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[[Category:Nuclear PR]]'''Depleted' Uranium''' (DU) is a waste product left over when uranium is "enriched" to produce fissionable material for nuclear reactors and weapons. It consists of uranium from which most of the fissionable isotopes (uranium 235 and 234) have been removed. DU contains 99.5% Uranium 238.

While the term 'Depleted' implies it isn't particularly dangerous, DU is a chemically toxic, radioactive, heavy metal <ref>Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, [http://www.cadu.org.uk/intro.htm "What is Depleted Uranium?"], accessed December 2007.</ref> and as such is potentially hazardous to human health. It is widely believed that exposure to Depleted Uranium, especially when ingested or inhaled as a particulate, causes severe long term health effects in humans. The size of the effect and the political significance of it, however, are in dispute. DU is an extremely dense material. (1.7 times as dense as lead) It is also pyrophoric and as such cumbustible combustible when in contact with air.

DU is currently used by the [[defense industry]] in the manufacture of armor piercing munitions and anti-tank projectiles. It is also used in the manufacture of tank armor. At least 17 countries are thought to have weapon systems containing DU in their arsenals. These include: [[United Kingdom|UK]], US, [[France]], [[Russia]], [[Greece]], [[Turkey]], [[Israel]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Bahrain]], [[Oman]], [[Egypt]], [[Kuwait]], [[Pakistan]], [[Thailand]], [[China]], [[India ]] and [[Taiwan]]. Many of them were sold DU ammunition by the US while others, including France, Russia, Pakistan and India are thought to have developed it independently. <ref>International Coalition to Ban Depleted Uranium, [http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/151.html "Uranium Weapons Summary: A concise guide to uranium weapons, the science and their legal status"], November 22, 2007.</ref>

Supporters of DU weapons argue that the dangers of DU, particularly from radiation, are not as catastophic catastrophic as experts such as Dr. Bertell and Dr. Durakovic think. But many of these arguments lean heavily on two studies by the [[Rand Corporation ]] which were commissioned by the Department of Defense in 1999. <ref>Naomi H. Harley, Ernest C. Foulkes, Lee H. Hilborne, Arlene Hudson and C. Ross Anthony, [http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/cover.html A Review of the Scientific Literature As it Pertains to Gulf War Illness], RAND, 1999.</ref> [http://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P8066/]

The health concerns, particularly for those living in [[Iraq]], are particularly acute due to the young ages of those exposed. In a recent article, Sherwood Ross quotes noted anti-nuclear crusader Dr. Helen Caldicott:<blockquote> Much of the DU is in cities such as Baghdad where half the population of 5 million people are children who played in the burned out tanks and on the sandy, dusty ground... Children are 10 to 20 times more susceptible to the carcinogenic effects of radiation than adults. My pediatric collegues colleagues in Basra, where this ordnance was used in 1991, report a sevenfold increase in childhood cancer and a sevenfold increase in gross congenital abnormalities.[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7410]</blockquote> Although the Department of Defense continues to deny DU's health risks, it's own actions belie such claims. In a May 15, 2003 Christian Science Monitor article, Scott Peterson reports that in Iraq, "Six American vehicles struck with DU "friendly fire" in 1991 were deemed to be too contaminated to take home, and were buried in Saudi Arabia. Of 16 more brought back to a purpose-built facility in South Carolina, six had to be buried in a low-level radioactive waste dump."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0515/p01s02-woiq.html]

In case you wonder why DU never turns up on Army or regulatory websites about TCAAP, such as [[EPA]] [http://www.epa.gov/region5superfund/npl/minnesota/MN7213820908.htm]- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency MPCA doesnt doesn't even have a website on Minnesota's largest superfund site-: EPA contends, that DU did not get released into the environment, despite clear evidence to the contrary ( soil via sewer, air). Hence in EPA logic DU "clean" up is not part of the Superfund program at TCAAP. Neat! NRC contends no release in excess of their limits was found. With 350 supersacks of debris and soil of the demolished DU room awaiting disposal in Andrews, TX one can only wonder what this doublespeak means. Environmental crime in the US goes largely unpunished.

