By Kathy Sanborn
The issue of depleted uranium is an emotional one, generating strong feelings on both sides of the spectrum. We’ve already heard from one of the top international experts on DU. Now, let’s take a look at the other side of the DU issue. We’ll examine the military’s official words on the subject. Here’s an important point to ponder: No matter what you think about the possible health risks of depleted uranium munitions, the government has plans to keep using DU weapons.
On the military’s “DU Library” web site 1 they state, “The use of DU has saved the lives of many Service members in combat.” However, the writers do not offer any evidence to support that particular claim.
They add, “DoD [Department of Defense] began testing DU about 40 years ago, and first used it in a military operation in 1991. It has fewer risks than natural uranium because it is less radioactive.” As you will see, the fact that DU is less radioactive than natural uranium does not mean that DU poses few health risks.
An information publication put out by the United States Military 2 states:
Some people may be concerned about exposure to radiation from DU. From a medical perspective, however, the level of radiation from DU is so low that it poses little if any hazard. Because DU is a heavy metal similar to lead, the potential exists for short-term kidney effects to people who are exposed to high levels of the substance. Few, if any, service members would come into contact with enough DU to incur this risk, however.
It goes on to report:
The most serious exposure to DU occurs when a large amount is taken into the body, absorbed by the blood, and then carried to tissues and organs where it can do damage. There are three primary ways that DU can enter your body. They are by ingestion (drinking or eating), inhalation (breathing dust), and through wound contamination or DU fragments embedded in the body. Skin contact or being near intact DU munitions or armored tanks will not cause this type of exposure or bring DU into your body.
US ground troops have the highest risk of exposure to DU if they are close to DU impacts or fires. DU dust can be inhaled during and immediately after DU munitions have struck a vehicle or if DU munitions are involved in a fire on the battlefield. DU dust can also be inhaled by people in or around armored vehicles after they are damaged by DU munitions.
Okay, so on the one hand, DU affects the kidneys in a short-term way when a person is exposed to high levels of DU radiation, while on the other hand, DU can do damage to “tissues and organs” after it enters your body. This is a clear distinction that should be noted.
The same publication cites “evaluations” by the Department of Veterans Affairs concluding that DU posed virtually no health problems for the troops exposed:
Since 1993 the Department of Veterans Affairs has evaluated 70 veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who are survivors of friendly fire incidents involving depleted uranium munitions. About half of these veterans had or currently have documented embedded fragments still in their bodies and urine samples with elevated uranium.
Even though some participants in this group still show higher than normal levels of uranium in their urine, there have been no reports of kidney damage, leukemia, bone, or lung cancer, or other health effects from uranium. Babies born to this group have had no birth defects.
The military offers links to several reports 3 that, they allege, indicate exposure to DU does not cause cancer or other negative health effects, even at high doses. For instance, a Rand report, A Review of the Scientific Literature As It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses: Volume 7, Depleted Uranium, 4 states:
Although any increase in radiation to the human body can be calculated to be harmful from extrapolation from higher levels, there are no peer reviewed published reports of detectable increases of cancer or other negative health effects from radiation exposure to inhaled or ingested natural uranium at levels far exceeding those likely in the Gulf. This is mainly because the body is very effective at eliminating ingested and inhaled natural uranium and because the low radioactivity per unit mass of natural uranium and DU means that the mass of uranium needed for significant internal exposure is virtually impossible to obtain.
We are supposed to surmise that because there do not exist “peer reviewed published reports” about the negative health effects generated by DU exposure, DU must be virtually harmless. Such a conclusion would be specious at best. (And note that the researchers are referring primarily to inhaled or ingested natural uranium, which they argue has essentially the same effects as DU.) However, the authors then go on to say:
Although many of these veterans have health problems related to their injuries in the Gulf War and those with embedded fragments have elevated urinary uranium levels, researchers to date do not find adverse health effects they relate to radiation from DU, but several perturbations in biochemical and neuropsychological testing have been correlated with elevated urinary uranium, the clinical significance of which is unclear (McDiarmid, 1998b).
So “elevated urinary uranium” is indeed correlated with “perturbations in biochemical and neuropsychological testing” but the researchers are not certain what it all means at this point. At the very least, nonetheless, elevated uranium levels in the urine are associated with health issues of some kind, which are – from Rand researchers’ own words - biochemical and neuropsychological in nature. (Again, note the distinction between health effects related to DU radiation and health effects correlated with elevated uranium levels in the urine.)
