VIDEO Iraq and USA soldiers – victims of the depleted uranium horror
while our many soldiers’ DU-related health problems is terrible enough on its own, we’ve also left Iraq covered in radioactive munitions fragments that, by the very virtue of having exploded, are essentially impossible to clean up. That is a huge, if overlooked, legacy of the United States’ wars in Iraq: Not only does Iraq have to deal with the physical toll of a decade-plus of war, it’s also been left with a huge, and ongoing, health crisis.
Video (skip the ad) America’s Terrible History of Depleted Uranium http://motherboard.vice.com/read/americas-terrible-history-of-depleted-uranium By Derek Mead 24 April 13, The United States has left its mark on Iraq in myriad ways in its two wars in the Persian Gulf, but one of the least-discussed is the effects of the US military’s use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions. DU is a munitions designer’s dream: projectiles using DU alloys are armor-piercing and incendiary, which means it’s ideal for obliterating and burning tanks and other armored vehicles. But its use has left the Gulf’s battlefields blanketed with radioactive material.
DU is byproduct of the production of the enriched uranium used in nuclear reactors, and as such has relatively low levels of radiation. But Gulf War soldiers were regularly exposed to it, not least when DU used in munitions converted into an aerosol form after explosions. That means that Gulf War soldiers may have been exposed without realizing it, and has long been blamed for contributing to Gulf War Syndrome, Read more »
How the BBC’s John Simpson obscures the truth on depleted uranium
Depleted Uranium: The BBC’s John Simpson does a hatchet job on Fallujah’s genetically damaged children by William Bowles http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/depleted-uranium-the-bbcs-john-simpson-does-a-hatchet-job-on-fallujahs-genetically-damaged-children-by-william-bowles/
Under the title ‘Fallujah’s children’s ‘genetic damage’ that old war horse ‘literally’ of the BBC’s foreign propaganda service, John Simpson, manages not to mention the phrase ‘depleted uranium’ when allegedly reporting on the alarming rise in birth defects that include cancer, leukaemia and a horrific rise in child mortality since the US demolished the city of Fallujah in 2004. And it’s not until right at the end of the piece that the US attack on Fallujah is even mentioned, let alone depleted uranium! Read more »
Fallujah’s birth deformities, cancers, from depleted uranium
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Falluja Babies’ and Depleted Uranium — America’s Toxic Legacy in Iraq http://www.alternet.org/world/falluja-babies-and-depleted-uranium-americas-toxic-legacy-iraq Two US-led wars in Iraq have left behind hundreds of tons of depleted uranium munitions and other toxic wastes. March 18, 2013 |
Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates.
There has also been a dramatic jump in miscarriages and premature births among Iraqi women, particularly in areas where heavy US military operations occurred, such as Fallujah.
Official Iraqi government statistics show that, prior to the outbreak of the First Gulf War in 1991, the rate of cancer cases in Iraq was 40 out of 100,000 people. By 1995, it had increased to 800 out of 100,000 people, and, by 2005, it had doubled to at least 1,600 out of 100,000 people. Current estimates show the increasing trend continuing. Read more »
USA, UK, France will not admit the growing radioactive pollution of Iraq, due to depleted uranium weapons
The health effects are disputed by the US and UK governments, who joined with France and Israel to vote against a resolution calling for “a precautionary approach” to the use of DU weapons at the United Nations general assembly in December; 155 countries voted in favour of the resolution.
Iraq’s depleted uranium clean-up to cost $30m as contamination spreads Rob Edwards guardian.co.uk, 6 March 2013 Report says toxic waste is being spread by scrap metal dealers, and describes its ‘alarming’ use in civilian areas during Iraq wars Cleaning up more than 300 sites in Iraq still contaminated by depleted uranium (DU) weapons will cost at least $30m, according to a report by a Dutch peace group to be published on Thursday.
The report, which was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warns that the contamination is being spread by poorly regulated scrap metal dealers, including children. It also documents evidence that DU munitions were fired at light vehicles, buildings and other civilian infrastructure including the Iraqi Ministry of Planning in Baghdad – casting doubt on official assurances that only armoured vehicles were targeted. “The use of DU in populated areas is alarming,” it says, adding that many more contaminated sites are likely to be discovered.
