Falluja doctors report rise in birth defects

[maddezmom]

Source: BBC

birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion.

The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.

Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.

The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area.

BBC world affairs editor John Simpson visited a new, US-funded hospital in Falluja where paediatrician Samira al-Ani told him that she was seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8548707.stm

---

B.C researcher probes soaring Iraq cancer rates.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 | 2:03 am

VANCOUVER – A researcher from Simon Fraser University is investigating childhood leukemia in southern Iraq, where the rate of the blood cancer in some areas is now four times that of neighbouring Kuwait.

Tim Takaro and his associates from the University of Washington, Mustansiriya University in Baghdad and Basrah University said in a newly published study that the rate of leukemia in children under 15 from Basrah rose to 8.5 cases per 100,000 from three per 100,000 over the 15-year study period. The rate in nearby Kuwait is two per 100,000.

The intensity and duration of armed conflict in Basrah has presented researchers with a natural laboratory to conduct their search for the causes of childhood leukemia, Takaro said.

Basrah was at the centre of nearly continuous armed conflict – including attacks by the U.S. military – during the 15-year period of data collection, which ended in 2007.

more: http://www.kelowna.com/2010/03/04/b-c-researcher-probes-soaring-iraq-cancer-rates/

[unhappycamper]

1. Here's a google seach showing some of the Fallujah damage from DU: ***CAUTION*** GRAPHIC PICS ***

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=depleted%20uranium%2Bfalluja&aql=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi


The reason "The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area" is because they are not looking. They same way they did not look with Agent Orange in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

[Donnachaidh]

2. Depleted Uranium, the gift that keeps on giving.

I wonder what the stats are for homecoming vets and their families? The first Gulf War had DU problems, too.

[Botany]

4. My neighbor's son is 30 and has brain cancer

He did 3 tours in Iraq

[EFerrari]

8. I read a study years ago that showed the only healthy people

in families of deployed military exposed to DU were the kids born before the deployment. :(

[ensho]

6. true - and the stats on this are being kept secret

nt

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

9. Utter nonsense.

The junk science that gets repeatedly uttered here about depleted uranium is shameful and embarrassing. Republicans are supposed to be the anti-science party.

Let me simplify it for you this way: the US dumps thousands of tons of UN-depleted uranium (i.e. worse than depleted) every year, far more than the total depleted uranium ordnance used in Iraq, near some of its own population centers. No uptick in birth defects, not even a noticeable variance in cancer. (Dumping thorium concentrates, on the other hand, increase cancer rates in local populations of the US by about 1%.) Depleted uranium is about as dangerous as many other metals used around your average household.


For birth defects, the culprit is almost certainly industrial contamination. Since it is widely documented that water supplies in Iraq are routinely contaminated with organic compounds with nasty mutagenic properties, it really does not seem necessary to invent a silly "depleted uranium" theory that is unsupported by science anyway.

[Amonester]

10. Link(s), please.

"the US dumps thousands of tons of UN-depleted uranium (i.e. worse than depleted) every year, far more than the total depleted uranium ordnance used in Iraq, near some of its own population centers. No uptick in birth defects, not even a noticeable variance in cancer."

A request for credible source link(s), please. Thanks.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

12. See: Department of Energy

This is not exactly news, the US government keeps and publishes record of it and tracks long-term health impacts.

The primary negative impact of natural radionuclide concentrates is a slight uptick in cancer rates for populations that live near thorium concentrates. Uranium concentrates have no noticeable health impact, in part because they tend not to travel in the environment. Hollywood notwithstanding, uranium is pretty harmless compared to other natural radioisotopes like radon.

[Amonester]

26. And I should believe the US government?

Why?

You do know that corruption is pervasive everywhere corporations would have $$$$$$$$$$ to lose, of course.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

27. Fair enough, but a lot of data is from the Clinton administration...

My own knowledge of the chemistry of these things makes it appear accurate at first blush.

[Amonester]

30. Yes, but the Clinton administration 'came' after the bush1.....

maladministration, which ... the reagan 'take-over' (if you know 'whadeyemean').

Nonetheless, foreign scientists (countries who follow International Law against D.U.) studies and reports might 'disagree'.

[Donnachaidh]

11. then if it's nonsense you can provide links to back up your bloviation?

Until then it's bloviation.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

17. Links to back up undergrad chemistry? Is science dead?

I'm a chemist by education and did nuclear/isotope chemistry for a year. This is elementary science. Do I need to provide links supporting the assertion that the earth orbits the sun? What the hell are they teaching people in school these days?

I am used to the idea that people have extremely nutty and irrational ideas about uranium and radioactive isotopes generally. We would sometimes have anti-nuclear idiots protesting the nuclear chemistry lab because they thought it had something to do with nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium in particular is pretty harmless as radioisotopes go and there are many other natural radioisotopes that we are exposed to every day that are as bad or worse that no one ever thinks twice about because they aren't called "uranium".


