Military History
|
How To Make War
|
Wars Around the World
Rules of Use
How to Behave on an Internet Forum
Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Weapons
Discussion Board
Return to Topic Page
Subject:
DU or not DU? What did we drop on the Afgans
Johnny Frost
5/23/2003 2:38:42 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3050317.stm
Quote
Reply
Show Only Poster Name and Title
Newest to Oldest
vfrickey
RE:DU or not DU? What did we drop on the Afgans
12/4/2003 3:13:08 PM
This story of popped up in the spring of '03 in the Internet chatter leading up to the war, only it was about children in Iraq suffering from rare forms of cancer allegedly due to DU exposure. There's one easy way to find out where the DU came from - isotopic analysis of the uranium from the Afghan patients' urine versus any DU weapons, wipes of artillery and tank gun bores which were used in the relevant actions. That way, we can not only determine whether those people really have DU in their systems, but where it could have come from. Other possible sources: - two scientists with the Pakistani nuclear program were investigate for allegedly having transferred unspecified nuclear materials to Al-Qaeda. What better way to discredit Allied forces in Afghanistan than to contaminate food and drink in some villages, then suggest that Allied weapons were responsible; - weapons employed by Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Soviets are known to have incorporated DU into some of their ordnance as an armor-piercing insert. This, again, is where an isotopic analysis of the uranium in the urine samples would be very useful - WHOSE uranium was it? I think that the suggestion in the BBC article that some of the explosives used by the Allies were nuclear in nature was irresponsible, gutter journalism. If we were going to expend nuclear weapons in theater, don't you think we have used BIGGER ones and solved the problem for good?
Quote
Reply
Dancing Johnny
RE:DU or not DU? What did we drop on the Afgans
12/5/2003 3:00:03 AM
Would I be correct to say that the hazard from DU is the same as with other heavy\toxic metals such as lead, murcury, beryllium?
Quote
Reply
vfrickey
RE:DU or not DU? What did we drop on the Afgans
12/9/2003 2:50:34 AM
Dancing Johnny asks: "Would I be correct to say that the hazard from DU is the same as with other heavy\toxic metals such as lead, murcury, beryllium?" That's correct. Uranium has toxic effects on the kidneys, mainly. Depleted uranium is only very slightly radioactive, because it is the fraction of uranium left over when the highly radioactive U-235 has been removed. What's left is U-238, which has a radioactive half-life of four and a half BILLION years - which means that DU decays very slowly, and doesn't create much radioactivity at any given moment. Here's a quote from an article in Jane's Defence Weekly by a toxicologist at the University of California at Los Angeles on the subject: link
http://tinyurl.com/ydzy
"12 January 2001 A short review of depleted uranium toxicity By Prof Otto G Raabe PhD, CHP Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health University of California There are several reports in the news about the implied toxicity of depleted uranium used for projectiles and shielding material in modern warfare. It has been suggested to be a potent carcinogen and leukemia inducer. The toxicity of uranium has been under study for at least 50 years including life span studies in small animals. Depleted uranium is only very weakly radioactive, and virtually all of the observed or expected effects are from nephrotoxicity associated with deposition in the kidney tubules and glomeruli damage at high doses. The radiation doses from depleted uranium (specific activity only 15 Bq/mg)(U-238 has a 4.5 billion year half life) are very small compared to potential toxic effects from uranium ions in the body (primarily damage to kidney tubules). The main route of potentially hazardous exposure is inhalation since gastrointestinal uptake is very small (<1/10,000)." Dr. Raabe goes on near the end of his article to say that while uranium is toxic in the same manner as lead, it is much LESS toxic than lead. So DU armor, bullets, etc. are not diabolical cancer causing agents, or at least not as much as the lead bullets, armor, etc. that would otherwise be used. The DU flap is just one more hoax perpetrated on the world by the antiwar noise machine. Pure BS.
