[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] Dr. John Gofman, 88; warned of radiation risks (additional news coverage)

[Roger Helbig]

Sandy posted this from Nuclear News .. the UN Observer is a website, not a newspaper - Does anyone know anyone in the Iraqi government .. This person Vartanian sounds very suspect as far as being knowledgeable in this field.  This is part of this week's continuing anti-DU propaganda onslaught.  The newspaper in Tucson printed an article about a deceased reservist who had been called up to go back to Iraq after having served in Vietnam - Sergeant Jim Lauderdale died of oral cancer and someone has made his wife think that he died due to exposure to DU.  

Roger Helbig

DU threatens thousands of lives in Basra; government turns blind eye 
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2007-08-27 | Basra, Aug 27, (VOI) (UN Observer) - Radiation levels in 
selected regions of Iraq's southern province of Basra warn of 
imminent danger to thousands of local residents who might be more 
prone to cancer and birth deformities, according to Khajak Vartanian, 
an environmental radiation measurement specialist from the province.
"Basra has experienced an unprecedented rise in solid cancer cases 
during the past four years: 62 cases per 100,000 persons compared to 
35 in 1997", Vartanian explained.

Exposure to military depleted uranium (DU) pollution has not only 
increased solid cancer cases in the province, but caused severe birth 
deformities in newborn babies, he added. "Other cases of renal 
failure, skin disease, allergy, infertility and recurrent 
miscarriages were also attributed to DU pollution", he indicated, 
adding that most of the reported cases were close to the contaminated 
sites.