The Rand report states that the kidneys “show special sensitivity to the chemical toxicity of uranium. While this does not exclude the possibility of the metal inflicting functional lesions in other organ systems, the first adverse chemical effects following high or prolonged exposure to uranium are found in the kidney.”
The kidneys, then, are not necessarily the only organs in the body to suffer damage from DU exposure. In fact, as the Rand writers indicate, the kidneys act as “sensitive biomonitors” in the case of high exposures to DU.
In addition, the Rand researchers mention the presence of DU in the semen of Gulf War veterans:
Laboratory tests also found DU in semen in samples from some but not all veterans exposed to DU. This is not altogether surprising as DU disperses throughout the body. It is not clear what effect if any this might have on reproduction of a couple, where one partner has an embedded DU fragment. To date, all births to couples in the DU Follow-Up Program have been normal (McDiarmid, 1998b).
As the Rand writers state, they are not certain that DU would not have an effect on the reproductive health of a Gulf War veteran. Because there isn’t an abundance of research data available regarding the effects of DU on our troops, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to monitor select veterans over time, in order to assess any health concerns that may develop. Additionally, the military researches DU and its possible effects from time to time.
In fact, a recent military DU research topic, Evaluation of the Health Risks of Embedded Depleted Uranium (DU) Shrapnel on Pregnancy and Offspring Development, 5 speaks to the fact that unborn children of female soldiers are at risk from DU exposure: “Recent analyses of animal data indicate that the level of systemic uranium in personnel with retained fragments is potentially high enough to adversely affect the developing fetus.” Although the study was completed as long ago as 2001, no published findings are available.
Another research project, Characterization of the Reproductive Toxicity of Depleted Uranium, 6 apparently completed in 2005 but with no published results, tested the effects of depleted uranium on reproduction by performing toxicity studies on lab animals. The summary states: “The exposure of deployed Navy forces in the Gulf and Balkan Wars to depleted uranium is a complex and controversial issue. The original controversy has been diminished because both United States and NATO forces have now acknowledged the use of depleted uranium on the tips of ammunition. What continues to be an issue is whether depleted uranium could be a health risk under the conditions of exposure during the Gulf War.” As stated, the project’s findings are not available at this time.
In a 2002 DU training session for the military, Colonel J. Edgar Wakayama 7 states, “The target organ [sic] is the kidney and bone.” Wakayama adds, “The alpha particle [of DU] taken inside the body in large doses is hazardous producing: cell damage and cancer . . . Note: Lung cancer is well documented.”
Wakayama goes on to say that “about 70-80% of all DU munitions penetrators remain buried in the soil.” He describes the buried DU munitions as emerging environmental concerns: “A significant exposure to DU among children playing in the impact sites by ingesting heavily-contaminated soil; Slow leaching of DU in local water supplies over years; Consuming DU contaminated food sources (animals and plants).”
The Rand report cited earlier concludes with these somewhat prophetic words:
“ . . . The use of DU munitions and armor is likely to expand greatly over the coming years, both in the U.S. military and in other countries. It is therefore important to continue research to further our knowledge of any potential health risks that might result from different levels and pathways of exposure.”
It is apparent from a perusal of the extant research on DU that the investigation of possible health risks attributable to DU has only scratched the surface. Even the military’s own researchers and other service members have already pointed out the health concerns and verifiable hazards of using DU munitions. We have to ask the question: Why continue to use DU as a weapon if there is the possibility of serious health risks to both civilians and military personnel?
For further reading: The military has a Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program as part of the Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards (Department of Veterans Affairs) at http://www.vethealth.cio.med.va.gov/DUProgram.htm. Any person in need of more information may visit that web site to access government forms and FAQ sheets about depleted uranium.
Notes:
2) http://www.pdhealth.mil/downloads/DU_Service_Members_Info_09172004.pdf
3) http://fhp.osd.mil/du/healthEffects.jsp
4) http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/cover.html
© 2008 Kathy Sanborn
Kathy Sanborn is an author, journalist, and recording artist. Currently Kathy is working on a new recording project, slated for completion in spring 2008.