Health Hazards of Uranium Qais Ghanem MD FRCP

Health Hazards of Uranium Qais Ghanem, MD, FRCP©

Litivenko

Mark H. Gaffney's - Rense Natural uranium ore minus fissionable isotope, U-235 = Depleted Uranium, primarily U-238 n U-235 when enriched to 3% is used to fuel nuclear reactors When further enriched to 90% it becomes "weapons grade" and is suitable for use in nuclear weapons n

Depleted uranium has a half life of 4. 5 billion years 200 tonnes of radioactive DU were fired by invading US forces into buildings, homes, streets and gardens all over Baghdad. n After a DU-coated shell strikes, it goes straight through before exploding into a burning vapour which turns to dust n

4. 5 billion years n DU particles already released into the environment, given their insidious effects and 4. 5 billion year half-life, will go on killing innocent people for a very long time, indeed, perhaps for the rest of human history, essentially for all of time

Trojan Horse of nuclear war n Described as the Trojan Horse of nuclear war, depleted uranium is the weapon that keeps killing. The half-life of Uranium-238 is 4. 5 billion years, the age of the earth. And, as Uranium-238 decays into daughter radioactive products, in four steps before turning into lead, it continues to release more radiation at each step

Chest X-ray every few minutes n n n Targeted Iraqi vehicles stood no chance. Iraqi soldiers who came under DU attack: Very few lived to tell about it. Within seconds, most were charred beyond recognition in an incendiary fireball. US military jargon even coined a new term, "crispy critters, " to describe the grisly Iraqi corpses of war. Continuous exposure to this level of irradiation would be like having a chest Xray every few minutes

Spread by Wind n Large annual dust storms originating in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia will quickly spread the radioactive contamination around the world in future years. Downwind from the radioactive devastation in Iraq, Israel is also suffering from large increases in breast cancer, leukemia and childhood diabetes.

1000 mile radius

Pathogenesis

Penetration of DU n n n Once aerosolized, DU is loose in the environment and it's only a matter of time before it finds its way into water and food; in which case, DU particles, due to their small size, are easily absorbable through the intestinal lining. They are even more easily inhaled, and will even pass through the skin, making exposure unavoidable in contaminated areas. Submicronsized DU particles behave like a gas. They are too small to be removed by the cilia in the bronchioles and have no trouble reaching the tiny alveolar sacs in the lungs. Particles of this size can pass directly into the blood and will cross every blood-barrier in the body>Brain

Use of Radioactive Materials as a Military Weapon n n "As a gas warfare instrument the material would be ground into particles of microscopic size to form dust and smoke and distributed by a ground-fired projectile, land vehicles, or aerial bombs. In this form it would be inhaled by personnel. The amount necessary to cause death to a person inhaling the material is extremely small … There are no known methods of treatment for such a casualty … it will permeate a standard gas mask filter in quantities large enough to be extremely damaging. “ Memo to General Leslie R. Groves, dated October 30, 1943, from three of the top physicists in the Manhattan Project, Dr James B Conant, A H Compton, and H C Urey

LEGALITY TEST FOR WEAPONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW n n n 4 reasons why using depleted uranium weapons violates the UN Convention on Human Rights: TEMPORAL TEST – Weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over. ENVIRONMENTAL TEST – Weapons must not be unduly harmful to the environment. TERRITORIAL TEST – Weapons must not act off of the battlefield. HUMANENESS TEST – Weapons must not kill or wound inhumanly.

Death Toll n n n White House spokespersons and national security advisers have repeatedly warned that Islamic terrorists could strike cities in the US with radiological weapons. It's clear that America's leaders have already done what we've accused terrorists of only planning to do. Worse, they've done it on a greater scale. America's use of DU weapons has already caused the deaths of hundreds of times more Iraqi and Afghani civilians, including women and children, than died in the 9/11 attack

Brig. General William Looney n "If they turn on the radars we're going to blow up their goddamn SAMs (surface-to-air missiles). They know we own their country. We own their airspace. . . We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need. " (US Brig. General William Looney in 1999, referring to Iraq).

Mark H. Gaffney's n “In short, our leaders are guilty of not merely incompetence, nor even malfeasance, but of outright terrorism”

Morbidity and Mortality

Rectal Cancer n Soldiers who served in Bradley fighting vehicles, where it was common to sit on ammunition boxes where depleted uranium ammunition was stored, are now reporting that many have rectal cancer.

