33 war veterans with DU fragments

[Chuck Cooper <cooperc@TELEPORT.COM>]

TAB P ? DoD and VA Medical Surveillance Programs for Gulf War Veterans



In 1993, the Office of the Army Surgeon General reviewed the medical

records of soldiers hospitalized for wounds from friendly fire incidents

in the Gulf War and provided the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical

Health Care System-Baltimore Division (VAMHCS-BT) with a list of 68

individuals. The VA contacted 48 of these individuals and invited them

to participate. Of these, 33 agreed to participate.[618]

======Big Snip===========



The VA also noted that at least 20 children had been born to this group

with no birth

abnormalities.[648]

======Big Snip==========



This is an extensive DU exposure follow up study, the link is:

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabp.htm



I also found this in Google's cache of Radsafe archives:



===================



From: "JOHN JACOBUS" <JENDAY1@email.msn.com>

Subject: Regarding the media and reporting of DU

Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 23:18:13 -0500







I saw this in the SLATE, and thought it was good.



- -- John



John Jacobus, MS, CHP

3050 Traymore Lane

Bowie, MD 20715-2024

jenday1@email.msn.com (H)





______________________________________________________________________





explainer



What Are Depleted Uranium Weapons?



By Emily Yoffe



Europeans are worried that soldiers who served in the Balkans, and

residents of the area themselves, may have been exposed to

dangerous levels of contamination from mostly U.S-manufactured

depleted uranium weapons. What is depleted uranium, and how is it

used in weapons?



Uranium ore contains three major isotopes (or types) of uranium:

uranium 234, uranium 235, and uranium 238. At the refinery, the ore

is "depleted" of its highly fissionable U-235, which is used in

bombs and reactors. About 99 percent of the remaining uranium is of

the U-238 variety. U-238 is the stuff used in DU weapons.



DU weapons come in two types: armor and projectile. Because of DU's

extreme density it has been used since the Gulf War as tank

shielding. (It has a similar civilian use as a medical radiation

shield.) The weapons that have come under the greatest scrutiny,

however, are the DU-enhanced projectiles first used in the Gulf War

and then in great numbers in the Balkans. DU-tipped bullets have

not only tremendous penetrating capacity but two bonus qualities:

Instead of flattening out when striking a target, the bullet

resharpens itself, and particles of DU released during impact

spontaneously combust.



Now health questions are arising about exposure to DU weapons

because a number of European veterans of the Balkans have died of

leukemia. The U.S. Department of Defense says the primary risk to

exposure to DU is not its radioactivity, which is low, but the

toxic effects it shares with its fellow heavy metals, mercury and

lead. Soldiers can get DU fragments imbedded in their bodies and

also inhale DU particles if close to an impact. The department says

studies of Gulf War veterans, some with DU shrapnel still in their

bodies, have not shown increased kidney damage--a known side-effect

of high exposure to uranium--or birth defects in the soldiers'

children. Not surprisingly, this kind of reassurance is not

reassuring the Europeans. Both NATO and the European Union have

ordered investigations into the health effects of exposure to DU.





Click here to share your opinion of this article and see what

others have said:

http://slate.msn.com/code/thefray/thefray.asp?t=explainer

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------



(The following comment was submitted to the above article -- John)



Reader Comment From The Fray:





The real environmental exposure threat from service in the Balkans comes



from the indifference to pollution of the former government of the

former

Yugoslavia. The original UNPROFOR peacekeepers set up cantonments in

several

sites later found to have serious heavy metal and radioactive

contamination

problems. A Belgian battalion had to evacuate several soldiers with lead



poisoning, and another had two near misses on contamination from

distinctly

non-depleted Uranium. By the time the U.S. and NATO sent in troops, we

were

forewarned and carefully screened or cleaned all prospective cantonment

areas. Depleted Uranium is simply a politically convenient target.



- --Glen Tomkins

- -------------------------------------------------------------





Chuck Cooper

Dir. EH&S

Portland State University









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