Depleted Uranium Forums (DU-BBS)

http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/...O_2005.pdf

Nato 2005 - toxic modern battle field - protect civilians and seek medication - heavy metal probably more toxic!


This paper was present in 2005 at a NATO meeting ( that would be us - Canada! las I checked). As you look at it note that DOD is seeking pharmacy assistance, that it covers the modern day battle field we ask our Men & Women to battle for us and ourselves - the civilians! Yet - no one says too much - I sent this to Stockwell Day and Associates

Wow! Nice post!!!!!

I haven't yet read it all carefully, but doesn't this seem to be the study anti-DU activists are waiting for? I can't believe I haven't read it before now. Is this paper hard to track down? It looks to me like it should be bouncing off the top pages of every anti-DU site.

DU pellets caused cancer in mice. This should apply to schrapnel. And it adds credence to the hypothesis that DU dust should cause great harm by entering the bloodstream (and the cells?) where it would act similarly as a strong alpha emitter. In fact, dust should be worse given its much greater surface area. More alpha particles (essentially entire helium atoms - think huge as radiation particles go) will go unabsorbed by the outer layers of the DU itself, as would happen in the case of pellets or schrapnel.

This paper also blows away all the stupid studies that talk about measurable background radiation levels an crap like that, as if having an alpha-emittor in your body is somehow no worse than living near a potash mine.

Please discuss it more. I really want to hear some opinions on the significance of this study. And I'll read it more carefully as soon as I can.

I can not access this: http://www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/...O_2005.pdf
Do you have this file saved somewhere, and if so, could you somehow repost it?  or provide access to it for the rest of us?   Thanks.  I'm interested in reading it.

http://www.dubbs.info/items/miller_NATO_2005.pdf

Conventional Tungsten alloys used in munitions are far more carcinogenic than DU, it appears in the context of shrapnel DU is a safer alertnative to convential alloy muntions

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/7791/abstract.html



Embedded Weapons-Grade Tungsten Alloy Shrapnel Rapidly Induces Metastatic High-Grade Rhabdomyosarcomas in F344 Rats
John F. Kalinich,1 Christy A. Emond,1 Thomas K. Dalton,1 Steven R. Mog,2 Gary D. Coleman,3 Jessica E. Kordell,1 Alexandra C. Miller,1 and David E. McClain1

1Heavy Metals Research Team and 2Veterinary Sciences Department, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; 3Division of Veterinary Pathology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Abstract
Continuing concern regarding the potential health and environmental effects of depleted uranium and lead has resulted in many countries adding tungsten alloy (WA) -based munitions to their battlefield arsenals as replacements for these metals. Because the alloys used in many munitions are relatively recent additions to the list of militarily relevant metals, very little is known about the health effects of these metals after internalization as embedded shrapnel. Previous work in this laboratory developed a rodent model system that mimicked shrapnel loads seen in wounded personnel from the 1991 Persian Gulf War. In the present study, we used that system and male F344 rats, implanted intramuscularly with pellets (1 mm  2 mm cylinders) of weapons-grade WA, to simulate shrapnel wounds. Rats were implanted with 4 (low dose) or 20 pellets (high dose) of WA. Tantalum (20 pellets) and nickel (20 pellets) served as negative and positive controls, respectively. The high-dose WA-implanted rats (n = 46) developed extremely aggressive tumors surrounding the pellets within 4-5 months after implantation. The low-dose WA-implanted rats (n = 46) and nickel-implanted rats (n = 36) also developed tumors surrounding the pellets but at a slower rate. Rats implanted with tantalum (n = 46) , an inert control metal, did not develop tumors. Tumor yield was 100% in both the low- and high-dose WA groups. The tumors, characterized as high-grade pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcomas by histopathology and immunohistochemical examination, rapidly metastasized to the lung and necessitated euthanasia of the animal. Significant hematologic changes, indicative of polycythemia, were also observed in the high-dose WA-implanted rats. These changes were apparent as early as 1 month postimplantation in the high-dose WA rats, well before any overt signs of tumor development. These results point out the need for further studies investigating the health effects of tungsten and tungsten-based alloys. Key words: cobalt, embedded fragment, nickel, rat, rhabdomyosarcoma, tungsten, tungsten alloy. Environ Health Perspect 113: 729-734 (2005) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7791 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 15 February 2005]

Everything is a poison and nothing is a poison.  The poison is in the dose.

Thank God not everyone is a broken record.

Thanks for the link. I stuck it on the Research page.

I fail to see how the carcinogenicity of tungsten shrapnel relates to the safety of DU dust. Most anti-DU activists are willing to admit that DU shrapnel is not especially dangerous. Indeed, studies demonstrate this.

But the effect of very fine diameter alpha-emitting DU dust on the tissues to which it may be transported could still be far worse than the effect of shrapnel due to the very nature of alpha radiation. With shrapnel, the only cells in any radioactive danger from DU are those adjacent to the fragment. As the fragment is likely to be encased in scar tissue, and muscular nine times out of ten, there is no real risk of cancer or birth defects.

For the military to pursue this line of reasoning as a defense of the use of DU shells is totally disingenuous.

Also, everyone should note to source and the science researchers on this study. It is published in "the peer-reviewed journal of the United States' National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences" by a bevy of military researchers.

Not that science is ever biased or anything....

A similar study was published showing that nickel ion solutions had similar effect to uranium ion solutions on petri dish samples of human cell lines. See my Research page (near bottom) in the learning library for the link and more commentary.

Well, here's the link.

My comments: