hazards of DU munitions

[JGinniver@AOL.COM]

I've been following this discussion and thought the following might help.  Following concerns about the hazards to UK Service personnel and the long term risks to the public in areas where DU munitions had been used (Gulf war, Bosnia etc.)  the Royal Academy undertook an 'independant' study of the risks of these munitions.  


The following is a summary of their first (Part 1 report)

snip>

The Part I report draws the following conclusions:


Except in extreme circumstances any extra risks of developing fatal cancers as a result of radiation from internal exposure to DU arising from battlefield conditions are likely to be so small that they would not be detectable above the general risk of dying from cancer over a normal lifetime.


The greatest exposures will apply only to a very small fraction of the soldiers in a theatre of war, for example those who survive in a vehicle struck by a DU penetrator. In such circumstances, and assuming the most unfavourable conditions, the lifetime risk of death from lung cancer is unlikely to exceed twice that in the general population.


Any extra risks of death from leukaemia, or other cancers, as a result of exposure to DU are estimated to be substantially lower than the risks of death from lung cancer. Under all likely exposure scenarios the extra lifetime risks of fatal leukaemia are predicted to be too small to be observable.


Many soldiers on a battlefield may be exposed to small amounts of DU and the risks of cancer from such exposures are predicted to be very low. Even if the estimates of risk for these conditions are one hundred times too low, it is unlikely that any excess of fatal cancer would be detected within a cohort of 10,000 soldiers followed over 50 years. 


Epidemiological studies complement assessments of actual exposures and radiation risks. Although epidemiological studies of occupational exposure to uranium are not sensitive enough to detect small increases in overall risks of cancer, they nevertheless tend to confirm the calculations of the risks derived from estimates of actual exposures to DU.<snip


pdf copies of both reports and links to relevant ICRP annexes can be found at the following url:

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/statements/statementDetails.cfm?StatementID=143


Regards,

             Julian