Depleted Uranium and the United States Military

[Theodore Kurita]

I am pretty sure that this hasn't been hitting major news yet, I won't be suprised if it does after the War in Iraq is over with though.

Depleted Uranium is what is currently being used to build tanks, and make bullets for US Troops to use.

There has been some suspicion that it may be a primary cause of the "Gulf War Syndrome"

The Christian Science Monitor has been doing a really good series of well researched articles on that that can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/uranium/index.html?leftNavInclude


I personally am against the use of DU after researching its potential effects.

However, I am going to leave this discussion open ended.

Please feel free to add your opinion.

 

[Virgil]

I was under the impression that the Army was going away from U to W instead.

Virgil

 

[Ziggurat]

I read through one of those articles. I'm quite disappointed by the fact that they didn't note that background radiation exposure is around 300 millirad/year. It's quite hard to interpret the numbers if you don't really know what they mean, and just giving the US government limits (which are extremely conservative, understandably) doesn't help much without at least some context. Of course, even knowing that isn't especially helpful in evaluating what the risk levels really are, but I would have considered that a minimum piece of info to include.

 

[aerocontrols]

I personally am against the use of DU after researching its potential effects.

I would like to see the research you've seen.

Please feel free to add your opinion.

I think we should use DU as required, based on my own research and prior discussions we've had on these boards.

Here
and
Here

For instance.

 

[Segnosaur]

There has been some suspicion that it may be a primary cause of the "Gulf War Syndrome"

There is a very good possibility that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't really exist. If you look at http://www.fumento.com/sugulf.html you'll see:

According to the American Journal of Epidemiology : It found that among hospitalized veterans, Gulf War vets are suffering no more illness than veterans who didn't deploy to the Gulf theater (See: With Gulf War Syndrome, No Disease Is No News)

If soldiers are getting sick because they've been exposed to Depleted Uranium, it isn't showing up in the statistics.

 

[WildCat]

Re: Re: Depleted Uranium and the United States Military

There is a very good possibility that Gulf War Syndrome doesn't really exist. If you look at http://www.fumento.com/sugulf.html you'll see:

According to the American Journal of Epidemiology : It found that among hospitalized veterans, Gulf War vets are suffering no more illness than veterans who didn't deploy to the Gulf theater (See: With Gulf War Syndrome, No Disease Is No News)

If soldiers are getting sick because they've been exposed to Depleted Uranium, it isn't showing up in the statistics.

Oh, it exists alright. Joint pain, lack of energy, etc. But it has nothing to do w/ the Gulf War, it has to do w/ not being 21 yo anymore.

 

[Luke T.]

DU causing Gulf War Syndrome. Yeah. Because every soldier is exposed to it!

Get real.

 

[Virgil]

what about the guy that claimed to puke day-glo yellow vomit every day...oh wait no one ever saved a sample for chemical analysis and I guess he doesn't puke it up anymore.

gulf war illness syndrome in general is a real disease, a mental health issue.



Virgil

 

[Tricky]

The DU controversy is not new, but it doesn't seem to inspire outrage in too many people. However, if DU were used against the US troops, I feel sure that Americans would be screaming "dirty bomb!" and claiming we had found WMDs.

 

[Luke T.]

TK, I've debunked this GWS crap several times on here.

Read this.

To assess the long-term health consequences of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the authors compared causespecific
mortality rates of 621,902 Gulf War veterans with those of 746,248 non-Gulf veterans, by gender, with
adjustment for age, race, marital status, branch of service, and type of unit. Vital status follow-up began with the
date of exit from the Persian Gulf theater (Gulf veterans) or May 1, 1991 (control veterans). Follow-up for both
groups ended on the date of death or December 31, 1997, whichever came first. Cox proportional hazards
models were used for the multivariate analysis. For Gulf veterans, mortality risk was also assessed relative to
the likelihood of exposure to nerve gas at Khamisiyah, Iraq. Among Gulf veterans, the significant excess of
deaths due to motor vehicle accidents that was observed during the earlier postwar years had decreased
steadily to levels found in non-Gulf veterans. The risk of death from natural causes remained lower among Gulf
veterans compared with non-Gulf veterans. This was mainly accounted for by the relatively higher number of
deaths related to human immunodeficiency virus infection among non-Gulf veterans. There was no statistically
significant difference in cause-specific mortality among Gulf veterans relative to potential nerve gas exposure.
The risk of death for both Gulf veterans and non-Gulf veterans stayed less than half of that expected in their
civilian counterparts. The authors conclude that the excess risk of mortality from motor vehicle accidents that was
associated with Gulf War service has dissipated after 7 years of follow-up.

It has been found that the mortality rates for military vets is actually lower than for civilians. Probably because they are in better physical condition. The only area where military vets have a higher rate of mortality is in the area of traffic accidents, which is understandable because of long deployments where they aren't exercising their driving skills regularly, so when they return home and get behind the wheel, they are a little rusty.

 

[Rob Lister]

If you think DU is bad, consider the alternative: lead.

Still there have been hundreds if not thousands of fatalities directly related to the use of DU as bullets.

 

[Toastrider]

I believe that's referred to as 'getting shot'.

--Toasty

 

[Richard G]

I handled 20mm depleted uranium rounds every week in the Navy. That was 13 years ago, and I'm in perfect health.

 

[Mr Manifesto]

I handled 20mm depleted uranium rounds every week in the Navy. That was 13 years ago, and I'm in perfect health.

So it's safe to say DU rounds cause an uncontrollable urge to use anecdotes as the sole form of evidence to forward one's case.

 

[Luke T.]

So it's safe to say DU rounds cause an uncontrollable urge to use anecdotes as the sole form of evidence to forward one's case.

It's safe to say that thousands of military personnel have handled DU rounds as part of their duties, and if it was as bad as some people think it is, we'd be hearing about medical problems coming from these people first, and we haven't.

 

[Reginald]

DU was also (not sure now) used as engine ballast in 747's.

IIRC it's also used in a similar role in the cargo version but in the tail section.

 

[Segnosaur]

So it's safe to say DU rounds cause an uncontrollable urge to use anecdotes as the sole form of evidence to forward one's case.

Although in this case his "anecdote" doesn't prove anything, keep in mind that the evidence for "gulf war syndrome" is also based on anecdotes. Should the anecdotes against gulf war syndrom ("hey, I'm fine") be given any less weight than the ones for gulf war syndrome?

 

[Wolrab]

Here is the WHO factsheet. The stuff doesn't seem too bad if cleaned up.WHO factsheet

 

[Bjorn]

Although in this case his "anecdote" doesn't prove anything, keep in mind that the evidence for "gulf war syndrome" is also based on anecdotes. Should the anecdotes against gulf war syndrom ("hey, I'm fine") be given any less weight than the ones for gulf war syndrome?

As Luke posted above (Read this.) I'm not sure if there is much evidence for the Gulf War Syndrome at all - except anecdotes - while there is research showing that it might not exist.

 

[Mr Manifesto]

Although in this case his "anecdote" doesn't prove anything, keep in mind that the evidence for "gulf war syndrome" is also based on anecdotes. Should the anecdotes against gulf war syndrom ("hey, I'm fine") be given any less weight than the ones for gulf war syndrome?

I was referring to his habit of posting gun threads that he thinks proves his case, even though they are merely anecdotes (eg), although your point about his 'I'm fine' anecdote is equally valid.

I don't know if used DU rounds are dangerous or not (some think that because they give off dust, they are). Until someone comprehensively says 'yay' or 'nay', I won't comment on it either way.