Most naturally occurring uranium is U-238 which is mildly radioactive. When the tiny amount of highly-radioactive U-235 in uranium ore is extracted and concentrated to make uranium fuel and nuclear weapons, the U-238 that is left in the processed ore is called "depleted uranium." It is very dense and makes excellent projectiles for use in munitions. Cynics said that it was a way for weapons makers to turn a radioactive waste product into a useful material for making conventional munitions.
During the Iraq War, it is estimated that the U.S. used between one and two metric tons of DU in munitions exploded in Iraq. These munitions left huge amounts of DU dust and fragments of contaminated metal scattered over cities, battlefields and the country side of Iraq. Critics have claimed that the low-level radioactivity of DU causes serious human health problems like cancer and birth defects. Others have rejected this claim and said that DU has not caused any health problems in Iraq. There have been numerous reports from Iraq about an increase in cancers and birth defects following the Iraq war. These findings have been vigorously challenged by other researchers. The debate rages on over claims of widespread radiation damage to human health in Iraq.
The World Health Organization has conducted studies on the aftermath of U.S. use of DU during bombings and battles in Iraq during the 2003 war. The WHO report on cancers and birth defects was supposed to be released in November of 2012. It is now over two years later and apparently the officials at WHO are indefinitely delaying the release of the report. In response to calls for release of the study, WHO says that the report is "classified" and that the conclusions need to be verified by a "team of independent scientists." Critics of WHO says that the organization is protecting the U.S. government and military from being held accountable for the horrible impact of DU on the people of Iraq.
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani worked on a peer-reviewed study of the DU impact on the health of Iraqis. She said "Thirty-five million Iraqis wake up every morning to a living nightmare of childhood cancers, adult cancers and birth defects. Familial cancers, cluster cancers and multiple cancers in the same individual have become frequent in Iraq. Why, then, does the WHO refuse to release its study?" She also said that release of the WHO report “will enable researchers to collaborate, ask the most relevant questions and spearhead research to remedy this health emergency.”
In an article in the Guardian newspaper, John Pilger reports that Hans von Sponeck, the former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, recently said that "The US government sought to prevent WHO from surveying areas in southern Iraq where DU had been used and caused serious health and environmental dangers."
The last time that I talked about DU on this blog, a reader attacked me viciously, saying that I didn't know anything about DU and that DU was perfectly safe. He was ex-military or maybe not so "ex." The U.S. government and military would be open to legal action if it could be proven that DU seriously damaged the health of many Iraqi civilians and that the U.S. government was aware of the dangers of DU before the war. Calls for more research should be accompanied by calls for the release of the WHO DU report.