Ninnies get the vapors over uranium because of its association with nuclear weapons. Ironically, depleted uranium can't be used in nuclear weapons by definition (that's what "depleted" means). As a heavy metal, it is safer than a lot of other common heavy metals in our environment. There is no shortage of scientific literature on this, but apparently it is easier to be an anti-science kook than to learn science.

When Democrats go all nutty over depleted uranium, it is no less embarrassing and shameful than when climate change deniers in the Republican party froth at the mouth. I have no interest in being associated with anti-science kooks of any stripe.

[Botany]

18. Depleted Uranium has been shown to have radiological and toxicological ...

..... properties.

http://www.wise-uranium.org/pdf/duusfaq.pdf

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

19. Neither significant nor environmentally available.

It is no worse and sometimes better than many other heavy metals we litter our environment with.

One of the reasons uranium has no measurable health impact and thorium does is that uranium has relatively low availability in the environment whereas thorium does travel in the environment and get into things. Even so, the health impact of thorium is mild.

Regardless, Iraq is well-known to have bad problems with industrial organic chemical contamination which will have much stronger mutagenic action than depleted uranium or even thorium contamination.

[Botany]

20. No doubt that there were and still are many many many mutagenic agents ..

... in Iraq but that fact alone does not exclude D.U. as possible carcinogen or toxin in that
theater. One of the easy ways that D.U. could have gotten inside a person is by breathing
dust that contained particles of depleted uranium. Even though the radiation emitted
by D.U. is @ low levels and once it is inhaled then the alpha radiation produced will be in contact
w/ living tissue. This has been well documented w/ uranium miners who breathed in
"low level" radiation and inhaled radon and those miners had a very high level of lung cancers.

The toxicity of uranium it's self is documented too.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

21. Even metals like iron are teratogens.

Many common metals below the third row of the periodic table can cause birth defects. A few (like copper) have the opposite effect.

Radon is a particularly bad case because it is a non-reactive gas, allowing it to easily enter the lungs. A number of studies on radioisotope concentrates dumped in the US near population centers show that uranium components tend to not be very environmentally available. Unless you are bathing in it like a uranium miner, there tends not to be measurable toxic exposure. This is in contrast to elements like thorium which do tend to accumulate in bad ways.

[Botany]

23. Depleted Uranium is a long term environmental toxin and a proven human .....

.... health risk. You can talk about the periodic table, other heavy metals, or free radicals but none of that
"stuff" changes the fundamental fact that introducing large amounts of it into the environment can
and does carry measurable biological costs. Alpha radiation has been shown to damage the DNA
in living cells and those changes can cause mutations that can lead to cancer.


50 caliber rounds ..... fired by A-10 "Wart Hog" attack jets.

U.S. service personal have been shown to have it in their piss. (fact look @ PDF I posted a few messages back)

It can enter the body in a # of ways and that is a scientific fact. When a round of ammunition
that contains D.U. hits and fragments it sends thousands of little piece into the air and those
microscopic pieces can be inhaled and come into contact with lung tissue.

BTW please stop w/ the old fashioned "well it is just out there in very low levels so it can't hurt
you" b.s.. Biological magnification of environmental toxins is well documented in the scientific
literature.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

24. I'm not disagreeing with individual facts, but the case doesn't add up.

BTW, the A-10 fires 30mm depleted uranium rounds. The picture you posted is a conventional 50 caliber bullet.

People have no sane sense of the real relative risks. For example, you should look at the industrial usage of thorium in the US, which is a nastier radioactive metal with more cancer potential than depleted uranium. Even in this case, the OSHA limits for thorium vapor and dust exposure are far less restrictive than what anyone will accidentally expose themselves to in Iraq. And yet there is only a slight adverse impact on health.

Of course you can poison yourself with uranium. You can also poison yourself with iron, chromium, and all manner of other metals that are ubiquitous in our environment. And yet we don't, or at least not usually (accidental household chromium poisonings do happen). Why is that? Are we blaming your metal cookware for cancer and birth defects? Why not? Uranium is not a magic talisman that kills you with its mere presence, it takes substantial effort or stupidity be harmed by it. On the list of potential teratogens and carcinogens, it is way down the list.

The fact remains that the health risk does not add up to anything significant in real-world environments. Depleted uranium simply isn't all that available in the environment compared to numerous other heavy metals that are omnipresent on the battlefield and every bit as much of a cancer and birth defect risk. Many countries have done numerous studies of environmental exposure to uranium, and they all generally support the idea that there is no significant health impact primarily because it simply does not find its way into places where it can cause significant harm. Even uranium miners have as much risk from radon exposure as uranium.


I'm not saying there is no risk, just that compared to the other risks it is noise. There is no scientific reason to believe that a trivial amount of depleted uranium in the environment is causing a huge increase in birth defects or cancer. It doesn't work like that.

On the other hand, nasty industrial organics, dioxin, and things like that do have that impact. In fact, the general consensus is that the bombing of industrial chemical storage sites is probably responsible for the high levels of toxic organics in the ground water above and beyond the rather high background levels that already existed.

