Depleted Uranium in Iraq cause soaring cancer rates among U.S. coalition military personnel and civilians alike

Iraqi doctors believe that depleted uranium is responsible for a significant increase in cancer and birth defects in the region. Many researchers outside Iraq, and several U.S. veterans organizations, agree. Depleted Uranium (DU) has also resulted in Gulf War Syndrome, that has plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans.

Depleted uranium, known as DU, is a highly dense metal that is the by-product of the process during which fissionable uranium used to manufacture nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated from natural uranium. DU remains radioactive for about 4.5 billion years.

When a DU round hits its target, as much as 70 percent of the projectile can burn up on impact, creating a firestorm of ceramic DU oxide particles. The residue of this firestorm is an extremely fine ceramic uranium dust that can be spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the food chain.

Once lodged in the soil, the munitions can pollute the environment and create up to a hundredfold increase in uranium levels in ground water, according to the U.N. Environmental Program.

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