more on DU

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/cancer/03/07/iraq.cancer.reut/index.html
Iraq blames cancer rate increase on radioactive ammunition used in Gulf War
March 7, 2000 
Web posted at: 12:27 PM EST (1727 GMT) 
By Hassan Hafidh 
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- The number of cancer cases in Iraq has soared since the
1990-1991 Gulf war because of radioactivity from munitions used by British
and U.S. forces, health officials said Tuesday. 
Speaking at the start of a Baghdad conference aimed at seeking ways to fight
the increase, officials said depleted uranium munitions used by the U.S. and
British forces were the cause of the increase. 
According to Iraqi government statistics, the number of cancer cases
registered in Iraq rose to 6,158 in 1997 from 4,341 in 1991. 
A United Nations document issued in 1998 showed a 55 percent increase of
cancer in Iraq between 1989 and 1994. 
"There is no other reason to justify this increase apart from what had
happened during the Gulf War, and depleted uranium has been found definitely
related to this increase," Abul-Hadi al-Khalili, deputy head of the Iraqi
Cancer Board, told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference. 
Khalili said there were now tens of thousands of registered cancer patients.
He believed the number could be higher because many Iraqis failed to report
the disease to his board. 
Iraqi authorities say the allied forces estimated they had used 300 tons of
depleted uranium munitions against Iraq in the U.S.-led offensive to
recapture Kuwait, but other researchers put the figure at 700 to 800 tons. 
Depleted uranium is used as a component of armor-piercing munitions. U.S.
veterans groups have complained for years that depleted uranium ammunition
caused them health problems. The Pentagon has responded with studies
discounting health hazards from the ammunition, which was fired primarily
from tanks and aircraft. 
Britain has said depleted uranium ammunition can produce small amounts of
radioactive and toxic particles on impact, but it is unlikely that anyone
outside the target area would be affected. 
Iraq, whose health services have been devastated by nearly 10 years of U.N.
economic sanctions, says it cannot afford expensive cancer drugs to treat
the victims let alone the huge cost of de-contaminating affected areas. 
Officials said the areas worst hit by cancer outbreaks were in the south,
where most of the radioactive munitions were used. 
"The increase in cancer cases is more in the south of the country than other
parts, especially in leukemia, a blood cancer," Khalili said. 
His biggest worry was how to treat his patients rather than their numbers. 
"There is a lack of equipment to investigate the disease, lack of drugs and
lack of surgical facilities," he said. 
Doctors had to postpone cancer surgery because of acute shortage of
anesthetic drugs, he added. 
Radioactive isotopes, used for therapy and diagnosis of cancers, were not
available. Permission to import any radioactive material had to come through
the U.N. sanctions committee, which Khalili accused of delaying Iraqi
orders. 
Baghdad is allowed to sell oil to buy food and medicine for the Iraqi
people. But it has repeatedly complained that medical supplies are not
reaching the country in sufficient quantities. 
<><><><><><><><><><><><>

....odd that you never hear this sort of thing from Kuwait. 
Never mind, I suspect that the Iraqi gov't would gladly go in to
"decontaminate" it (they were never given the opportunity to clean up the
devastation from blown-up oil wells, after all...)

Jaro
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