Each of the multiple reviews of Gulf War Illnesses and follow on studies by other organizations agree that DU is not the cause. Unfortunately this conclusion is hidden in epidemiological jargon.
One of the best articles on the subject of Gulf War Illnesses can be found at: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/medical/med_syndrome.htm As you can see from the article we have had unexplained illnesses post conflict for a long time.
These are my opinions and mine alone.
Eric G. Daxon
-----Original Message-----
From: BERNARD L COHEN [mailto:blc+@PITT.EDU]
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 10:58 AM
To: Lessler.Richard@epamail.epa.gov
Cc: radsafe-digest@list.vanderbilt.edu; BobCherry@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Re DU source and Gulf Illness
According to published studies, only about 1% of the radiation
came from elements other than uranium.
There are numerous possible non-radiation causes of the illness.
Why pick on radiation, the one potential cause that is very well
understood and quantified? In fact it is not very clear that there were
additional ilnesses to explain.
Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc@pitt.edu
On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 Lessler.Richard@epamail.epa.gov wrote:
> Bob, In response to your reply to me, if reactor DU is used in
> weapon/missiles, is it possible that some radioactive impurity could
> fractionate out after the explosion and be concentrated enough so that
> it might be the cause of the Gulf illness? Or could Quality Assurance
> have slipped up in some batches so impurities could be present at
> greater than ppb? Could the Gulf locations where the reactor DU was
> exploded be distinguished from the non reactor DU locations to see if
> there is a correlation between illness in areas where the reactor DU was
> used and where the non reactor DU was used? This is a long shot but
> nothing else has worked so far to explain the Gulf illnesses. Richard
> Lessler
>
>
> Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 15:51:02 EDT
> From: BobCherry@AOL.COM
> Subject: Re: DU Source
>
> - --part1_1f0.64bce10.2bc5d3a6_boundary
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> In a message dated 4/9/2003 1:01:13 PM Central Daylight Time,
> Lessler.Richard@epamail.epa.gov writes:
>
> > What is the source of the depleted uranium used in the
> weapons/missiles?
> > Is it the remains of the uranium after U-235 is removed in which case
> it
> > should not cause any radiation problem? Or is it from the U-238 that
> > has been irradiated in a reactor to produce plutonium?
>
> The DU that DOD uses comes from both DOE's enrichment facilities and its
>
> reactors. The amount of Tc-99 and transuranics in the DU is on the order
> of
> parts per billion, which increases its radioactivity by less than one
> percent. Note that the transuranics have virtually the same chemical
> properties as uranium. Therefore, this trace contamination has no
> measurable
> effect on DU's chemical and radiological toxicities.
>
> Bob C
>
>
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