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Army shells pose cancer risk in Iraq
Depleted uranium causing high radioactivity levels

Antony Barnett, public affairs editor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1106687,00.html

Depleted uranium shells used by British forces in southern Iraqi
battlefields are putting civilians at risk from 'alarmingly high'
levels of radioactivity.

Experts are calling for the water and milk being used by locals in
Basra to be monitored after analysis of biological and soil samples
from battle zones found 'the highest number, highest levels and
highest concentrations of radioactive source points' in the Basra
suburb of Abu Khasib - the centre of the fiercest battles between UK
forces and Saddam loyalists.

Readings taken from destroyed Iraqi tanks in Basra reveal radiation
levels 2,500 times higher than normal. In the surrounding area
researchers recorded radioactivity levels 20 times higher than normal.

Critics of these controversial munitions - used to penetrate tank
armour - believe inhaling the radioactive dust left by the highly
combustible weapon causes cancer and birth defects. It has
long been alleged that depleted uranium (DU) used in the first Gulf
conflict was responsible for abnormally high levels of childhood
leukaemia and birth defects in Iraq. Depleted uranium is also believed
by some to be a contributing factor in Gulf War syndrome.

The disclosure comes days after the charity Human Rights Watch claimed
hundreds of 'preventable' deaths of civilians have been caused by the
use of cluster bombs by US and UK forces during the conflict. The
latest research, based on a two-week field trip by scientists, was
carried out by the Canadian-based Uranium Medical Research Centre
(UMRC) led by a former US military doctor Asaf Durakovic.

Tedd Weymann, deputy director of UMRC, said: 'At one point the
readings were so high that an alarm on one of my instruments went off
telling me to get back. Yet despite these alarmingly high levels of
radiation children play on the tanks or close by.'

The amount of DU used during the Iraq war has not been revealed,
although some estimate it was more than a thousand tons. Last week,
Labour MP Llew Smith obtained from the Ministry of Defence a list of
51 map co-ordinates in Iraq where sites were struck by DU weapons.
France, Spain and Italy claim soldiers who served in Bosnia and
Kosovo, where DU shells were used by Nato, have contracted cancers.

Witnesses told the UMRC that a British Army survey team inspected Abu
Khasib. 'The UK team arrived dressed in white full-body radiation
suits with protective facemasks and gloves. They were accompanied by
translators who were ordered to warn residents and local salvage crews
that the tanks in the battlefield are radioactive and must be
avoided,' the report states, adding: 'The British forces have taken no
steps to post warnings, seal tanks and personnel carriers or remove
the highly radioactive assets.'

Dr Chris Busby, who is a member of a government committee examining
radia tion risks, expressed concern. 'There is no question that
inhaling this radioactive dust can increase the risk of lymphomas,' he
said.

Professor Brian Spratt, who chaired a Royal Society working group on
the hazards of DU, said: 'British and US forces need to acknowledge
that DU is a potential hazard and make inroads into tackling it by
being open about where and how much has been deployed. Fragments of DU
 penetrators are potentially hazardous, and should be removed, and
areas of contamination around impact sites identified. Impact sites in
residential areas should be a particular priority. Long-term
monitoring of water and milk to detect any increase in uranium levels
should also be introduced in Iraq.'

In a statement, the MoD said: 'The allegations made by the UMRC are
not substantiated by credible scientific evidence. They give no
activity concentrations of the material concentrations on the ground
or in the air, and their conclusions are not substantiated by readings
taken by MoD's own survey team... The MoD sent a small team of
scientists to Iraq in June to perform a preliminary survey in order to
identify issues... and provide safety advice to scientists in the
field. This survey looked at a small number of locations where tanks
had been defeated by DU and found limited contamination at localised
points; the highest contamination was at the point of entry on a
defeated tank and this was fixed to the metal and could not be rubbed
off on the skin by touch, much less inhaled.

'The UMRC appears to consider a small, highly localised area of
contamination to present a large health risk. Use of "worst case" data
to calculate risks to the population is inappropriate.'

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