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New Scientist Reports on DU and Iraq
New Scientist Reports
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993627
Depleted uranium casts shadow over peace in Iraq
19:00 15 April 03
Wrecked tanks and vehicles litter the Iraqi countryside. Ruined buildings
dominate towns and cities. Many were blown to pieces by shells tipped with
depleted uranium, a material that the US and Britain say poses no long-term
health or environmental risks. But many Iraqis, and a growing band of
scientists, are not so sure.
Last week, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced it wanted to send a
scientific team into Iraq as soon as possible to examine the effects of
depleted uranium (DU). People's fears that DU leaves a deadly legacy must be
addressed, says UNEP. Some scientists go further. Evidence is emerging that
DU affects our bodies in ways we do not fully understand, they say, and the
legacy could be real.
DU is both radioactive and toxic. Past studies of DU in the environment have
concluded that neither of these effects poses a significant risk. But some
researchers are beginning to suspect that in combination, the two effects
could do significant harm. Nobody has taken a hard look at the combined
effect of both, says Alexandra Miller, a radiobiologist with the Armed
Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "The bottom
line is it might contribute to the risk."
She is not alone. The idea that chemical and radiological damage are
reinforcing each other is very plausible and gaining momentum, says Carmel
Mothersill, head of the Radiation and Environmental Science Centre at the
Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland. "The regulators don't know how to
handle it. So they sweep it under the carpet."
Fred Dawson
New Malden
Surrey. KT3 5BP
England
020 8287 2176
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