DU? How has it harmed the middle east and other countries?

Question

What was DU used for? What made it necessary?

In what form (artillery?? etc) was it delivered to the affected areas?

Describe the physics involved in causing the DU from an item the military could use without any perceived negative biological effects to become a harmful presence affecting the lives of the people in the area.

What areas were immediately harmed?

Where other countries where the weapons weren't used affected, if any?

Do you feel the use of DU had adverse health effects or do you disagree?

Answer 1

DU, or depleted uranium, is basically uranium that has lost 99% of its radioactivity so its judged harmless. It is STILL the densest metal in the world, and thus, it is great as armor-piercing material. As the other guy said, DU rounds are used in both M2 Bradley chain guns and in the Abrams tank main guns.

By long term, I mean 20-200 years, perhaps longer.

The main complaint about DU rounds is that its LONG term effects on health is unknown. While it has no practical radioactivity, the dense metal cannot be metabolized by any animals body and thus will accumulate within the body. And thus will ultimately end up in the consumer, namely, humans.

DU rounds, despite being so dense and can punch through most known materials, will break, and as it impacts the target, it will generate dust particles of itself, scraped off the surface and such. It's the dust that worries a lot of people, as dust can be blown long distances.

Answer 2

I don't how it damaged anything.
I was a Bradley Fighting Vehicle gunner in Iraq in 2003 and we used DU (depleted uranium) in our armor piercing rounds because they penetrated armor more easily than standard AP rounds.
I handled DU every day for 8 months and fired over two hundred rounds of it and was exposed to exploding DU rounds.

I'm okay.

Answer 3

It was used to harden armor piercing shells and is Ok until the shells are fired. When they fragment they release the radioactivity and the pieces of shell lie around on the ground where they are picked up by children and collected for scrap metal. These people become very ill.

Answer 4

I loved Oman. I went there for ten days and loved each minute of it. there is two large inns in Muscat -- Al Bustan and the Chedi. The Chedi became superbly zen with an excellent spa and eating position. I visited countless previous forts around the rustic, and went on a camel safari in the desolate tract. I also went to a turtle hatching conservation challenge in Ras some thing on the coast and it became acceptable surroundings. I referred to parts of the rustic the position previous Omani households had left for Zanzibar (and ought to listen lines of Swahili spoken in some parts). I went to a friday farm animals marketplace with bedouins and referred to countless previous adult males in classic dress with the Omani dagger. I referred to Bedouin women in colourful robes and black mask. I went to some wadis and warm springs. I referred to classic dhows in the harbors. everywhere I went, human beings were pleasant and stated hi or waved. I not often referred to the different western vacationers. this is sparkling and present day at the same time as at the same time, very pleased with its historic previous and traditions. this is an excellent blend of previous and new and that i counsel it to everybody. I also loved all my go back and forth in Syria -- even with each of the media and political images, it really is a outstanding position with large human beings, nutrition, historic internet sites, and so on. To be honest, the actually position i did not fairly like in the Mideast became Kuwait because it regarded too Texan to me yet everywhere else -- Egypt, Jordan, Dubai (more desirable like Las Vegas), Turkey, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Israel and Palestine were relaxing and fantastic vacation journeys for various motives. I nonetheless want to visit Iran and Yemen. no longer constructive if Libya is seen Mideast yet would also opt to pass there. I actually were to Iraq and seen a number of its previous cities yet would not visit now till issues are calmer. playstation : i'm American.

Answer 5

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.

Depleted uranium is not a significant health hazard unless it is taken into the body. External exposure to radiation from depleted uranium is generally not a major concern because the alpha particles emitted by its isotopes travel only a few centimeters in air or can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Also, the uranium-235 that remains in depleted uranium emits only a small amount of low-energy gamma radiation. According to the World Health Organization, a radiation dose from it would be about 60% of that from purified natural uranium with the same mass.

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.)

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 health 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.

Gulf War syndrome

Increased rates of immune system disorders and other wide-ranging symptoms have been reported in combat veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. It has not always been clear whether these were related to Gulf War service, but combustion products from depleted uranium munitions is still being considered as a potential cause by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, as DU was used in tank kinetic energy penetrator and machine-gun bullets on a large scale for the first time in the Gulf War.

Most experts in health physics consider it unlikely that depleted uranium has any connection with the Gulf War Syndrome if such an illness exists at all. 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 from Los Alamos and the New England Journal of Medicine [12].