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RE: birth defects in the children of Gulf War Vets [FW] -Reply
In 1963 the army started issuing APDS (armor piercing discarding sabot)
rounds to my tank unit in Germany. It was a small (compared to other
projectile heads), but dense antitank round intended for side shots at
enemy armor units. We had our first experience with them at the ranges at
Grafenwohr that winter. The rounds were NOT DU, but rather a tungsten
carbide metal that travelled at an extremely high muzzle velocity with very
little superelevation needed in the gun for a target boresighted at 1000
meters. The rounds would penetrate the side armor, bounce around inside
the target tank producing secondary missles of the equipment inside it, and
generally shredding anything/anyone inside. No pyrophorics.
Paul Skierkowski
-----Original Message-----
From: Vernig, Peter G. [mailto:Peter.Vernig@med.va.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 9:18 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: birth defects in the children of Gulf War Vets [FW] -Reply
Ruth,
I qualify as a veteran. I even ran a tank range for night qualification.
But my only armor instruction was in general classes in ROTC [late 60s early
70] and Chemical Officer Basic (72) and Advanced (76) courses. I would
doubt seriously if it was used in the Korean conflict. Possibly in Vietnam
but my recollection is that they always talked about tungsten carbide or a
tungsten alloy when discussing Armor piercing rounds.
Any opinions expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily represent
those of the Denver VA Medical Center, The Department of Veterans
Affairs, or the U.S. Government.
Peter G. Vernig
Radiation Safety Officer, VA Medical Center, 1055 Clermont St. Denver,
CO 80220, ATTN; RSO MS 115
303-399-8020 ext. 2447, peter.vernig@med.va.gov [alternate for business
- vernig.peter@forum.va.gov; private - peter_vernig@hotmail.com] Fax
303-393-5026 [8 - 4:30 MT service] Alternate Fax 303-377-5686
"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is found to
be excellent or praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things."
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: ruth_weiner [mailto:ruth_weiner@email.msn.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 4:46 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: birth defects in the children of Gulf War Vets [FW] -Reply
we find DU detritus on almost all of the weapons test sites (firing ranges,
etc). It has been used in armor-piercing warheads since the 1950s and was
probably used in the Korean war and in Vietnam. Can any veterans comment on
this?
Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Lorraine Marceau-Day <day@lsu.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Thursday, February 01, 2001 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: birth defects in the children of Gulf War Vets [FW] -Reply
>
>Retrospective studies such as looking exclusively at an affected population
>are inherently biased. It is like going to Sloan-Kettering and visiting
>the breast cancer patients to conclude that being a woman causes breast
>cancer. This is a classical type I I statistical error.
>
>The research groups are difficult to access:
>
> 1. vets who served
> 2. vets who were immunized as group 1 but were not exposed to DU
>(i.e. perhaps they were in Saudi the whole time, or served on a ship)
> 3. vets who were prepped to go / but did not make the trip
>
>The male/female susceptibility is a separate issue. There are so many
>iterations to the scenario, that DU has to be the only thing that was
>different if we want to make valid comparisons. This makes the groups
>smaller than one would wish for statistically-based conclustions.
>
>Just a couple of thoughts,
>
>Lorraine Day PhD
>day@lsu.edu
>
>
>
>
>"Thomas J Savin " <tjsav@lycos.com>@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu on 02/01/2001
>12:08:54 PM
>
>Please respond to radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>
>Sent by: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>
>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>cc: (bcc: Lorraine Marceau-Day/day/LSU)
>
>Subject: Re: birth defects in the children of Gulf War Vets [FW] -Reply
>
>
>Scott and all,
>
>You are correct, interviews (Or studies?) like this by their very nature
>can have no valid outcomes Especially looking into DU:
>
>1. The majority of Gulf War vets are males - For there part, the millions
>of sperm that are released in each mating attempt. The chances of an
>unhealthy sperm fertilizing an egg is rare - usually the healthiest win.
>
>2. There would have to be four groups of populations to make any sense:
>male vets, female vets, male non vets, and female non vets. These would
>have to be compared. The survey is not looking at the control groups
>
>3. Other problems - A. the amount of reporting individuals may be biased to
>those who read the paper -therefore possibly under reported or over
>reported (special interest groups "becoming gulf war vets")
>
>4. You know I think I'll stop here - If he really wanted to get a great
>story - he should be looking at asking Saadam's soldiers for information -
>yeah - now that WOULD be a story. You think they might jump at the
>chance???
>
>Thanks Melissa for all you've done. Tom
>
>Tom Savin
>
>On Thu, 1 Feb 2001 10:42:48
> Scott Siebert wrote:
>>Can all of us Gulf War vets whose children DO NOT have birth defects
>>also send a message? Or are they not interested in the multitudes that
>>do not prove their point???
>>
>>Scott Siebert
>>Internal Dosimetry
>>Mound, BWXT of Ohio
>>
>>>>> "Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca> 02/01/01 11:31am >>>
>>Although DU is not mentioned specifically in this message, it has
>>appeared
>>in this context in the past and will no doubt feature prominently in the
>>resulting media report...
>>Jaro
>>frantaj@aecl.ca
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Betty Mekdeci [mailto:abdc@birthdefects.org]
>>Sent: Tuesday January 30, 2001 10:54 AM
>>To: birthdefectnews@topica.com
>>Subject: Special Alert - January 30, 2001
>>
>>Birth Defect Research for Children
>>
>>Birth Defect News
>>Birth Defect Research for Children
>>Special Alert - January 30, 2001
>>***Attention Gulf War Veterans***
>>Anton Antonowicz, a chief feature writer with the Mirror, Britain's
>>second
>>largest daily newspaper is working on a series about birth defects in the
>>children of Gulf War Veterans. The Mirror reaches 8 million plus readers
>>and is syndicated worldwide. Mr. Antonowicz would like to interview
>>Gulf
>>War veteran families in the U.S. who believe that their children's birth
>>defects may be related to exposures during their service. He will be
>>working with award winning photographer, Mike Moore on the story. Mr.
>>Antonowitz is a former Foreign Writer of the Year and both he and Mr.
>>Moore
>>are Amnesty International Press Award Winners.
>>If you are interested in talking with Mr. Antonowicz, please send an
>>e-mail
>>to betty@birthdefects.org as soon as possible. Include a description of
>>your child's birth defects and both daytime and evening phone numbers.
>>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, please send an e-mail to
>>birthdefectnews-unsubscribe@topica.com
>>To unsubscribe from Birth Defect News, send a blank message to
>>birthdefectnews-unsubscribe@topica.com
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>
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