There was a link recently here (don't remember which thread) from a British paper (The Guardian, I think) about 500,000 Iraqis who have died (as I recall) from radiation from the Gulf War. If you read the story, you'll remember the details better than I have. Can someone please post the URL again? TIAFYH.

-- Still love this place (despite@the.noise), January 23, 2000

Answers

[Are you thinking of this one, from the DAILY EXPRESS [UK], 3rd November, 1999?]

[Photo] AT RISK: Soldiers in protection gear during the Gulf War. But the peril of depleted uranium has raised new health fears

GULF WAR VETERANS:WE WERE BETRAYED

EXCLUSIVE BY GREG SWIFT

TESTS designed to establish the extent of radiation poisoning among Gulf War veterans have been exposed as worthless, The Express can reveal.

Former soldiers described the disclosure as a betrayal, while scientists and MPs accused the Government of covering up depleted uranium (DU) poisoning in troops by giving them tests which could only produce negative results.

According to the Ministry of Defence, up to five servicemen have been tested for DU - which is used in armour-piercing shells and bullets - and their results found to be negative. But new evidence seen by The Express shows that just one man - a civilian in the Gulf on an MoD contract - has been tested and that the technology used was not sensitive enough to detect the radioactive metal.

The civilian, former engineer Paul Connolly, has also obtained an admission from Professor Harry Lee, head of the MoD's Medical Assessment Programme (MAP) which monitors veterans' health, that he was not even tested for depleted uranium, only total uranium. Yet the same procedures were offered in September to 30 Gulf veterans. They had already tested positive in Canadian research, but this was deemed unreliable by the MoD.

More than 700,000 rounds of DU- tipped missiles and bullets were used during the war because of its armour-piercing capabilities. Many veterans claimed they inhaled the radioactive dust created during and after battles in the Gulf. The effects of massive DU exposure can be devastating as it attacks the lungs, liver, kidneys and blood, and can cause genetic mutations. Sufferers of DU poisoning are susceptible to developing cancer anywhere in the body. Shaun Rusling, head of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said: "Veterans have gone to MAP in good faith to be tested for their many illnesses and they have been betrayed.

"They have asked to be tested for DU and it now seems that MAP's offer of such testing is a hollow one. It is now clear that not only have they been let down but so have their doctors and their specialist consultants.

"Consequently, veterans are not getting the proper treatment for their conditions. Is MAP more concerned about protecting the MoD from embarrassing disclosures that British troops were poisoned by their own weapons than helping the servicemen?" The latest disclosure is a serious embarrassment for the Government which only last month attempted to avert mounting anger over its handling of the issue when Armed Forces minister John Spellar announced that veterans had been offered DU testing.

Now even one of the Government's own scientific advisers has accused officials of a "clinical and calculated attempt at deception" and described them of overseeing a "cock-up verging on a cover-up".

Professor Malcolm Hooper, who sits on the independent panel advising the MoD on Gulf-related illnesses, said: "This is either a deception by MAP or a failure on its part to understand the issue at stake.

"Of course the DU levels being found in these guys is at a low level, but the fact that they are still excreting it eight years after the war ended means they were exposed to a high level and it has been present in their bodies ever since.

"The cumulative radiological effects of such prolonged exposure has considerable long-term health implications for all those suffering from DU poisoning. It makes me very angry that this can happen."

His views were endorsed by Mr Connolly's local MP. Humfrey Malins, who represents Woking in Surrey, said yesterday: "I am beginning to wonder whether there is some form of delaying tactic going on here and or a cover-up."

The MoD admitted last night that in the wake of fears raised about Imperial College's testing process, it was considering using other laboratories with more sophisticated equipment. A spokesman said: "We believe there are better techniques available elsewhere that can detect historical exposure to DU. The equipment and system used at Imperial College was entirely suitable for determining a patient's current uranium level and to say whether that was not abnormally high or a threat to health. But the veterans are concerned about whether they have uranium in their system from the past.

"Our latest initiative is based on the draft protocol for future testing that has been sent to the veterans and we are waiting for their response."

In August, The Express revealed that tests 500,000-times more sensitive than any previously conducted proved beyond doubt that British troops had been poisoned by DU in the Gulf.

Less than two weeks later, Mr Spellar announced that he had met with veterans' groups and offered them testing at Imperial College. Those tests have now been shown to be futile.

The latest embarrassment for the MoD centres on MAP's questionable handling of the tests for Mr Connolly, who worked in the Gulf keeping filtration and cooling systems free of dust.

He was told that the tests he underwent at Imperial College were for DU and his results came back as negative. But after persistent questioning by his brothers Ivor and Kevin Connolly, it is now clear he was misinformed as Imperial College revealed its testing procedure was not sensitive enough.

That was followed by Prof Lee's admission that he had only asked Imperial College to test for total uranium. In a letter to Paul Connolly, he justified this by stating: "I did ask for the measure of total uranium, for as I explained to you, measurement of depleted uranium in terms of health matters gives a no better indication of potential health hazards than measuring total uranium."

He concludes: "I feel last week's meeting was valuable and certain areas were re-explored where clearly there were some misunderstandings, but certainly no deceit."

Richard Birch, at AEA Technology, a radiation research and monitoring centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said: "The only way to tell whether uranium in a body is naturally occurring or from a depleted source is to measure the ratio of specific isotopes.

"To look just at total uranium would not tell you whether the uranium came from natural sources or whether it was due to DU."

) Express Newspapers, 1999

[ENDS]

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), January 23, 2000.

John: That wasn't the one I read, but thanks for posting it. Do you have the URL? The one I read was from The Guardian, and was dated February of 1999, as I recall.

-- Still love this place (learn@something.everyday), January 23, 2000.

I went into the Guardian's archives and finally found the article:

Victims of a war they never saw

I also stumbled across this article if anyone's interested:

Depleted uranium  deadly weapon, deadly legacy?

-- Still love this place (and can do my own research@in.a.pinch), January 23, 2000.

Interested Spectator posted the links on the RC thread.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 23, 2000.

See also the following story from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting?):

Silver Bullet: Depleted Uranium. One minor correction from this story: the Wisconsin Senator quoted is Russ Feingold, not Finegold.

-- Still love this place (but this story@bugs.me), January 23, 2000.

The Silver Bullett story is horrifying. Radioactive dust with a life of 4.2 million years floating around because we need to pierce tank shells? The super dense U238 rods are probably left over from spent reactor fuel--someone saw this as a handy way to get rid of nuclear waste and make new armaments at the same time.

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), January 23, 2000.

Also i think www.gulfwarvets.com covers the radiation of US troops. Tanks for example which were constructed to deflect artillary with radioactive armor, and troops were not informed of their exposure, and no preventative measures were employed.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 23, 2000.

More here: Depleted Uranium Weapons (Hugh Livingstone, The Edge Gallery, London)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 23, 2000.