Depleted Uranium And VERY Bad Science
July 29th, 2007
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Despite the fact that the depleted uranium rounds used by the US and other allied forces are not generally a radiological hazard and are only about as toxic as lead, which has been used in bullets and projectiles for centuries, more “evidence” is now making the rounds about how it kills babies.
I will shortly be producing a page going into greater detail about the toxicity and health effects of depleted uranium and how all current research and well established knowledge of toxicology demonstrates that it’s not actually the highly dangerous substance it has been made out to be. However the “evidence” presented is such a perfect illustration of extremely bad science, it had to be noted.
Now here is the data that “proves” depleted uranium is so horrible. The rates of birth defects per 1000 births at the Basrah hospital in Iraq, a country which, in both the Gulf War and later Operation Iraqi freedom saw the heavy use of depleted uranium.
(open source document taken from Wikipedia. Link.)
So given the 1991 war in Iraq it had to be depleted uranium, right? Only, the period of maximum possible contamination is ten years before the major spike in birth defects.
And this isn’t exactly a well controlled and documented situation. There are plenty of other possible causes including:
1. Pollution from oil wells set on fire.
2. General stresses and problems arising from war and civil unrest.
3. Chemical weaponry – Saddam Husein had chemical weapons in the early 1990’s and apparently disposed of them at some point. According to many accounts they may have been ditched in the desert or burned in open pits. Either way, contamination is a major possibility
4. The sanctions on Iraq imposed by the UN after the Gulf War caused a reduction in general living standards and availability of food/water/medicine.
5. With less money due to sanctions, it’s likely the government of Iraq did not put a high priority on public health or projects like sewers, water supplies, health care or repairing damage from bombing.
These are just a few of the obvious possible causes. In a nation in unrest, with international sanctions and constant interior and exterior battles, it’s not that surprising that the birth defect rate would climb. Does it have anything to do with depleted uranium? Most likely not.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 9:41 am and is filed under Bad Science, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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July 29th, 2007 at 9:48 am
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July 29th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
It’s worth mentioning that depleted uranium and it’s health effects has nothing to do with politics. You can hate the invasion of Iraq and think Bush is evil without needing to resort to making up things.
You hate Bush and his policies? Fine. That doesn’t mean that depleted uranium is especially harmful. It doesn’t mean that the treads on the M1 tank are made out of kitties. it doesn’t mean that the A-10 burns orphans for fuel.
Even if it would further your cause… it’s still not true.
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