steady degradation and eventual end of meaningful life on earth.

Mission
UMRC's mission is to contribute to the vision by providing independent, objective, and expert scientific and medical research on the effects of uranium and transuranic elements.

Research into the effects of uranium products and by-products cannot be subject to considerations of economic, political, or military expediency. The true, unfiltered facts about its effects must be available to all persons and communities in order to further the goal of full awareness and containment.

http://www.umrc.net/about_umrc.aspx

Uranium Bioassay and Clinical Studies Program – UMRC

SNIP

Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) provides uranium isotope bioassays for redeployed and active-duty armed forces members, civilians, NGO staff and veterans of conflicts where uranium weapons have been deployed. Using state of the art laboratory equipment, it is possible to identify battlefield uranium contamination that occurs several years earlier.

SNIP

Fees and costs
Steps 1 – 9 (above) are UMRC’s basic uranium contamination and clinical effects assessment procedure. The process provides UMRC with the laboratory and clinical information needed as the raw material (i.e. basic clinical, chemical and physical data) to support our scientific investigations, studies and reports and to provide patients with medical
diagnostic evaluation and lab reports.

UMRC does not charge patients who participate in this program but patients or their sponsors are required to pay the costs of the laboratory analysis (i.e. the urine uranium bioassay). The cost is approximately $1,200.00 US, and changes periodically depending on
currency exchange rates, secure bio-specimen transportation costs, and laboratory procedure costs. If patients travel to UMRC’s clinic for a clinical assessment and appointments with our physicians, the patient is responsible for the cost of travel and living. There are no charges or
fees for our physicians’ services.

No UMRC staff member or associate involved in the UMRC Bioassay and Clinical Studies Program is paid or receives any form of income from participating in or providing professional or technical support to the program.

http://www.umrc.net/pdf/iraqi_freedom_bioassay_program.pdf

The link above is a pdf file, so you will need Adobe Acrobat reader to view the document.

VA medical expert exposes Pentagon cover-up

SNIP

Durakovic is former chief of Nuclear Medicine at the VA Medical Facility in Wilmington, Del. It was there that he assessed 24 soldiers of the 144th Transportation and Supply Company of New Jersey for evidence of DU in their bodies.

The soldiers had worked on tanks and armored personnel carriers damaged by friendly fire--that is, hit with shells cased with DU.

He sent the soldiers to a clinic in Boston where Dr. Belton Burroughs and Dr. David Slingerland performed a whole-body count of uranium 238 on the veterans. They found that 14 of the 24 had been contaminated. According to Durakovic's June 26 testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, the government "lost" all records of these examinations.

In Philadelphia Durakovic was firm in stating that uranium is not dangerous in the ground but is dangerous if embedded in the body, ingested and especially if inhaled. He challenged those government scientists who claim uranium is not dangerous to argue the question with him.

Durakovic explained how the high-density DU shells burned during the Gulf War, spreading uranium oxide through the air where it could be inhaled by anyone in the vicinity, including many GIs. He also cited experiments by others showing that 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs.

http://www.gulfwarvets.com/du4.htm