Quote
Reply
Latest
News
Most
Read
Most
Commented
Hot
Topics
WEAPONS: Unjammable Wire Controlled UAVs
RUSSIA: Russia Claims a Lot More Than Ukraine
ARMOR: Russia Rebuilds Its Tank Forces
ARTILLERY: Fire Weaver and Long Spike
ARMOR: Evolution of Tank Warfare in Ukraine
SURFACE FORCES : Ada Class Corvettes
ARMOR: Evolution of Tank Warfare in Ukraine
WEAPONS: Putting a Spike in North Korean Aggression
AIR WEAPONS: The Ukraine Unmanned Systems Force
PROCUREMENT: The Russian Smuggling Industry
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan March 2024
ATTRITION: Patterns of American Combat Casualties
ELECTRONIC WEAPONS: Norway Again Attacked by Russian Jamming
SURFACE FORCES : Unmanned LUSV Ships at Sea
MURPHY'S LAW: China Harasses Foreign Investment it Encouraged
PROCUREMENT: Russian Demand and North Korean Arms Production
PROCUREMENT: Russian Demand and North Korean Arms Production
WARPLANES: F22 Gets an End Date
ARTILLERY: More Truck Mounted Artillery for Ukraine
SPACE: Russian Roscosmos Retreating
INTELLIGENCE: Americans Use AI to Plan Airstrikes
SPACE: Russian Roscosmos Retreating
ARTILLERY: More Truck Mounted Artillery for Ukraine
AIR DEFENSE: Russian Air Defense Tries Something New
SUBMARINES: Stumbling Through Submarine Repairs
SPECIAL OPERATIONS: A Decade of CIA Operations in Ukraine
SURFACE FORCES : Despised LCS Survives with Upgrades
SYRIA: Syria March 2024
WARPLANES: F-35 Aircraft in Action
LEADERSHIP: Russia’s Wartime Economic Crisis
Subscribe to Our RSS Feed
Artillery: Artillery Ammunition Quality and Quantity
Surface Forces: Russian Black Sea Fleet Disappears
WARS Russia: Can Russia Continue the War After 2024?
Armor: K2 Tanks For Everyone
WARS China: China Needs South Korea More Than North Korea
Surface Forces: Naval Reload Realities
WARS Korea: Korea March 2024
Air Weapons: Dealing With FPV UAVs
Special Operations: Somali Pirates are Back
Logistics: The Black Sea Blockade
Procurement: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
Attrition: Russian Losses so Far in Ukraine
Procurement: French Support for Ukraine
NBC Weapons: Chinese Biowar Laboratories in California
Procurement: 3D Printers For Ukraine
Air Defense: NASAMS Under Fire
NBC WEAPONS: Chinese Biowar Laboratories in California
ARTILLERY: Artillery Ammunition Quality and Quantity
ARMOR: K2 Tanks For Everyone
AIR WEAPONS: Dealing With FPV UAVs
ATTRITION: Russian Losses so Far in Ukraine
PROCUREMENT: French Support for Ukraine
RUSSIA: Can Russia Continue the War After 2024?
AIR DEFENSE: NASAMS Under Fire
PROCUREMENT: French Support for Ukraine
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
LOGISTICS: The Black Sea Blockade
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
PROCUREMENT: Ukraine War Crippled Russian Arms Exports
KOREA: Korea March 2024
SPECIAL OPERATIONS: Somali Pirates are Back
SURFACE FORCES : Naval Reload Realities
CHINA: China Needs South Korea More Than North Korea
Artillery: Artillery Ammunition Quality and Quantity
Weapons of the World: Unjammable Wire Controlled UAVs
News
How To Make War
Wars Around The World
Austin Bay's On Point
StrategyTalk
Dirty Little Secrets
Features
Al Nofi's CIC
Videos
Photos
Jokes
Community
Military Discussion Boards
Military Jokes
Military Photos
Military Book Reviews
StrategyPage
Account Manager
Login
Feedback
About Us
Search
Advertise With Us
Search