*[http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0003C801-90E4-1C75-9B81809EC588EF21 "The Science of the Silver Bullet"] -- Depleted uranium has been hailed as the military's new silver bullet and condemned as [[Kosovo]]'s Agent Orange; ''Scientific American'', 5 March 2001

While the government and the Department of Defense continues to deny DU poses health risks, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest the contrary.  Studies done by The Uranium Medical Research Center in [[Afghanistan]] are showing very high levels of "non-depleted" uranium in people, and bomb craters, there.[http://www.umrc.net/os/downloads/AfghanistanOEF.pdf]  Out of the 700,000 US veterans of the first Gulf War more than 240,000 are on permanent medical disability and 11,000 are now dead! [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7410]

Out A special investigation by [[Democracy Now!]] co-host Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News has found four of nine soldiers of the 700,000 US veterans 442nd Military Police Company of the New York Army National Guard returning from Iraq tested positive for depleted uranium contamination. They are the first Gulf War more than 240confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict. After repeatedly being denied testing for depleted uranium from Army doctors,000 are on permenant medical disability and 11,000 are now dead! the soldiers contacted The News who paid to have them tested as part of their investigation.[http://www.globalresearchdemocracynow.caorg/indexarticle.phppl?contextsid=va&aid=741004/04/05/1356248]

A special investigation An April 14, 2007 study by Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News has found four of nine soldiers of the 442nd Military Police Company of the New York Army National Guard returning from Iraq tested positive for depleted uranium contamination. They are researchers at the first confirmed cases University of inhaled depleted uranium Southern Maine concluded that "exposure from the current Iraq conflict. After repeatedly being denied testing for depleted uranium from Army doctors, the soldiers contacted The News who paid to have them tested as part particulate DU may pose a significant genotoxic risk ''(risk of their investigationgenetic mutation)'' and could possibly result in lung cancer."[http://wwwportal.democracynowacs.org/article.pl?sid=04portal/04acs/05corg/1356248content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=223&content_id=CTP_003889&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1#P38_1605]

In a paper to be published in the 2007 issue of the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment, a team led by Professor Randall Parrish of Leicester University found high concentrations of DU particles in soil, stream sediments and household dust in the vicinity of the site of a DU weapons factory in Colonie New York, 23 years after the plant closed, despite massive clean up efforts by the US Army corps of engineers. The team also found that traces of DU contamination still remain in the urine of former workers and neighbors of the plant.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2212930,00.html] There is also no shortage of personal anecdotal evidence of personal trauma associated with DU. [http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du_colloneng.htm ]  Perhaps the most compelling evidence of all is the sheer number of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts suffering physical ailments. In an April 12, 2007 article, Robert C. Koehler examines the issue: <blockquote>We know about the VA scandal, the great betrayal, but what almost no one talks about are the numbers. According to [[U.S. Veterans Administration|Veterans Administration]] figures from last November, 205,000 GIs who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, a third of the total, have sought medical care, for such problems as malignant tumors (1,584), endocrinal and metabolic diseases (36,409), nervous system diseases (61,524), digestive system diseases (63,002), musculoskeletal diseases (87,590), and mental disorders (73,157), among many other conditions. One of the largest categories is "ill defined,"WHO HAS BEEN CONCEALING THE DANGERS OF DEPLETED URANIUM FOR THE LAST TEN YEARSa.k.a. mystery conditions (67,743). In comparison, AND WHYa relatively small number (35,765) have sought VA care for injuries.[http://www.spiderednews.com/GulfWarSyndromedepleteduranium_I.htm?url=@http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6731]</blockquote> Often lumped together under the convenient "catch all" heading of [[Gulf War Syndrome]], it is highly likely that at least some of these illnesses are due to DU exposure. As the effects of DU contamination take up to ten years to manifest themselves, it is also likely the number of veterans requiring medical care will be higher than that from previous conflicts.

* [http://www.Gulfwarvets.com/du.htm Gulf War Syndrome: Depleted Uranium], ''Gulfwarvets.com'' a compendium of articles and reference material.