[Editor’s Note: Extremely graphic pictures of child victims of D.U. poisoning]
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US Veterans and Depleted Uranium (DU) (video; transcript)
http://us.f316.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?YY=55246&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=200&order=up&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=VFP%2dGRANTS
Transcript of the CNN TV-Program “Good Morning, America”
“Inhaling Depleted Uranium made him sick”
Part I
Here’s one highly effective and also very highly controversial weapon
in the U.S. military arsenal. It’s called depleted uranium or DU and
some veterans are now suing the Army over what they say are health
risks from their exposure to DU. Greg Hunter joins us this morning.
He’s got a special American Morning investigation. Good morning, Greg.
Greg Hunter, CNN Correspondent: Good morning. Depleted uranium, the
issue is exactly what U.S. soldiers may or may not know about its
potential health impact.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter (voice-over): It’s the U.S. military’s most potent anti-tank
weapon. Depleted uranium or DU, on impact burns through armor like a
hot knife through butter, creating a plume of radioactive dust.
Specialist Gerard Matthew cleaned up vehicles hit by DU during his
five months in Iraq in 2003. He says breathing in depleted uranium
dust made him sick.
Gerard Matthew, Iraq War Veteran: I came back with chronic migraines,
swelling in my face and vision problems.
Hunter: Matthew also says his 2 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth defect
is a direct result of his DU exposure. He and seven other vets are
suing the army over depleted uranium. The U.S. army insists its own
testing of Iraq veterans shows no direct link between DU and illness
or birth defects in humans.
Col. Mark Melanson, Walter Reed Army Medical Center: The radioactivity
from depleted uranium is localized within the site of impact and it’s
not posed a significant immediate health hazard.
Hunter: The World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine
seem to agree. They found no direct evidence linking DU to birth
defects or cancer in humans, but a Pentagon sponsored study by the
armed forces radio biology institute showed the combined effect of
DU’s heavy metal and its radioactivity can damage DNA and may cause
genetic defects and tumors in animals and human stem cells. The
military has warned about the potential dangers of breathing in
DU-contaminated dust, like in this instructional video produced for
the U.S. military in 1995.
Unidentified Male: Heavy metal poisoning may occur, which can cause
damage to internal organs and tissue.
Hunter: That same video talks about radioactive particles that could
be trapped in the lungs and possible water and soil contamination. The
army’s leading expert on DU ha zard awareness training concedes these
are all possibilities, but U.S. troops going over to Iraq never saw
this tape.
Melanson: There were lots of errors and conflicting messages in that
training video, so it was not finalized and distributed to the troops.
Hunter: Instead, the army’s official training video, used since 2000,
describes DU contamination this way.
Unidentified Male: These emissions are well below U.S. safety
standards and do not pose a hazard to soldiers working with or around
DU munitions.
Hunter: The new video does tell soldiers to wear gloves and masks,
especially inside DU-damaged vehicles or within 50 meters of fires
that may involve DU. The problem is some soldiers like Gerard Matthew,
say they never saw it. Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied the effects of DU on
veterans of the first Gulf war for the U.S. military. He was alarmed
by his findings. Now a private researcher, he also tested recent Gulf
war vets, including Gerard Matthew who Durakovic says has dangerously
high levels of DU in his body.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Uranium Medical Research Center: Inhalation of
uranium dust is harmful.
Hunter: Even in small amounts?
Durakovic: Even in the amount of one atom.
Hunter: Durakovic says those small atoms emit radiation for the rest
of a soldier’s life. Can’t that hurt a soldier in the long run?
Dr. Michael Kirkpatrick, DoD Health Affairs: It would come then to the
dose, the total dose in their body and those particles are very, very
small.
Hunter: Matthew’s wife wishes her husband had known more about the
potential dangers of DU.
Unidentified Female: He wasn’t told it’s out there. He exposed my
daughter to this, but it’s not his fault. He was just trying to help
the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter: Defense Department officials say the U.S. military used 320
tons of depleted uranium during the first Gulf war, but they were
unable to tell us how much DU they have used in the current Gulf war,
despite our repeated request for that information Published reports
suggest the military has used between 1,100 and 2,200 tons. That’s up
to six times the amount of DU in Iraqi freedom than in the first Gulf war.
S. O’Brien: So they’re testing all these soldiers to see if they’re
emitting radioactivity?