[Massacure]

39. Depleted Uranium is safe to touch.

When it impacts its target though it forms an pyrophoric aerosol. If the depleted uranium aerosol gets into peoples lungs, that is when it causes its damage. Soldiers are told to stay away from burned out tanks that have been hit by depleted uranium munitions.

[Mithreal]

32. You're funny. Suppose they dump it the same way.

Can't say what I really think about what you posted, especially wrapping it in science.

[demigoddess]

35. even if that were true, there is a difference between dumping DU and exploding it

all over the place. The lungs are a much quicker absorption route than anything. Cigarette smoke is another example.

[Botany]

3. Birth defects in Fallujah 'on the rise since U.S. operation'

Source: Daily Mail

A high level of children in Fallujah, Iraq, are born with birth defects, according to doctors and parents.

They blame the increase in deformities among children on weapons used by the U.S. during fierce battles i
n the city in 2004.

One hospital doctor told the BBC they now see two or three cases of birth defects every day.

The rise in abnormalities, which include babies being born with two heads, multiple tumours and nervous system problems, has
been noticed by specialists working in Fallujah's over-stretched health system.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1255312/Birth-defects-Fallujah-rise-U-S-operation.html

---

I heard part of this report on a BBC show being broadcast on NPR this morning. An Iraqi doctor was
quoted as saying people in Fallujah should not have children because of the chance of birth defects
are so great.

If you remember that it wasn't until after the stolen 2004 election that bush/Cheney/ Rummy ordered
the Fallujah offensive to be started. And why the anger @ the people of Fallujah? Because in the spring
of 2004 the people of Fallujah attacked and killed 2 Blackwater contractor workers after there had been
a brutal attack on some of the members of the community not long before the 2 Blackwater people had
been killed.

We sealed off the city and bombed the people w/ white phosphorous that burned people alive and used
lots of depleted uranium rounds too in our attack to "liberate" the city.

bush, Cheney, Rummy, and others need to be held accountable for these crimes but I doubt that anything
will happen.

[Botany]

22. delete

n/t

[Zoeisright]

5. Gee, what a surprise.

NOT.

More victims of the chimp and Mr. Potter. They need to be in the Hague. NOW.

[dipsydoodle]

7. BBC News - Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects

Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion.

The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.

Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8548707.stm

Repeat : 13 times higher than in Europe.

[maddezmom]

13. BBC has been running Simpson's interview all day

very sad :(

[dipsydoodle]

15. I picked it there late afternoon - not here

and then searched LBN before posting. Sad indeed.

May also have affected the troops too I'm guessing. :shrug:

[Bragi]

14. This is an unprosecuted war crime /nt

[dipsydoodle]

16. Would think it comes under

failure to take sufficient care of the civilian population which is a crime of aggression.

[hayu_lol]

25. Wonder how many of the birth defects can be traced to...

people drinking untreated river water. Almost all if not all of the treatment plants were destroyed. Everything gets dumped into the river.

Things have always been primitive over there.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

28. +1 they have huge problems with sewage in the water too. n/t

[Nihil]

34. Not so much "always" as "ever since the treatment plants were deliberately destroyed" (=war crimes)

> Almost all if not all of the treatment plants were destroyed.
> Things have always been primitive over there.

The treatment plants were working until "certain parties" decided to
bomb civilian facilities, "certain parties" decided to enforce an
illegal blockade of humanitarian aid and "certain parties" decided
to aggravate the situation immensely by starting an illegal war to
boost their profits.

[defendandprotect]

37. True -- one more "American War Crime" . . . !!!!

[Pavulon]

29. more bullshit. yesterday evil jew tungsten powder. today the same DU

used in bosnia. which the who found to be insignificant and others have found to be a political issue. dead horse.

[Hekate]

31. You are grossly ignorant on the topic of DU. Do a little research in the Archives. nt

[Pavulon]

33. Nope, handled it. Read the WHO account in bosnia, read the oncology journal

that classifies it is a political topic.

Its a heavy metal, like lead, don't eat it. This is at least the 4th time I've seen this article, one iteration claimed 1/4 of kids had gross defects. An obvious lie.

I will come back and link those if you have trouble finding them. The WHO article is easy to find and pretty clear about the effects of DU in a war zone.

More DU was used in Bosnia against hard targets, falluja was a Marine operation and there was not a lot of enemy armor there. Why would you fire DU? Why would you not fire an HE round to splatter bad guys.

All the footage I saw on liveleak showed crew served weapons firing HE. You can tell by the puffs and the white splatter of dead or dying targets 5 meters from where the round went. Thats HE, not DU.

[defendandprotect]

36. We've been spreading depleted uranium in Iraq for more than 20 years ... 25 years?

That was when we weren't bombing them!!

[Jamastiene]

38. I have friends who were in the first Persian Gulf War who have

had everything in the world wrong with them. They had Depleted Uranium in their armor. Now, they are too sick to enjoy life any at all. :(