More than 400 tonnes of DU ammunition are estimated to have been fired by jets and tanks in the two Iraq wars in 1991 and 2003, the vast majority by US forces. The UK government says that British forces fired less than three tonnes.
DU is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal produced as wasteby the nuclear power industry. It is used in weapons because it is an extremely hard material capable of piercing armour. Read more »
High rates of birth defects in Iraq, where depleted uranium was used
in Iraq, and Afghanistan, too, the idea of sicknesses related to depleted uranium does not seem in much doubt, from what we can tell. In Iraq, as we have reported many times, doctors are even advising women in certain areas not to have children because the chances of birth defects are so great
Depleted Uranium Receives More Attention , The Daily Bell
December 21, 2012
Mystery in Iraq – Are US Munitions to Blame for Basra Birth Defects? … The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assembling a report on DU ammunition. It will reflect the current state of research on the issue, but it will hardly provide any new insights. With the help of the University of Greifswald, a cancer registry has been developed for the Basra region and will serve as the basis for all future study. Still, even as further research is needed, if only for the children’s sake, it will come too late for many. The guns have been silent in Iraq for years, but in Basra and Fallujah the number of birth defects and cancer cases is on the rise. Locals believe that American uranium-tipped munitions are to blame and some researchers think they might be right. – Der Spiegel
Dominant Social Theme: US munitions are harmless except to the bad guys.
Free-Market Analysis: The WHO (see above) is finally getting around to seeing if depleted uranium weapons used by NATO and the US are responsible for the many birth defects in Iraq. From what we can tell, the outcome will be a preordained “no.”
US officials, military or otherwise, have already ruled out the idea that depleted uranium dust could possibly be responsible for these birth defects or for US ailments that are much in dispute – having to do with immune deficiencies, etc. Read more »
Fallujah: the forgotten scandal of babies affected by depleted uranium
FallujahIraq: Crimes against Humanity. The Babies Will Haunt Us By Kelley B. Vlahos Global Research, December 18, 2012 antiwar.com It was like walking through a nightmare: drifting in an out of hospital rooms, down the long hallways, her contact with shock-ravaged Iraqi parents interrupted only by glimpses of their physically deformed and terminally sick babies who in many cases, would never see the outside of Fallujah’s main hospital, ever.
Then, the more than vague sense that she must apologize. The words thick like molasses were hard to form. “I felt inadequate,” said Donna Mulhearn. “What was so hard was, what do you say to these people other than saying sorry, which I said over and over again. You just wanted to offer more.”
Donna Mulhearn is a name we need to remember, as she is one of a small but dedicated group of citizen activists who, after most of us have said the long goodbye to Iraq in the rear-view mirror, are taking on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of the Iraq War as a personal cause. Right now, she is doing what the western mainstream has so far failed to do, which is report on the horrifying number of miscarriages, deaths, birth defects and congenital illnesses among babies in urban Fallujah, the site of some of the most intense U.S bombing (2004) during the war. Read more »
Birth defects in iraq from depleted uranium
Depleted Uranium to Blame for Iraqi Birth Defects? http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=5425 AMERICA – THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY , OCTOBER 16, 2012 by KEVIN CLARKE The U.S. military has consistently downplayed or denied possible adverse health and environmental effects because of its use of depleted uranium ordnance , yet birth defects and spikes in sometimes odd health problems seem to follow closely behind in communities unfortunate enough to have been the site of the heavy use of such munitions. U.S. and NATO forces used D.U. penetrator munitions in the 1991 Gulf War, the Bosnia war, Serbia and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Now in Fallujah, Iraq, the site of two rounds of intense fighting and bombing raids by U.S. forces in March and April 2004, a University of Michigan study (<-warning: not for faint of heart) funded by the World Health Organization has uncovered “staggering” increases in sometimes bizarre birth defects—babies born with brains and other organs outside their bodies—according to a report in Britain’s Independent . The study found that in Fallujah, more than half of all babies born between 2007 and 2010 suffered some kind of birth defect. “Before the siege, this figure was more like one in 10.” Read more »
CIA, France, Germany and some Middle Eastern States accused of murdering Iran’s nuclear scientists
Iran spy chief says CIA had help killing nuclear scientists Accuses French and German intelligence services, after previously blaming U.K. and Israel CBC News, The Associated Press Jul 6, 2012 Iran’s spy chief on Friday accused French and German intelligence services of co-operating with the CIA to kill Iranian nuclear scientists, an allegation likelyto exacerbate tensions between Tehran and the West over the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear program. Heidar Moslehi said that other intelligence services in the region — including that of Iran’s arch foe Israel — also took part in the alleged campaign targeting the scientists. Read more »
Covert war – Israel, USA versus Iran
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012
There has been obvious push-back from Iran in the form of repeated claims its secretive Al Quds Force has attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan using Iranian-designed improvised explosive devices.