Hunter: The government is. The Pentagon is, but there are some states
out there passing laws to test their own National Guard troops because
they say the test the government is using is not sensitive enough.
We’ll find out about that tomorrow in part two.
S. O’Brien: All right, part two, Greg Hunter, thank you. Miles.
Part II
O’Brien: Well, now to our American Morning special investigation on
the fallout, if you will, from the use of depleted uranium in the war
zone. It can cut through a foot of enemy armor and leave behind
radioactive dust that some say is making vets sick.
American Morning’s Greg Hunter joining us now with part two of the
series. Good morning, Greg.
Greg Hunter, CNN Correspondent: Good morning, Miles.Depleted uranium,
the controversial weapon and the radioactive dust it creates are at
the center of a debate that just won’t go away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter (voice-over): Samarra, Iraq, spring 2003, Iraq, site of a
fierce coalition offensive. Soldiers operating, sleeping, eating in
areas that were hit by depleted uranium, or DU
For some soldiers it marked the beginning of another type of battle.
These five National Guard veterans claim they got sick from serving there.
Raymond Ramos, Iraq War Veteran: I just got to the point where I could
not physically stand sometimes. The headaches were unbearable. I would
get dizzy spells.
Hunter: They report similar ailments: painful urination, headaches and
joint pain. They say Army doctors blame their symptoms on
posttraumatic stress.
We showed them a tape the Army made in 1995, a tape the Army never
distributed. It warned of potential DU hazards. The Army’s expert on
DU training concedes some information contained on the tape is true.
For instance, inhaling radioactive particles can be harmful.
Unidentified Male: Alpha is the least pene trating but is the most
hazardous if it does get into the body.
Hunter (on camera): So you’re saying in part this is correct, but too
much information?
Unidentified Male: It really doesn’t provide any useful information to
the soldier.
Hunter (voice-over): These vets say they were never warned about DU
They’re suing the Army for what they say is knowingly exposing them to
DU dust and failing to properly treat them.
Anthony Yonnone, Iraq War Veteran: They didn’t furnish us with any of
that information.
Hunter (on camera): At all?
Yonnone: At all.
Hunter: Does it make you angry?
Yonnone: Absolutely.
Hunter: Why?
Yonnone: Because here we are sick. We don’t know why. The Army don’t
know why, and they’re just calling us liars.
Hunter (voice-over): The veterans’ claims against the government may
be barred by a statute that protects the military from lawsuits by
soldiers. But a judge is permitting the soldiers’ claims of
malpractice to go forward.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Uranium Medical Research Center: I personally call
it not so depleted uranium.
Hunter: In the 1990s Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied DU health effects for
the U.S. military. Now a private researcher, Durakovic says his own
test of these veterans showed abnormally high levels of DU in their
urine and that those levels pose a serious health threat.
Durakovic: There is genetic change in chromosoma of the regions (ph)
in the people who have been found positive with depleted uranium.
Hunter: The military’s overall health expert says tests on thousands
of veterans from both Iraq wars have produced very few positive DU tests.
Dr. Michael Kirkpatrick, Defense Department Health Affairs: We are not
seeing it in 74 individuals who are most heavily exposed, and that, I
think, is really the golden standard if you take a look at people who
had heavy exposure, internalization, some still having the depleted
uranium in their bodies, still excreting very high levels in their
urine, and their health appears at this point to be normal.
Hunter: Some scientists and politicians claim the Army’s testing is
not sophisticated enough. Connecticut state representative Pat Dillon
helped pass legislation allowing her state to do its own testing of
National Guardsmen.
Pat Dillon, Connecticut State Representative: It’s a heavy metal. It
gets absorbed into your bones. So I don’t think that the test that
they’re using is sensitive enough to find whether or not you’ve been
contaminated.
Hunter: The Army tells CNN its policy is to get every soldier training
in depleted uranium and hazard protection. It also has an updated
instructional video, produced in 2000.
We asked why these soldiers say not only did they not see the video,
but they knew nothing about DU before going to Iraq.
Col. Mark Melanson, Walter Reed Army Medical Center: I’m not able to
give you any statistics on who received training and who didn’t
receive training. I can just talk about the training that was provided
and what the policy is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter: Dr. Durakovic says one thing is for sure: a large part of Iraq
is contaminated, particularly in the south where heavy tank battle
took place. He calls it, quote, “a radiological sewer.” The Army
adamantly denies that.