KNOWN ILLNESSES INFLICTED BY INTERNALIZATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM PARTICLES n n Table 1: Compiled by Leuren Moret from Interviews with Gulf War Vets and their families abnormal births and birth defects; genetic alterations abnormal metabolism of semen: contains amine & ammonium alkaline acute autoimmune symptoms (lung-, liver-, kidney failure) acute myeloid leukemia (deadly within days or weeks), chronic myeloid leukemia, brain tumors , bone cancer, colon cancer acute respiratory failure, asthma, chronic respiratory infections auto-immune deficiencies Balkan-syndrome blood in stools and urine body function control loss brain damage burning semen burning sensations calcium loss in body cardiovascular signs or symptoms chemical sensitivities chronic kidney and liver disorders diarrhea, digestive problems dizziness Epstein Barr Syndrome fluid buildup fibromyalgia gastrointestinal signs/symptoms, general fatigue Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gulf war-syndrome

240, 000/700, 00 soldiers on permanent medical disability n n n Nearly 700, 000 American Gulf War Veterans returned to the US from a war that lasted just a few weeks. Today more than 240, 000 of those soldiers are on permanent medical disability = 30% Over 11, 000 are dead = 1. 5% In a US Government study on post-Gulf War babies born to 251 veterans, 67% of the babies were reported to have serious illnesses or serious birth defects, born without eyes, ears, had missing organs, fused fingers, thyroid or other malfunctions

Estimates from UK n In the 2003 Gulf War, estimates of 2200 tons have been given, causing about 22 million new cancer cases. Altogether the total number of cancer patients estimated using the UK A. E. A. data would be 25, 250, 000. In July of 1998, the CIA estimated the population of Iraq to be approximately 24, 683, 313.

WHO n n Dr Hardan is the man who documented the effects of depleted uranium in Iraq between 1991 and 2002. “Leukaemia has already become the most common type of cancer in Iraq among all age groups, but is most prevalent in the under-15 s” “Women as young as 35 are developing breast cancer” “increase of over 300% in all types of cancer over the next decade. Every form of cancer has jumped up at least 10% with the exception of bone tumours and skin cancer”

Permission Denied n n I arranged for a delegation from Japan's Hiroshima hospital to come and share their expertise in the radiological related diseases we are likely to face over time, " says Hardan. "The delegation told me the Americans had objected and they had decided not to come. "Similarly, a world famous German cancer specialist agreed to come, only to be told later that he would not be given permission to enter Iraq. "

Gulf War Syndrome n A complex incapacitating multi-organ system disorder. Fatigue, shortness of breath, joint pain, bleeding gums and lesions, headaches and neurological problems, memory loss, kidney dysfunction, bloody stools, flu-like symptoms, pneumonia, gynecological infections in female soldiers, unsteady gait, rashes and, ultimately, cancer and premature death. Not a comprehensive list. Put simply: DU trashes the body.

US Veterans 8 -10 years after the war veterans of Desert Storm were still excreting DU in their urine, semen, and in their sweat. n This retention of DU poses serious health risks for a number of reasons: firstly, because radiation, even low-level radiation, is cumulative. In fact, the term "low-level radiation" is a misnomer. n

Drs. Alim Yacoub, Jenan Hassan n Dr. Alim Yacoub, a British-educated trained doctor and dean of the medical school at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, and his colleague, Dr. Jenan Hassan from the Women's and Children's Hospital in Basra, found that between 1990 -2001 all types of malignancies quadrupled. (x 4) During this same period the number of birth defects increased x 6. Moreover, the incidence of childhood leukemia jumped from just 2 cases in 1990 to 41 in 2001, a shocking twenty-fold increase (x 20)

Dr. Hari Sharma n n Although the Iraqi physicians lacked the necessary scientific equipment to establish a firm link to inhaled or ingested DU, Dr. Hari Sharma, a Canadian radio-chemist, later confirmed the link. When Dr. Sharma examined tissue samples of 38 dead Iraqis from Basra using a supersensitive instrument known as a mass spectrometer, he found DU in the lungs, thoracic lymph nodes and kidneys.

Children

Newborns n n DU particles also cross the placenta into the unborn child, which is extremely serious because the fetus is especially vulnerable to both radiological and chemical toxicity. No doubt, this explains the increased level of birth abnormalities reported in the children of Gulf War vets, and the even higher incidence in Iraq, where mothers no longer ask, "Is it a boy, or a girl? , but rather: "Is my baby normal? "

Midwives n These mid-wives are purported to have said they no longer look forward to births as. . "We don't know what's going to come out. "

Examples

Meningomyelocele

Cancers

Grotesque Skin Disease

Jooma Khan, villager, from Laghman province, Afghanistan, March 2003 n n n “After the Americans destroyed our village and killed many of us, we also lost our houses and have nothing to eat. However, we would have endured these miseries and even accepted them, if the Americans had not sentenced us all to death. When I saw my deformed grandson, I realized that my hopes of the future have vanished for good, different from the hopelessness of the Russian barbarism, even though at that time I lost my older son Shafiqullah. This time, however, I know we are part of the invisible genocide brought on us by America, a silent death from which I know we will not escape. "

USA and soon in Canada? n Post-Gulf War babies born to 251 veterans, 67% of the babies were reported to have serious illnesses or serious birth defects, born without eyes, ears, had missing organs, fused fingers, thyroid or other malfunctions

Phocomelia

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