A lack of information poisons inhabitants
People can only protect themselves if they are aware of risks. The lack of information about where depleted uranium weapons have been used is an indirect cause of disease and death among an uninformed population. Those that have used
uranium weapons must make known where and how much DU has been used. Otherwise, protection is impossible.
The USA and UK used uranium munitions during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars. One of the greatest problems faced by the Iraqi authorities and its population is the refusal of the U.S. to release data on where the weapons were used. The UK government, however, did provide information but used less DU than the U.S.
The lack of information from the U.S. means that Iraqi and international experts now face the daunting task of searching for contaminated areas. The lack of information has made it impossible to implement timely preventive measures, such as informing the population and cordoning off contaminated areas.
In 2010, the Iraqi Department of the Environment published a map showing 42
heavily contaminated areas. Three years previously, after examining four contaminated areas, the environmental agency UNEP had come to the conclusion that there was no risk of irradiation, provided people did not climb onto irradiated tanks, spend any length of time in the vicinity of such tanks, touch projectile shells or recycle scrap metal from a military source.
But the actual reality looks quite different: in a post-war environment, children play
on the ruins of warfare. Also, old vehicles and weapons are refashioned and put to new uses.
In order to avoid irradiated objects and areas, you first need to know where they are.
The health effects of uranium munitions are in dispute
Physicians in Basrah’s Maternity Hospital were the first to notice a significantly higher incidence of childhood leukaemia and increasing numbers of deformities in newborn babies. In March 2013, the BBC broadcasted a documentary about this appalling situation. In the film, a representative of the Iraqi health department said there had been a sharp rise in the incidence of congenital malformations.
However, according to a preliminary report published with the support of WHO in September 2013, the Iraqi Ministry of Health claimed that no evidence for an increased incidence of congenital malformations had been found. The German affiliates of IPPNW and ICBUW (International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons) are
critical of this statement. The study design that was used, previous results, as well as earlier contradictory statements by high-ranking officials from the Iraqi Ministry
of Health, raise a number of questions.
While it is known that uranium munitions were used in the Basrah area, the U.S. has denied using them in Fallujah during the second siege of the city. However, an alarming rise in neonatal deformities has been documented since 2009 – physicians
have found a 15-fold increase.
Children have been born without brains, with cardiac anomalies or other severe
malformations. In 2010, an investigation revealed a 38-fold increase in the incidence
of cancer. Investigators suspect that uranium weapons were used in the 2004
clash with rebels – however, this suspicion could not be confirmed so far.
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