O’Brien: When you go back and look at another war and another toxic
agent, in that case Agent Orange in Vietnam. Veterans there had
similar claims. Were sick because we were in contact with this Agent
Orange. Ultimately, did they get claims from the military, and is that
likely what’s going to happen here?
Hunter: Some did, but it took decades. And let me tell you, Agent
Orange is tame compared to radiological dust that you can breathe into
your lungs, stays in your body forever, has a half life of 4.5 billion
years. This stuff stays around forever. So it is – it is quite a
controversy.
O’Brien: Keep us posted, Greg. Greg Hunter, thank you very much.
In just a little while, Sanjay Gupta will join us, and he’ll explain a
little bit more about the medical implications of contact to this
depleted uranium – Alina. (…)
Cho: A few moments ago we heard Greg Hunter’s investigation on
depleted uranium and the danger it may pose for U.S. troops in Iraq.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta on
more with the medical side of this mystery.
Sanjay, good morning. So first things first, what are the symptoms of
DU poisoning?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Correspondent: There’s sort of short-term
symptoms and longer-term symptoms, and, you know, this is a difficult
thing. The jury is still out among many researchers in terms of what’s
causing when and at what time.
But if you look at some of the early things, you can get things like
nausea and vomiting as your G.I. tract sort of reacts to the depleted
uranium. Also, kidney problems potentially and skin lesions.
There have been some case reports that it could possibly cause
irritability and behavioral changes, as well, but that’s not really
nailed down.
Longer term, it can get a little bit more complicated. You might
develop things like an immune system damage. So you could actually
suppress your white blood cells, those sort of – those fighting cells
of infection.
Lung cancer potentially as well, although, again, it’s somewhat
controversial studies. And potentially birth defects in the offspring
of people who were exposed to depleted uranium, as well.
Alina, I should say – I think as Greg pointed out as well, the
depleted uranium and its potential link to Gulf War syndrome is one of
the most controversial things probably that exists in medicine. A lot
of people sort of focused on it. Probably not enough studies as of
yet, still.
Cho: All right. So what about treatment? Is there any treatment for this?
Gupta: Well, not really. I mean, first of all, it’s very hard to know,
for example, if someone has actually been exposed. You can test it in
the blood. You can actually get some blood tests that will tell if you
have higher levels of the particular isotope associated with depleted
uranium, but for the most part you’ve got to let the thing sort of run
out its course.
It can cause damage to cells, and if those cells actually turn into
tumor cells, for example, you obviously have to treat the cancer or
remove the tumor, but it’s hard to treat symptoms of depleted uranium
poisoning overall.
Cho: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live for us in Atlanta. Sanjay,
thank you.
Gupta: Thank you.
Source: CNN “American Morning”, Aired February 5, 2007 – 07:00:00 ET,
transscript: transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/05/ltm.02.html and
“American Morning”, Aired February 6, 2007 – 07:00:00 ET, transscript:
transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/06/ltm.02.html
(Transcript: courtesy http://www.CurrentConcerns.ch)
US Veterans and Depleted Uranium (DU) (video; transcript)
http://us.f316.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?YY=55246&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=200&order=up&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=VFP%2dGRANTS
Transcript of the CNN TV-Program “Good Morning, America”
“Inhaling Depleted Uranium made him sick”
Part I
Here’s one highly effective and also very highly controversial weapon
in the U.S. military arsenal. It’s called depleted uranium or DU and
some veterans are now suing the Army over what they say are health
risks from their exposure to DU. Greg Hunter joins us this morning.
He’s got a special American Morning investigation. Good morning, Greg.
Greg Hunter, CNN Correspondent: Good morning. Depleted uranium, the
issue is exactly what U.S. soldiers may or may not know about its
potential health impact.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter (voice-over): It’s the U.S. military’s most potent anti-tank
weapon. Depleted uranium or DU, on impact burns through armor like a
hot knife through butter, creating a plume of radioactive dust.
Specialist Gerard Matthew cleaned up vehicles hit by DU during his
five months in Iraq in 2003. He says breathing in depleted uranium
dust made him sick.
Gerard Matthew, Iraq War Veteran: I came back with chronic migraines,
swelling in my face and vision problems.
