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Re: WHO asks more detail on uranium arms health effect



[[[[But Brundtland said despite these checks, "we cannot determine the
real risk to the health of the population associated with exposure to
depleted uranium radiation without additional in-depth
investigation." ]]]]]]

Shouldn't such an "investigation" have some ground rules?
What is meant by "real risk" and how might it be determined?
How can it be proven that anything is harmless?
Unless they know what they are looking for, there is little chance
that they will find it! Meanwhile, much time, effort, and $$$$$$
will be squandered.

-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy Perle <sandyfl@earthlink.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Monday, January 15, 2001 4:51 PM
Subject: WHO asks more detail on uranium arms health effect


>WHO asks more detail on uranium arms health effect
>
>GENEVA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation is seeking
>more details on the effects of depleted uranium munitions used in the
>Balkans and Middle East, the U.N. agency's chief Gro Harlem
>Brundtland said on Monday.
>
>The former Norwegian prime minister told a meeting of the WHO
>executive board that more information was needed because individual
>countries and the Western NATO alliance were looking to the United
>Nations for guidance on the issue.
>
>They were asking "what evidence there exists on the health effects of
>depleted uranium," she said.
>
>Brundtland was speaking after the rapid spread of concern across NATO
>countries in recent weeks over the possible harm from DU to troops
>who had served in Bosnia and Kosovo over the past decade and in
>Kuwait and Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.
>
>A senior WHO official said last week there was no clear proof that DU
>could cause leukaemia, or cancer of the blood, and that preliminary
>checks in Kosovo hospitals had shown no increase in the disease among
>civilians.
>
>But Brundtland said despite these checks, "we cannot determine the
>real risk to the health of the population associated with exposure to
>depleted uranium radiation without additional in-depth
>investigation."
>
>AGENCIES PREPARE REPORT
>
>WHO was working with the International Agency for Research on Cancer
>and the U.N. Environmental Programme (UNEP) to gather more
>information, and would report in the spring, she said. UNEP head
>Klaus Toepfer also said last week further facts were needed.
>
>Depleted uranium munitions were used, mainly by U.S. forces, by NATO
>against Bosnian Serb targets in Bosnia in 1994-95, and in 1999
>against Yugoslav military targets in Kosovo, a Serbian province now
>under U.N. administration.
>
>They were first used by the United States against Iraqi troops and
>hardware during the Gulf conflict which followed Iraq's occupation of
>Kuwait in 1990.
>
>Since that war, Iraq has frequently declared that thousands of its
>civilians had contracted various forms of cancer and babies been born
>deformed from the effects of radiation from the dust left when the
>munitions explode.
>
>Brundtland said that, apart from UNEP and the cancer research body
>"WHO works in collaboration with those who have been directly
>involved."
>
>A senior WHO official said last week the agency was sending a task
>force to Iraq this month to look into the claims.
>
>Brundtland, a medical doctor, said the WHO was looking for more
>information "on the incidence of neoplasia (tumour growth) and other
>possible adverse health impacts" among civilians in the Balkans and
>the Middle East.
>
>It was also looking for more detail on possible effects among
>humanitarian workers and military personnel -- "particularly those
>known to have handled depleted uranium," she added.
>
>"This information will need analysis in a way that demonstrates the
>relative risk of leukaemia and other health outcomes associated with
>different exposure patterns," the WHO Director-General declared.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
>Director, Technical Extension 2306
>ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
>ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
>ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
>Costa Mesa, CA 92626
>
>Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
>ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
>
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