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RE: Uranium blamed for Gulf War Syndrome (BBC)
I was an underground uranium miner for seven years. My whole body and
internal exposure (gamma and WLMs) for the last 4 years of that was 5 REM
each year. We ate ( with ore falling on us), drank (sometimes mine water)
and did all our business underground every day. I have had 4 whole body
counts and yearly bioassay here al LANL and my internal deposition is
reported as NDA (no detectable activity). This has a lot to do with the
fact that the Biological half life of uranium is 9-15 days (depends on
which source you look at.) So I doubt that and Depleted Uranium would be
found in anyone, or that it has done any harm. The 10CFR835 Weekly DAC for
U-238 is 150 times higher than for Pu-239, which has a biological half life
of 200 years.
My own opinion.
Mike Dempsey
At 02:15 PM 2/4/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Interesting thought. Just coming from a "makes sense" viewpoint it
>would seem there could be a correlation drawn since the Uranium miners
>would seem to be exposed to a higher concentration and a longer period
>of time. Sounds like something to research further.
>
>Chris A. Marthaller RRPT
>Phone (505) 234-8661
>Sr. Training Coordinator - WIPP
>ChrisM@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us
>Obviously, only my own views
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Laurie Taylor [mailto:laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu]
>Sent: Thursday, February 04, 1999 12:38 PM
>To: Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: Re: Uranium blamed for Gulf War Syndrome (BBC)
>
>
>I don't intend to minimize anyone's suffering and I may be way off base
>-
>but I'm wondering if any information exists regarding if any uranium
>miner
>worker populations (since they would have been exposed to uranium dusts)
>experienced any ill effects (besides lung cancer) similar to those being
>experienced by those vets with Gulf War Syndrome ? Could any
>correlation
>be drawn between uranium dust in mines and depleted uranium inhalation
>during the war? Any thoughts or comments out there?
>
>Laurie Taylor
>laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu
>
>
>At 12:52 PM 2/4/99 -0600, you wrote:
>>Has anyone measured internal deposition of uranium in persons with
>>the Gulf War Syndrome purportedly caused by depleted uranium?
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>> Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 10:54:39 -0600 (CST)
>>> From: Sandy Perle <sandyfl@earthlink.net>
>>> Subject: Uranium blamed for Gulf War Syndrome (BBC)
>>> To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>>> Reply-to: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>>
>>> Tuesday, February 2, 1999 Published at 23:00 GMT - BBC
>>>
>>> Uranium blamed for Gulf War Syndrome
>>>
>>> Exploding missiles tipped with uranium exposed servicemen to the
>>> toxic metal
>>>
>>> Sixteen British Gulf War veterans say they have proof they are
>>> suffering from radiation poisoning, caused by materials in the
>>> weapons used by the Allies.
>>>
>>> The men believe this could be a factor in Gulf War Syndrome, the
>>> condition which thousands of soldiers say they developed after
>>> serving in the region.
>>>
>>> In Iraq, doctors also say children have been deformed by the same
>>> radiation.
>>>
>>> Shaun Rusling served in the Gulf War and today, he takes a dozen
>>> different drugs to treat a catalogue of illnesses, from chronic fatigue
>>> and post-traumatic stress disorder to problems with the nervous
>>> system and depression.
>>>
>>> Doctors have diagnosed him as suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.
>>>
>>> The Ministry of Defence says the syndrome as such does not
>>> exist, so Mr Rusling and two of his fellow Gulf veterans, Mike
>>> Kirkby and Mike Burrows, have been desperately seeking reasons
>>> for the illnesses since their return from the war zone.
>>>
>>> They say independent tests carried out in Canada revealing they
>>> and 13 other veterans have uranium radiation poisoning may at last
>>> provide some answers.
>>>
>>> Mr Rusling says: "Basically we have just been diagnosed with a
>>> bone disease...that is where depleted uranium finishes - in your
>>> bones.
>>>
>>> "I'm saddened by our treatment by the Ministry of Defence because
>>> we went out to do our job.
>>>
>>> "I treated Iraqi casualties with more care and compassion than this
>>> government has treated me," he adds.
>>>
>>> Mr Rusling believes it was while serving with a field hospital unit
>>> that he was exposed to depleted uranium in dust form.
>>>
>>> A by-product of weapons grade uranium, which in most forms is
>>> perfectly safe to handle, depleted uranium was used by British and
>>> American forces on the tips of missiles to devastating effect.
>>>
>>> Controversially, the veterans say they ingested tiny particles of the
>>> toxic metal after the missiles burned up in the atmosphere.
>>>
>>> Mr Kirkby says: "They were blowing locations up and we were
>>> driving through bodies and blown -up tanks. You were breathing all
>>> the smoke and the dust off the sand."
>>>
>>> In Iraq, there is no shortage of tragic stories about families whose
>>> children have a wide range of birth deformities.
>>>
>>> Professor Selma Al-Tah, a paediatrician in Baghdad, believes her
>>> studies demonstrate a link with depleted uranium and the many
>>> terrible genetic defects.
>>>
>>> "A lot of cases are really monsters. Some of them have no necks,
>>> their appearance or their facial appearance is completely
>>> distorted", she says.
>>>
>>> No matter how many examples there are of terrible deformities or
>>> leukemia, Iraq's hospitals are so badly off that proving a link with
>>> depleted uranium will be difficult, if not impossible, without the
>>> proper resources.
>>>
>>> But the fact that similar cases have also been identified among the
>>> families of British and American soldiers who served during the Gulf
>>> War, is regarded as too much of a coincidence.
>>>
>>> The Ministry of Defence's medical team is highly sceptical about
>>> these latest reports.
>>>
>>> However, a spokesman said it would be happy to study any new
>>> tests which may shed light on the many and varied conditions
>>> affecting Gulf War veterans.
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, families of veterans also criticised a government
>>> report, released last week, which said Gulf War Syndrome did not
>>> exist in the form of one condition.
>>>
>>> The report, by doctors working in the Ministry of Defence's Medical
>>> Assessment Programme and released last Thursday, said soldiers
>>> who fought in the 1991 war had developed illnesses, but no single
>>> psychological or physiological cause was found.
>>>
>>> The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association said the
>>> report was "an outrageous attempt to cover up Gulf War illness".
>>>
>>> Sandy Perle
>>> E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
>>> Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
>>>
>>> "The object of opening the mind, as of opening
>>> the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
>>> - G. K. Chesterton -
>>> ************************************************************************
>>> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
>>> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
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>>Tom Mohaupt, MS, CHP
>>Wright State University
>>Radiation Safety Officer
>>
>>Voice: (937) 775-2169
>>Fax: (937) 775-3301
>>E-mail: tom.mohaupt@wright.edu
>>Address: 104 Health Sciences Bldg, Wright State University
>> Dayton, OH 45435
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>>
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