Hunter: Matthew also says his 2 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth defect
is a direct result of his DU exposure. He and seven other vets are
suing the army over depleted uranium. The U.S. army insists its own
testing of Iraq veterans shows no direct link between DU and illness
or birth defects in humans.
Col. Mark Melanson, Walter Reed Army Medical Center: The radioactivity
from depleted uranium is localized within the site of impact and it’s
not posed a significant immediate health hazard.
Hunter: The World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine
seem to agree. They found no direct evidence linking DU to birth
defects or cancer in humans, but a Pentagon sponsored study by the
armed forces radio biology institute showed the combined effect of
DU’s heavy metal and its radioactivity can damage DNA and may cause
genetic defects and tumors in animals and human stem cells. The
military has warned about the potential dangers of breathing in
DU-contaminated dust, like in this instructional video produced for
the U.S. military in 1995.
Unidentified Male: Heavy metal poisoning may occur, which can cause
damage to internal organs and tissue.
Hunter: That same video talks about radioactive particles that could
be trapped in the lungs and possible water and soil contamination. The
army’s leading expert on DU ha zard awareness training concedes these
are all possibilities, but U.S. troops going over to Iraq never saw
this tape.
Melanson: There were lots of errors and conflicting messages in that
training video, so it was not finalized and distributed to the troops.
Hunter: Instead, the army’s official training video, used since 2000,
describes DU contamination this way.
Unidentified Male: These emissions are well below U.S. safety
standards and do not pose a hazard to soldiers working with or around
DU munitions.
Hunter: The new video does tell soldiers to wear gloves and masks,
especially inside DU-damaged vehicles or within 50 meters of fires
that may involve DU. The problem is some soldiers like Gerard Matthew,
say they never saw it. Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied the effects of DU on
veterans of the first Gulf war for the U.S. military. He was alarmed
by his findings. Now a private researcher, he also tested recent Gulf
war vets, including Gerard Matthew who Durakovic says has dangerously
high levels of DU in his body.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Uranium Medical Research Center: Inhalation of
uranium dust is harmful.
Hunter: Even in small amounts?
Durakovic: Even in the amount of one atom.
Hunter: Durakovic says those small atoms emit radiation for the rest
of a soldier’s life. Can’t that hurt a soldier in the long run?
Dr. Michael Kirkpatrick, DoD Health Affairs: It would come then to the
dose, the total dose in their body and those particles are very, very
small.
Hunter: Matthew’s wife wishes her husband had known more about the
potential dangers of DU.
Unidentified Female: He wasn’t told it’s out there. He exposed my
daughter to this, but it’s not his fault. He was just trying to help
the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter: Defense Department officials say the U.S. military used 320
tons of depleted uranium during the first Gulf war, but they were
unable to tell us how much DU they have used in the current Gulf war,
despite our repeated request for that information Published reports
suggest the military has used between 1,100 and 2,200 tons. That’s up
to six times the amount of DU in Iraqi freedom than in the first Gulf war.
S. O’Brien: So they’re testing all these soldiers to see if they’re
emitting radioactivity?
Hunter: The government is. The Pentagon is, but there are some states
out there passing laws to test their own National Guard troops because
they say the test the government is using is not sensitive enough.
We’ll find out about that tomorrow in part two.
S. O’Brien: All right, part two, Greg Hunter, thank you. Miles.
Part II
O’Brien: Well, now to our American Morning special investigation on
the fallout, if you will, from the use of depleted uranium in the war
zone. It can cut through a foot of enemy armor and leave behind
radioactive dust that some say is making vets sick.
American Morning’s Greg Hunter joining us now with part two of the
series. Good morning, Greg.
Greg Hunter, CNN Correspondent: Good morning, Miles.Depleted uranium,
the controversial weapon and the radioactive dust it creates are at
the center of a debate that just won’t go away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter (voice-over): Samarra, Iraq, spring 2003, Iraq, site of a
fierce coalition offensive. Soldiers operating, sleeping, eating in
areas that were hit by depleted uranium, or DU
For some soldiers it marked the beginning of another type of battle.
These five National Guard veterans claim they got sick from serving there.
Raymond Ramos, Iraq War Veteran: I just got to the point where I could
not physically stand sometimes. The headaches were unbearable. I would
get dizzy spells.
