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US soldiers the victims of depleted uranium

Dave Lindorff: Pentagon Dirty Bombers: Depleted Uranium in the USA The Huffington Post October 27, 2009 “……………..The Pentagon continues a long history of claiming that DU–which is the uranium that is left after the fissionable isotope U-235 is removed to make nuclear fuel and bombs–is not dangerous, although this official stance is belied by the warnings it has given to its troops (though not to civilians in battle zones), to stay well clear of tanks and other equipment destroyed by US tanks, which used DU weapons as the ordnance of choice in both the Gulf War and the current Iraq War.
During both wars, DU ammunition was used by Army and Marine tanks, by the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the A-10 ground support jet, the Marine Harrier jet, and specially equipped F16 fighter jets. The Navy also switched from DU ammunition to tungsten ammunition in its Phalanx anti-missile ship defense system because of health and environmental concerns with the DU ammo.In both wars, a high percentage of troops have returned with many physical ailments–auto-immune problems, cancers, and later, birth defects in offspring–which have been referred to as Gulf War and now Iraq War Syndrome.

As many as a quarter of returning vets from the Gulf War have reported strange illnesses and cancers and the numbers are rising for Iraq War vets. As well, statistics from the National Institutes of Health show that counties hosting bases and test facilities where DU has been uses also show high cancer rates. This is certainly true for Hawaii’s Big Island, which has the highest cancer rates for the Hawaiian archepelago. Meanwhile, the lung cancer rate for the Ft. Knox area is 105-127 per 100,000 for the 2001-2005 period, high by state and national standards. The rate is among the highest in the state of Washington for Pierce County, where Ft. Lewis is located.Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-lindorff/pentagon-dirty-bombers-de_b_333846.html

Dave Lindorff: Pentagon Dirty Bombers: Depleted Uranium in the USA

October 29, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium