Posted on 10/19/2004 7:37:44 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - A Pentagon-sponsored study of weapons made from depleted uranium, a substance whose use has attracted environmental protests around the world, has concluded that it is neither toxic enough nor radioactive enough to be a health threat to soldiers in the doses they are likely to receive.
In a five-year, $6 million study, researchers fired depleted uranium projectiles into Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks, in a steel chamber at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, and measured the levels of uranium in the air and how quickly the particles settled.
The conclusion, said Dr. Michael E. Kilpatrick, deputy director of the Deployment Health Support Directorate of the Defense Department, is that "this is a lethal but safe weapons system."
The new study did not seek to measure how depleted uranium traveled through the environment or its potential for entering drinking water or crops.
But it did measure how quickly uranium that is inhaled was passed through the body. Lt. Col. Mark A. Melanson, the program manager for health physics at the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, said that the aerosolized particles of depleted uranium were "moderately soluble," and that inhaled particles would dissolve in lung fluids and eventually pass through the kidneys and enter the urine, with half the uranium being excreted in 10 to 100 days. Uranium that is eaten would pass through far faster and with little absorption, Colonel Melanson said.
He said the long-term risks were tiny compared with the risk of being killed outright by the weapon.
The study, conducted by contractors led by the Battelle Memorial Institute, is scheduled to be released Tuesday. Dr. Kilpatrick said the test results and the findings would be publicly posted for peer review.
But opponents of using depleted uranium, who have not yet seen the study, were skeptical of the findings.
"We do know that depleted uranium is radioactive and toxic," said Tara Thornton, of the Military Toxics Project, a nonprofit group in Lewiston, Me., which seeks to clean up military pollution. "Studies have shown health impacts on rats and other things." Depleted uranium is a byproduct of nuclear weapons production. It is almost entirely a form called Uranium 238, which is left after the more valuable Uranium 235, the kind useful in bombs and reactors, has been removed. Depleted uranium is 1.7 times more dense than lead and penetrates armor easily.
The United States military has never confronted an opponent that used depleted uranium. Most exposure to American military personnel has been a result of fire from their own forces.
Low risk?
Welll, depends if you are on the recieving end of a DU Sabot or 25mm round!
LOL
From time to time, I’ll post or ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
An exqample of money spent wisely. Better spend $6 Mil for a paper study than spend Billions to cleanup proving grounds across U.S. of A and elsewhere, and splurge for replacing DU with expensive Tungsten ammo.
Heck, in the 1890's Radiaton was not considered dangerous at all. People used to make 'radiograms' at traveling shows. Even Nobel-laureate Maria Currie thought the same.
Since now we have a proof about DU not being dangerous, perhaps it is good time to revive 1950s concept and use DU for household items (heaters ovens, even children bicucles) DU is cheap, abundant and harmless. /sarcasm off
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
There have been several studies. DU is only slightly more dangerous than lead. It certainly is not cheap or plentiful, but it certainly is far, far more effective as an armor penetrator than other materials, because it is so hard and so dense, much more so than even tungsten.
From a quick search on the web, I found tungsten to be about $7 a pound, and Uranium to be about $20 a pound.
If the military had not done a study, then tinfoil hat types would be saying they didn't do a study so that they could coverup the problem.
Tom says: One of the benefits of depleted uranium siding is that it generally requires less maintenance than traditional aluminum siding. It holds paint very well, so you don't have to worry about repainting it often. However, you do have to prep it carefully first, and if you don't, you may be exposing yourself to a potential health hazard. Depleted uranium's greater weight helps it hold up better during windstorms... [read more at www.du-siding.com]
/sarcasm off
Tom says: One of the benefits of depleted uranium siding is that it generally requires less maintenance than traditional aluminum siding. It holds paint very well, so you don't have to worry about repainting it often. However, you do have to prep it carefully first, and if you don't, you may be exposing yourself to a potential health hazard. Depleted uranium's greater weight helps it hold up better during windstorms... [read more at www.du-siding.com]
/sarcasm off
DU is a heavy metal. Continuous exposure is not recomended. However, I would much preffer to be in a tank with Chobham/DU armor and DU shells than in one with rolled steel.
There have been several studies. DU is only slightly more dangerous than lead. It certainly is not cheap or plentiful, but it certainly is far, far more effective as an armor penetrator than other materials, because it is so hard and so dense, much more so than even tungsten.
From a quick search on the web, I found tungsten to be about $7 a pound, and Uranium to be about $20 a pound.
If the military had not done a study, then tinfoil hat types would be saying they didn't do a study so that they could coverup the problem.
A while back, I was doing some research on the illness and Iraq's nuclear sites. I located a hand out on dealing with DU. The government can't just pick up millions of spent ord. But the info was that DU is quite toxic to humans. I try to find and post.
Your sarcasm is noted. Let's take it up a notch: What if siding installers were installing them and not taking any precautions that were known to the manufacture, but not those risks were not disclosed?
No wonder the DEmoncrap party don't like it.
DU is not Uranium. It is waste from spent nuclear fuel used in Nuclear reactors (that's where Plutonium in DU came from)
Perhaps that $20/pound is disposal fee, not cost of DU as a scrap metal.
Gulf War syndrome does exist, says report By James Burleigh
17 October 2004
Gulf War syndrome has been demonstrated to exist by scientists in the US, according to The New York Times, quoting a report by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses.
In the report, which was leaked to the paper, Professor Beatrice Golomb, the committee's chief scientist, said that exposure to particular substances during the 1990-91 war may have affected some soldiers' body chemistry. It added that the troops' health problems were definitely caused by contact with toxic chemicals rather than stress or psychiatric illness.
Professor Golombe told Radio 4's Today programme: "Gulf war veterans really are ill at an elevated degree, and several studies bring consistent findings that about 25 to 30 per cent of those who were deployed are ill."
Noel Baker, the secretary of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Benevolent Association in Britain, described the findings as "explosive".
Mr Baker said: "This is senior research. It's not by any private venture or by someone with an axe to grind."
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the leaked report.
I went to a medical conference. One of the topics was WMD. During the Q & A, I asked a former Surgeon General for the U.S. Army, what's the toxicity with depleted uranium? He said it was beceause it's a heavy metal it can be toxic to the kidneys.
If the stuff burns, i.e hits something, and the vapor is inhaled it's very toxic to the lungs as well. Also, as from my previous post, DU shrapnel will cause all sorts of blood and nervous system damage.
They Brits are phasing out there DU stocks, as is Russia IIRC.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.