Hunter: They report similar ailments: painful urination, headaches and
joint pain. They say Army doctors blame their symptoms on
posttraumatic stress.
We showed them a tape the Army made in 1995, a tape the Army never
distributed. It warned of potential DU hazards. The Army’s expert on
DU training concedes some information contained on the tape is true.
For instance, inhaling radioactive particles can be harmful.
Unidentified Male: Alpha is the least pene trating but is the most
hazardous if it does get into the body.
Hunter (on camera): So you’re saying in part this is correct, but too
much information?
Unidentified Male: It really doesn’t provide any useful information to
the soldier.
Hunter (voice-over): These vets say they were never warned about DU
They’re suing the Army for what they say is knowingly exposing them to
DU dust and failing to properly treat them.
Anthony Yonnone, Iraq War Veteran: They didn’t furnish us with any of
that information.
Hunter (on camera): At all?
Yonnone: At all.
Hunter: Does it make you angry?
Yonnone: Absolutely.
Hunter: Why?
Yonnone: Because here we are sick. We don’t know why. The Army don’t
know why, and they’re just calling us liars.
Hunter (voice-over): The veterans’ claims against the government may
be barred by a statute that protects the military from lawsuits by
soldiers. But a judge is permitting the soldiers’ claims of
malpractice to go forward.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Uranium Medical Research Center: I personally call
it not so depleted uranium.
Hunter: In the 1990s Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied DU health effects for
the U.S. military. Now a private researcher, Durakovic says his own
test of these veterans showed abnormally high levels of DU in their
urine and that those levels pose a serious health threat.
Durakovic: There is genetic change in chromosoma of the regions (ph)
in the people who have been found positive with depleted uranium.
Hunter: The military’s overall health expert says tests on thousands
of veterans from both Iraq wars have produced very few positive DU tests.
Dr. Michael Kirkpatrick, Defense Department Health Affairs: We are not
seeing it in 74 individuals who are most heavily exposed, and that, I
think, is really the golden standard if you take a look at people who
had heavy exposure, internalization, some still having the depleted
uranium in their bodies, still excreting very high levels in their
urine, and their health appears at this point to be normal.
Hunter: Some scientists and politicians claim the Army’s testing is
not sophisticated enough. Connecticut state representative Pat Dillon
helped pass legislation allowing her state to do its own testing of
National Guardsmen.
Pat Dillon, Connecticut State Representative: It’s a heavy metal. It
gets absorbed into your bones. So I don’t think that the test that
they’re using is sensitive enough to find whether or not you’ve been
contaminated.
Hunter: The Army tells CNN its policy is to get every soldier training
in depleted uranium and hazard protection. It also has an updated
instructional video, produced in 2000.
We asked why these soldiers say not only did they not see the video,
but they knew nothing about DU before going to Iraq.
Col. Mark Melanson, Walter Reed Army Medical Center: I’m not able to
give you any statistics on who received training and who didn’t
receive training. I can just talk about the training that was provided
and what the policy is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Hunter: Dr. Durakovic says one thing is for sure: a large part of Iraq
is contaminated, particularly in the south where heavy tank battle
took place. He calls it, quote, “a radiological sewer.” The Army
adamantly denies that.
O’Brien: When you go back and look at another war and another toxic
agent, in that case Agent Orange in Vietnam. Veterans there had
similar claims. Were sick because we were in contact with this Agent
Orange. Ultimately, did they get claims from the military, and is that
likely what’s going to happen here?
Hunter: Some did, but it took decades. And let me tell you, Agent
Orange is tame compared to radiological dust that you can breathe into
your lungs, stays in your body forever, has a half life of 4.5 billion
years. This stuff stays around forever. So it is – it is quite a
controversy.
O’Brien: Keep us posted, Greg. Greg Hunter, thank you very much.
In just a little while, Sanjay Gupta will join us, and he’ll explain a
little bit more about the medical implications of contact to this
depleted uranium – Alina. (…)
Cho: A few moments ago we heard Greg Hunter’s investigation on
depleted uranium and the danger it may pose for U.S. troops in Iraq.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta on
more with the medical side of this mystery.
Sanjay, good morning. So first things first, what are the symptoms of
DU poisoning?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Correspondent: There’s sort of short-term
symptoms and longer-term symptoms, and, you know, this is a difficult
thing. The jury is still out among many researchers in terms of what’s
causing when and at what time.