“Waging a covert, low-level war is not without risks, including the risk of undesirable escalation,” “No matter how carefully we try to control the level of force, there’s always the danger that matters spiral out of control.”
Iranian nuclear scientists’ deaths no mystery, National Post, Peter Goodspeed 13 Jan 12, A covert war between Iran and the West burst to the surface Wednesday on the fashionable streets of northern Tehran when two men on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of a 32-year-old nuclear scientist, killing him and his bodyguard…….
Mr. Roshan’s killing is the latest in a long line of suspicious setbacks to Iran’s nuclear program. These have included assassinations, kidnappings, sabotaged equipment, computer viruses that destroyed information networks and mysterious
explosions at nuclear sites, missile-testing grounds, refineries and pipelines.
“Iranian nuclear engineers have to worry about being killed on their way to work, about their colleagues leaking information to the West, about their computers not working, about their equipment malfunctioning, about lacking necessary materials, about unavailability of training and advice and about the possibility of strikes from UAVs [drones]. That list of problems is daunting,” said Patrick Clawson, director of research for the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy…..
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012 Read more »
Depleted uranium has wreaked havoc on health in Iraq
The US and UK militaries have sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, but Iraqi doctors like Alwachi and Alani, and along with researchers, blame the increasing cancer and birth defect rates on the weapon.
Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq, has been researching the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqis since 1991. He told Al Jazeera he personally measured radiation levels in the city of Kerbala, as well as in Basra, and his Geiger counter was “screaming” because “the indicator went beyond the range”.
Fallujah babies: Under a new kind of siege, Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah’s newborns, Al Jazeera, Dahr Jamail 06 Jan 2012 Fallujah, Iraq - While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as “catastrophic” levels of birth defects and abnormalities.
Dr Samira Alani, a paediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, has taken a personal interest in investigating an explosion of congenital abnormalities that have mushroomed in the wake of the US sieges since 2005. ”We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine,” Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects.
As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699. Read more »
The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery
In April of 1991, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority described the potential problems of radioactive dust spreading over the battlefields and getting into the food chain and the water. At that time it warned that forty tons of radioactive debris left from DU weapons could cause over five hundred thousand deaths. The amount of radioactive debris left behind in the Gulf War is over three hundred tons.
Nuclear War in the Mideast , Subversify, By karlsie April 22, 2011 ”…..The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery Depleted uranium artillery projectiles are favored by the military as they are shelf sharpening, penetrate deeply into their target and are pyrophoric. When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew, and possibly causing the vehicle to explode. When a DU projectile explodes, it leaves behind a dust that is both toxic and radioactive. Read more »
Depleted uranium – a public health disaster
“”I arranged for a delegation from Japan’s Hiroshima hospital to come and share their expertise in the field of radiological diseases that we are likely to face over time.
The delegation told me the Americans had objected, so they decided not to come.
Public health disaster for Iraqi people by Depleted Uranium, tehran times, 31 Jan 2011, “……….Ross B. Mirkarimi, a spokesman at The Arms Control Research Centre stated:”"Unborn children of the region are being asked to pay the highest price, the integrity of their DNA.” Read more »
Iraq cancers and birth defects from depleted uranium weapons
A July joint study by the Environmental Health and Science Ministry in Iraq also found that there are communities near the cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and birth defects since 2004………. The United States and Britain used up to 2,000 tons of this type of ammunition during the Iraq war.
