Subject: [du-list] BALKANS
SYNDROME FALLOUT
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:34:35 EST
From: Magnu96196@aol.com
Reply-To: du-list@egroups.com
To:
DOEWatch@onelist.com, Downwinders@onelist.com, du-list@egroups.com
Source:
<"http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/22068.htm">
List of illnesses
Known
Illnesses caused by internalisation of DEPLETED URANIUM
by
Inhalation and/or Swallowing DU PARTICLES
========================================================
BALKANS SYNDROME FALLOUT
January 23,2001
By PETER FEARON
THE first crisis facing incoming Secretary of State Colin Powell and
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may be triggered by the mounting
concern over our use of nuclear-tipped weapons.
British, Italian, Belgian, French, Dutch, Czech, Spanish and Portuguese
soldiers who served with NATO in Kosovo and Bosnia have been afflicted
with
"Balkans Syndrome" - a range of cancers, leukemia and mystery ailments
said
to be caused by the weapons.
Twenty soldiers have died, and dozens more are gravely ill.
"I have been reduced to nothing by this," says Kevin Rudland, 41, a
former
British soldier serving in Bosnia who has a mystery wasting disease
that
has turned him from a fit, active veteran to a near invalid.
"I don't know what my future holds."
A link between the mysterious illnesses and the American military's
use of
weapons containing depleted uranium has not been proved, but the issue
has
caused divisions within the NATO alliance.
Italy, Germany and Norway have called for a ban on the weapons, and
Australia and Canada have expressed concern about a possible danger
to their troops. Several other NATO countries have begun screening
their soldiers for Balkans Syndrome.
No U.S. casualties have been reported with Balkans Syndrome, but tens
of
thousands of Gulf War vets have fallen victim to a similar range of
diseases and symptoms known as Gulf War Syndrome.
Joyce Riley, a nurse, Gulf War veteran and former Air Force captain
who
founded the American Gulf War Veterans Association says it's only a
matter
of time before American victims of Balkans Syndrome emerge.
"About six months ago, I started getting phone calls from vets returning
from the Balkans saying they had he same symptoms as the Gulf War vets
- chronic
fatigue, migraine headaches, depression," she said.
She added that she has no doubt NATO soldiers in the Balkans had been
poisoned by depleted-uranium weapons just as U.S. soldiers were poisoned
in
the Gulf.
"The only science is being done by the Pentagon," she told The Post.
"The
Pentagon continues to insist that the Gulf War veterans aren't even
sick,
that they are only suffering from stress. But these are people who
eat
stress for breakfast."
THE Pentagon regards the depleted-uranium weapons as an essential part
of
the U.S. arsenal and is determined to keep them from becoming the focus
of
global protests. The weapons are among the factors that make America's
conventional forces superior to all others.
"We have studied depleted uranium at considerable length over the years
because of assertions that it might contribute to Gulf War illness,"
said
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon.
"But we have not been able to find any connection between exposure to
depleted uranium on the one hand and the constellation of illnesses
or
symptoms on the other hand."
A State Department source said the controversy over depleted uranium
is
powerful anti-American propaganda for Iraq and other enemies and potential
enemies of the United States.
"It's no accident that Iraq and Yugoslavia are among the countries calling
for a ban on these weapons," the source said.
In 1999, U.S. A-10 Warthog aircraft fired about 31,000 uranium-tipped
rounds in about 100 missions in 20 separate locations in Kosovo. A
further 11,000
shells were fired in Bosnia in 1995, and almost a million were fired
in
Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991.
Depleted uranium is a form of low-level nuclear waste, a by-product
of the
manufacture of weapons-grade uranium.
It is very dense and extremely heavy, and turns into a searing fireball
on
impact, making it a highly effective weapon against tanks and armored
vehicles. The uranium-tipped shells cut through tank armor the way
regular
bullets go through cardboard.
As both Iraqi and Serbian armored brigades have learned, it is almost
impossible to survive an attack.
Depleted uranium is also used as armor plate in U.S. tanks and is a
highly
effective defense against conventional bullets and shells. It is less
radioactive than uranium in its natural state.
But when it burns it becomes a very fine dust the consistency of flour.
Doctors believe that if this dust is ingested or inhaled it can stay
in the
body and cause serious health problems.
SCIENTISTS are divided about the health risks of depleted uranium. Although
the level of radioactivity is low, once lodged in the body the effect
becomes cumulative.
"We are aware of the European concerns, and we are working closely with
our
allies," Bacon said.
"But, having said that, we do not believe that our troops, who have
been
using depleted uranium rounds, we do not believe that it has led to
adverse
health consequences."
The Pentagon has also denied an association between Gulf War Syndrome
and
the use of depleted uranium against Iraq.
Like the Pentagon and NATO, the United Nations is eager to quash suspicion
about depleted-uranium weapons. A U.N. investigation is under way,
and a
report is expected in the spring.
Several NATO countries have sent their own team of experts to Kosovo
battle
zones to study levels of depleted uranium at the sites where groups
of
Serbian tanks were destroyed.
Bernard Kouchner, Kosovo's chief U.N. administrator, has played down
the
risks of depleted uranium at existing sites where children sometimes
play
among the wreckage of burned-out tanks and armored vehicles.
"Risk exists, but in my humble experience as a French health minister
for
10 years, I think there is no serious risk."
At the same time, Italian biological- and chemical-warfare specialists
examining the sites wear protective clothing and breathing apparatus,
indicating that they at least felt precautions were necessary.
=========================================================
Comments:
The problem with DU is that it is an insoluble
metal oxide, UO2, that
has very long retention time in the lungs and the body, 10-15 years
biological half-life. Metal oxides and DU tend to
bioconcentrate in the
lymph nodes due to the action of white cells and macrophages on the
cells
damaged by DU, producing the highest toxic concentrations in lymph
nodes.
This immune system effect bioconcentrates the DU into the lymph nodes
and
system, where it impairs the immune protecting cells by giving them
a toxic
cells pool of metals and free radical products in the highest
concentrations in the body.
This missing data part of the DU health effect equation
was
intentionally omitted by places like Oak Ridge that recommended only
urine
testing in evaluation of DU toxic effects, while well knowing the other
mechanism
existed and wanted to hide that effect. Hide the
effects in order to get
rid of its' DU problems by using it as AP ammo.
List of illnesses:
Known
Illnesses caused by internalisation of DEPLETED URANIUM
by
Inhalation and/or Swallowing DU PARTICLES