But if you look at some of the early things, you can get things like
nausea and vomiting as your G.I. tract sort of reacts to the depleted
uranium. Also, kidney problems potentially and skin lesions.
There have been some case reports that it could possibly cause
irritability and behavioral changes, as well, but that’s not really
nailed down.
Longer term, it can get a little bit more complicated. You might
develop things like an immune system damage. So you could actually
suppress your white blood cells, those sort of – those fighting cells
of infection.
Lung cancer potentially as well, although, again, it’s somewhat
controversial studies. And potentially birth defects in the offspring
of people who were exposed to depleted uranium, as well.
Alina, I should say – I think as Greg pointed out as well, the
depleted uranium and its potential link to Gulf War syndrome is one of
the most controversial things probably that exists in medicine. A lot
of people sort of focused on it. Probably not enough studies as of
yet, still.
Cho: All right. So what about treatment? Is there any treatment for this?
Gupta: Well, not really. I mean, first of all, it’s very hard to know,
for example, if someone has actually been exposed. You can test it in
the blood. You can actually get some blood tests that will tell if you
have higher levels of the particular isotope associated with depleted
uranium, but for the most part you’ve got to let the thing sort of run
out its course.
It can cause damage to cells, and if those cells actually turn into
tumor cells, for example, you obviously have to treat the cancer or
remove the tumor, but it’s hard to treat symptoms of depleted uranium
poisoning overall.
Cho: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live for us in Atlanta. Sanjay,
thank you.
Gupta: Thank you.
Source: CNN “American Morning”, Aired February 5, 2007 – 07:00:00 ET,
transscript: transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/05/ltm.02.html and
“American Morning”, Aired February 6, 2007 – 07:00:00 ET, transscript:
transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/06/ltm.02.html
(Transcript: courtesy http://www.CurrentConcerns.ch)
Nutman – The 9 year old U.N. page merely says that at that time there is no specific treaty ban. And in 2005, here is a link showing the U.N. deemed it to be a war crime:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-05/sor0324-02.htm
“The United Nations has ruled that the use of depleted uranium coated weapons breaches the Geneva convention and the genocide convention. Two thousand tonnes of depleted uranium were dropped on Iraq in the recent attacks; that is 2,000 tonnes of radioactive dust.”
Also: “Pentagon sponsored study by the armed forces radio biology institute showed the combined effect of
DU’s heavy metal and its radioactivity can damage DNA and may cause
genetic defects and tumors in animals and human stem cells. The
military has warned about the potential dangers of breathing in
DU-contaminated dust, like in this instructional video produced for
the U.S. military in 1995. ”
http://us.f316.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?YY=55246&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=200&order=up&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=VFP%2dGRANTS
Your link was misleading and your ‘research’ sophomoric. Here is a more directly pertinent quote and source link:
“According to a August 2002 report by the UN subcommission, laws which are breached by the use of DU shells include: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which expressly forbid employing ‘poison or poisoned weapons’ and ‘arms, projectiles or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering’. All of these laws are designed to spare civilians from unwarranted suffering in armed conflicts.
DU has been blamed for the effects of Gulf war syndrome — typified by chronic muscle and joint pain, fatigue and memory loss — among 200,000 US soldiers after the 1991 conflict.
It is also cited as the most likely cause of the ‘increased number of birth deformities and cancer in Iraq’ following the first Gulf war.
‘Cancer appears to have increased between seven and 10 times and deformities between four and six times,’ according to the UN subcommission.”
US Forces’ Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is ‘Illegal’
And the cancer link is real:
“Governments deny it, but many people have long suspected that depleted uranium weapons may cause cancer. It looks as if the suspicions were right.
Depleted uranium (DU) is a dense, weakly radioactive metal used in armour-piercing shells. Hundreds of tonnes of them were fired by US and UK forces in Iraq in 2003. Previous research at the US government’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico found that people exposed to DU dust were at little extra risk of developing cancers.
