What do you think of vet's who have radiation sickness from depleted uranium?

Answer 1

The element uranium is just a couple of notches over from plutonium--one of the most toxic elements to humanity. We may have deadly allergies to peanuts or a tiny piece of bee or wasp venom injected into a human's skin. Unseen mold in the walls of a house can kill, as can radon buildup in a house basement. I suspect that there is real potential for a real problem for some. There are people who can smoke a little and die of lung cancer in their teens (I've know one such unfortunate soul), or can smoke for all of a long, long life and never show a problem. Is it possible that vets get sick from depleted uranium?--absolutely.

Answer 2

Oh please. It is called depleted uranium for a reason. It has less radioactive uranium than naturally occuring uranium. No, not all uranium is radioactive. You get more radiation exposure flying in a jet plane, smoking a cigarette, eating a banana, or messing with a latern mantle than you would handling depleted uranium. Of course, depleted uranium is meant to be dangerous in the 2000 foot per second form. That is when it leaves big smoking holes in you.

Answer 3

There is no hard evidence that exposure to DU causes sickness. I transport natural uranium ore for many years. It would take one two weeks of sitting 24/7 on a pile of uranium ore to reach the recommended annual exposure limit for the general public. Opponents to DU should stop reading internet hype and study real science.

Answer 4

It's called Depleted--there is no longer any radiation. Stop listening to Michael Moore on anti military crap.

Answer 5

Stop spamming your DU and nuke questions and just come out to say you hate the US military and you have an agenda in your questions. It'll save us all a lot of time and trouble.

At least your ignorance and bias is worth another 2 points to me.

Answer 6

not only vets. i worried about civilians too
millions of lebanese have received high dose of depleted uranium radiation, as IDF used it to bomb 'suspected hizbullah strongholds' across all parts of lebanon

Answer 7

That they don't exist... You do realize that we use DU in training also... no problems yet.

Thanks for all the points answering your idiotic questions

Answer 8

I worry about all our Veterans but esp. those who came back
with injuries of any kind.

Answer 9

Health consideration
The radiological dangers of pure depleted uranium are relatively low, lower (60%) than those of naturally-occurring uranium due to the removal of the more radioactive isotopes, as well as due to its long half-life (4.46 billion years). Depleted uranium differs from natural uranium in its isotopic composition, but its biochemistry is for the most part the same.

For further details see Actinides in the environment.
Health effects of DU are determined by factors such as the extent of exposure and whether it was internal or external. Three main pathways exist by which internalization of uranium may occur: inhalation, ingestion, and embedded fragments or shrapnel contamination. Properties such as phase (e.g. particulate or gaseous), oxidation state (e.g. metallic or ceramic), and the solubility of uranium and its compounds influence their absorption, distribution, translocation, elimination and the resulting toxicity. For example, metallic uranium is relatively non-toxic compared to hexavalent uranium(VI) compounds such as uranyl nitrate. (See «Gmelin Handbuch der anorganischen Chemiek» 8th edition, English translation, Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry, vol. U-A7 (1982) pp. 300-322.)

Uranium is pyrophoric when finely divided. It will corrode under the influence of air and water producing insoluble uranium(IV) and soluble uranium(VI) salts. Soluble uranium salts are toxic. Uranium accumulates in several organs, such as the liver, spleen, and kidneys. The World Health Organization has established a daily "tolerated intake" of soluble uranium salts for the general public of 0.5 µg/kg body weight (or 35 µg for a 70 kg adult.)

The chemical toxicity of uranium salts is greater than their radiological toxicity. Its radiological hazards are dependent on the purity of the uranium, and there has been some concern that depleted uranium produced as a by-product of nuclear reprocessing may be contaminated with more dangerous isotopes: this should not be a concern for depleted uranium produced as tailings from initial uranium enrichment.

Early scientific studies usually found no link between depleted uranium and cancer, and sometimes found no link with increases in the rate of birth defects, but newer studies have and offered explanation of birth defect links. There is no direct proof that uranium causes birth defects in humans, but it induces them in several other species of mammals, and human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in the offspring of persons exposed to DU.[12]. Environmental groups and others have expressed concern about the health effects of depleted uranium[13], and there is significant debate over the matter. Some people have raised concerns about the use of this material, particularly in munitions, because of its proven mutagenicity [14], teratogenicity [15],[16] in mice, and neurotoxicity [17], and its suspected carcinogenic potential, because it remains radioactive for an exceedingly long time with a half-life of approximately 4.5 billion years; and because it is also toxic in a manner similar to lead and other heavy metals.

Early studies of depleted uranium aerosol exposure assumed that uranium combustion product particles would quickly settle out of the air[18] and thus could not affect populations more than a few kilometers from target areas[19], and that such particles, if inhaled, would remain undissolved in the lung for a great length of time and thus could be detected in urine[20]

By contrast, other studies have shown that DU ammunition has no measurable detrimental health effects, either in the short or long term. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in 2003 that, "based on credible scientific evidence, there is no proven link between DU exposure and increases in human cancers or other significant health or environmental impacts," although "Like other heavy metals, DU is potentially poisonous. In sufficient amounts, if DU is ingested or inhaled it can be harmful because of its chemical toxicity. High concentration could cause kidney damage." [21]

In October, 1992, an El Al Boeing 747-F cargo aircraft crashed in a suburb of Amsterdam. After reports of local residents and rescue workers complaining of heath issues related to the release of depleted uranium used as counterbalance in the plane, authorities began an epidemiological study in 2000 of those believed to be affected by the accident. The study concluded that because exposure levels were so low, it was highly improbable that exposure to depleted uranium was the cause of the reported health complaints.

[edit]
Gulf War syndrome
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.
A two year study headed by Sandia National Laboratories’ Al Marshall analyzed potential health effects associated with accidental exposure to depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War. Marshall’s study concluded that the reports of serious health risks from DU exposure are not supported by veteran medical statistics and were consistent with earlier studies form Los Alamos and the New England Journal of Medicine [11].

Further evidence against the role of DU used in combat in causing human illness comes from another war zone. If DU caused health problems in the Gulf War zone, it would be expected to do so in other warzones, but this has not proven true. In the Balkans, "independent investigations by the World Health Organization, European Commission, European Parliament, United Nations Environment Programme, United Kingdom Royal Society, and the Health Council of the Netherlands have all have discounted any association between depleted uranium and leukemia or other medical problems among Balkans veterans."

Bottom line is yes there's some toxicity like there is in a thousand products we encounter in everyday life. There is danger to your liver if you expose your skin to gasoline for very long...do you want to quit driving? DU saves lives by making more effective armor and increasing our ability to damage the enemy. Do you want to risk American lives by getting rid of it?