Fallujah cancer spike linked to U.S. raid, Tehran Times, 2 Jan 2011, A new study concludes that the high rate of birth defects and cancer diagnoses in the Iraqi city of Fallujah is caused by weapons used by U.S. and UK forces six years ago. Read more »
1,000 of Iran’s uranium plant centrifuges knocked out by Stuxnet worm?
Stuxnet might have damaged 1,000 centrifuges in Natanz, 30 Dec 10, “………The Stuxnet virus which has contaminated Iran’s nuclear setting up might have been at the back of the decommissioning of the 1,000 centrifuges in the Natanz uranium fortification facility earlier the year, according to the new study of the malevolent software. Read more »
Nuclear weapons for Iraq?
The Security Council’s action demonstrates how the inconsistency and hypocrisy apply not only to nuclear weapons but also to nuclear programs short of weapons……we ought not to get very relaxed about Iraq possibly developing a nuclear weapon in the future, however remote a possibility that may seem now.
An Iraqi Nuclear Weapon | The National Interest , by Paul Pillar, 16 Dec 10, At the urging of the United States, the United Nations Security Council passed on Wednesday a resolution permitting Iraq to have a civilian nuclear program. Read more »
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- AUDIO About San Onofre Nuclear plant. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – NRC: Lapdog or Watchdog? http://www.fairewinds.org/content/nrc-lapdog-or-watchdog
- and this Japan’s nuclear safety record criticised by regulator http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/japans-nuclear-safety-record-criticised-by-regulator/1132464
VIDEO: Japan to open nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3761126.ht
From Fukushima to New York: Continuing Dangers of Nuclear Power
Women and nuclear radiation – Mary Olson speaks
Mary Olson, from Nuclear Information and Resource Service, spoke at the New York symposium on Fukushima’s effects, March 2013.
Here are some highlights:
Mary Olson discussed the findings of the latest National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation ( BEIR VII) , illustrated by this graph:
This lifespan graph shows increased cancer risk by exposure to a given amount of radiation, The pink line shows the risk for girls, the blue line for boys. Look at left hand part of the graph. It covers from zero to 5 years, and includes pre birth. We see a striking difference between the blue line and the pink line. The nuclear regulators assume that the risk shown here at age 40 – in the blue line- is the same for every individual regardless of age or gender. Yet, even at ages 40 – 60 the cancer risk from radiation is significantly more for women, than for men.
The cancer danger from ionising radiation depends on the type of radiation, the amount, and the duration of the exposure. But it also depends on who is exposed. Radiation exposure endangers some individuals more than others. In order, the most vulnerable are:
Primary germ cells/ Embryo
Foetus
Children
Elders
Some genotypes
Females – both juvenile and adult
All of the world’s scientific authorities agree that there is no safe dose of radiation. That includes the WHO, EPA, NRC, and national Academy of Science.
The standards for permissable levels of ionising radiation were originally written to cover doctors using radiation, then were intended for the purpose of sending military into radiological areas. Yet these standads, based on a 30 year old man, are applied to everyone.
Over 100 years, man’s activities have increased the background radiation by 25%
The ratio of cancer risks from radiation for males and females is 3 to 2. That is for every 2 males who get cancer from ionising radiation, there are 3 females. In reports from BEIR and the Lifespan study of Hiroshima survivors only external radiation is considered, not internal radiation. The risk for females is being underestimated in reports and in regulations about radiation
The World Health Organisation is the first big agency to acknowledge this difference in radiation risk between males and females, in its latest report. WHO is also saying that there is 70% higher risk of thyroid cancer for little girls exposed to radiation.
Studies are continuing, and animal studies, too, are showing this gender difference. We must move towards prevention and precaution as the basis of policy. Sadly, it is too late for a lot of prevention. We need to cahnge the priorities – to protect first, study second
And we need to get a whole lot more women motivated to get involved.
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