Now the first study of DU’s effects on human lung cells suggests otherwise. Toxicologist John Wise and colleagues at the University of Southern Maine in Portland exposed cultures of human bronchial fibroblasts to particles of uranium oxide typically found in DU dust. Chromosomes in the cells mutated and the cells died, genotoxic effects that increased with the particle concentration. This may increase a person’s risk of lung cancer, the team conclude
Journal reference: Chemical Research in Toxicology (DOI: 10.1021/tx700026r)”
Depleted uranium weapons linked to lung cancer
I hope you are getting “Arm$trong William$ money” so that in the selling of your soul for the corporate and governmental interests you are serving you are at least getting market value for your mephistophelian bargain.
How much are you making to attempt to downplay these truths?
Obviously this must be a conspiracy though right? The Official UN and IAEA sites must be wrong huh?
Well there you have it. I linked to my “false” claims. Perhaps you should do some research before blindly following blatant propaganda such as this.
Link to UN site, no specific treaty ban on DU: http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/nato061300.htm#IVA2
Link to IAEA stating that DU ammunition is NOT linked to cancer or other health issues: http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/DU/faq_depleted_uranium.shtml#q2
Nutman,
Your ‘facts’ are mythological. Please supply a link or a source to back up your false claims.
Nutman – The U.N. deemed the use of DU as a geneva violations…a war crime.
Also, any exposure to radioactive material is a cancer risk. Any first year physicist knows this. Source your so called IAEA info.
Oh yeah and there is no specific treaty ban on the use of DU projectiles. It is perfectly legal. Get your facts straight.
The international atomic energy agency has said multiple times that Depleted uranium ammunition is NOT linked to causing cancer, birth defects or any other significant health or environmental problem.
Uhhh.. folks…
I posted the film. I didn’t make it.
Go ahead and offer counter evidence to its premise. Debate is welcome here.
I have personally spoken to enough veterans to know the extent to which D.U. poisoning – drastically under-reported in the corporate media – has damaged our returning soldiers.
“bs propaganda”? Absolutely not.
This video is a strong counter-attack to the propaganda that keeps us from hearing about the extent to which this horrible weapon – THE USE OF WHICH IS IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW – is harming not just the innocents in Iraq, but our own soldiers.
You guys…silly billies…you put a film up stating that the use of depleted uranium has caused illnesses, which may be true. Then you flash a bunch of babies and make the inference that these defects were caused by this use. You provide stoic voice overs of sick guys that suffer from Gulf War syndrome and may be grasping at a reason why? While powerful, and emotion invoking, you provide no direct link that there is cause and effect…just alarmist doo-doo…THEN you want to make others that comment about it provide you proof that you are wrong. On an issue you have provided nothing on except conjecture and images clearly borrowed form elsewhere….Good job, but very thin premise wise.
Manko here. I never said DU poisoning doesn’t exist. But the fact you attack me personally for setting your facts straight tells me you’re on the defensive because you got called out. You want to get your point across? Try facts, not bs propaganda that wouldn’t fool anyone with a bit of knowledge.
newspoo…
If you are sure that some of these photographs are as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear spill, we would be happy to add any link you would like to forward us to clarify the source.
For more information on the extent to which D.U. is being used and the effects on our servicemembers, please go to:
Gulf War Veterans and Depleted Uranium, Prepared for the Hague Peace Conference, May 1999, By Dr. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., G.N.S.H.
Update: Soldier health scare back in news
“Dr.” Manko,
Thank you for your expert analysis. Your incredible ability to diagnose this ailment from a simple photograph will revolutionize modern medicine.
Imagine how much money your nacient talents will save having rendered HMOs and other Health Insurance providers obsolete!
I will be sending along photographs of what I have always thought was a wart on my ass just to be sure that my personal physician didn’t misdiagnose this strange growth which bears a remarkable likeness to Dick Cheney.
We of ImpeachforPeace.org and all citizens who have served or are serving valiantly in our armed forces overseas are so relieved having been cured of our delusion that D.U. poisoning actually does exist. How silly of us to have been so easily duped by science!
Ok..this is a great propaganda film…where is the supporting evidence that shows a direct link. I saw pictures of babies in this film that were from the Chernobyl accident…definitely not Desert Storm.
As a prior military member, I don’t doubt D.U.’s are used, it is needed to penetrate armor, but to the extent that this short film says…nah.
That’s harlequin fetus syndrome, caused by a mutation in a gene and is an autosomal recessive disorder, not an effect of deleted uranium. Get your facts straight before trying to BS to get your political points across.