“Known Illnesses” supposedly caused by depleted uranium
October 22nd, 2008
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From a website claiming to be an authority on depleted uranium. If this is true, then anyone who lives within several miles of a coal-fired power plant, a farm where phosphate fertilizer is used, a chunk of granite or a bag of kitty litter must be in some very severe trouble.
“DU-Diagnosis List of Medical Illnesses Inhalation and Swallowing Of DU Particles”:
GENERAL:
abnormal metabolism of semen: contains amine & ammonium alkaline
acute autoimmune symptoms (lung-, liver-, kidneyfailure)
acute myeloid leukemia (deadly within days or weeks)
acute immune depression
acute respiratory failure
Balkan-syndrome
blood in stool
bone cancer
brain tumors
burning semen
burning sensations
chronic fatigue
chronic kidney and liver disorders
chronic myeloid leukemia
chronic respiratory infections
colon cancer
diarrhea
digestive problems
general fatigue
glandular carcinoma
Gulfwar-syndrome
headaches
heart attack
high blood pressure
high frequency of micturition
Hodgkin lymphoma
immunity loss & general infections
insomnia
involuntary movements
joint & leg pain
joint pain
kidney failures
leukemia
liver carcinoma
loss of memory
low blood oxygen saturation ( low HbO2)
low lung volume
lung cancer
lymph cancer
lymphoma
melanoma
multiple myeloma
myeloma
muscle pain
non-Hodgkin lymphoma
other malignancies
pancreas carcinoma
petit & grand mal fits
respiratory ailments
shortness of breath
skin cancer
skin damage: sweat glands with trapped du-particles
skin infections
skin spotting
stiffening of fingers
thyroid cancer
unable to walkCHILDREN
alimentary disorders
asthma
bladder & sphincter paralysis
blindness
complete range of known and unknown Congenital Defects
deafness
dyspraxia
headache
kidney disease
leukemia
lymphoma
malformations of legs, arms, toes & fingers
respiratory disorders
stillbirth
neural tube defectsFEMALE
abdominal pain
breast cancer
breast cancer at very young age (20)
cervix cancer
headaches
incontinence
joint pain
lung cancer at age 20 and no-smoker
menstrual pain
miscarriages
nausea
ovarian cancer
paralysis of digestive syatem
thyroid problems
uterus cancerMALE
{acute} headache
acute myeloid leukemia
arthritis
avoiding people
breathing problems {stridor}
chemical sensitivity
chronic myeloid leukemia
gastrointestinal disorder
hip- and leg pain
joint pain
lung cancer at young age
lymphoma
skin cancer
skin eruptions
stomach pain
suicide
testicular cancer
unable to walk
A few obvious odities I noticed with this (entirely ridiculous) list: Why is this divided into “general” and then “male” and female” yet the condition of “burning semen” is in the general catagory? Does depleted uranium also cause women to produce semen, presumably after growing testicles? Or does the semen burn, not on the way out, but rather, when it contacts someone who has been exposed to depleted uranium? Or is the semen from someone who was exposed to depleted uranium prone to burning? In other words, does the semen turn into acid when applied to a DU-exposed person? Or does it just burst into flames? Man, I can see how that would make for some akward moments…
And what the hell is “abnormal metabolism of semen” – again, not in the “male” section? Is this some kind of reference to oral sex?
It seems to be a bit redundant too. It has “lung cancer” listed as well as “lung cancer at age 20 and no-smoker” and “lung cancer at young age incl non smokers.” Plenty of the illnesses are just silly like “suicide” and “chemical sensitivity .”
They did manage to cover all the bases for children though, with “complete range of known and unknown Congenital Defects.” Wow. Complete range even of unknown ones? So if new congenital defects are discovered in the future we can invoke this thing retroactively to blame depleted uranium. Brilliant!
They also seem to have invented something new called “BALKANS SYNDROME,” which I assume covers those who live in the Balkans or near the Balkans or have ever been to the Balkans and have absolutely anything wrong with them.
As for the actual known effects of uranium exposure, they include:
Renal Failure – From chronic exposure to extremely high concentrations, usually limited to (very) high uranium concentrations in drinking water.
Chronic Kidney Dysfunction – In some cases where complete failure does not occure, such as exposure to high levels for several years
Evidence suggests that the human kidneys are relatively resistant to uranium damage and thus would require long term exposure to develop perminant damage. This makes it unlikely that kidney damage could occur from acute exposure, unless perhaps it were a very extreme case, such as if a person were to eat a large volume of uranium salts over the course of a couple of days. Normally, consuming exposure to uranium will cause, at worst, some limited tubular degeneration may occur, but this will normally heal and the kidney tubes will regenerate. Only in the most extreme circumstances would significant damage that would not be recovered from be expected.
Other than that, the effects of uranium on the body are similar to other heavy metals, though relatively mild compared to more toxic metals like mercury, thallium or arsenic. Long-term exposure may lead to retention of uranium in the bones, which could cause bone growth problems, although, again, this is in chronic exposure to abnormally high amounts. It may also cause general health problems such as immune suppression and tissue damage in extremely high, prolonged exposure, as this is common with heavy metals. Neurotoxicity in humans of uranium is not well established. Other heavy metals like lead are known to cause neurological development problems and so it is possible that uranium would have similar effects, although uranium tends to clear the body faster than other metals.
When inhaled, uranium can irritate lung tissue and may be linked to an increased chance of lung cancer. The uranium particles which may become deposited in the lungs don’t necessarily have a very long biological half life, which means long-term damage should be minimal. To keep this in context: nearly any metallic dust will irritate the lungs if breathed directly. Coal and rock dust, although generally inert killed many miners in the early years of pneumatic drilling. Compared to uranium, other metals, such as beryllium are many times more dangerous to inhale.
If information on the human effects of uranium exposure is a bit hazy it is for a relatively simple reason: Although humans have over 200 years of experience with uranium, and have even intentionally consumed it as a therapy for diabetes, the apparent health effects of uranium exposure range from minor to undetectable in all but the most extreme cases of exposure. There have not been very many examples of humans being exposed to the absolutely enormous amounts of uranium necessary to produce noticeable effects.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Bad Science, Depleted Cranium, Not Even Wrong, Obfuscation. 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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October 23rd, 2008 at 12:07 am
I notice on the same website that the author has managed to find a link between depleted uranium and vaccines mixed with mercury, and provides a handy list of naturopathic detoxification treatments for those suffering from DU contamination. A veritable hat-trick of stupidity.
Cyril M. Kornbluth was right!
(my new sig)
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October 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 am
(arsenic is a metalloid along with boron, silicon, germanium, antimony, tellurium and polonium; not a metal)
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October 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 am
I also picked up such winning entries as “unable to walk”. This is different to paraplegia or paralasys. Your legs will move just fine from a sitting position and standing is ok but walking is out! Additionally the symptom “avoiding people” (only present in males). This one really concerned me. Is there something you can take for that or is it one of those healing crystal things. That makes sense when you think about it. A fake cure for a fake symptom.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 am
soylent said:
You’re right, of course, that it is a metalloid element, but for some reason I was thinking arsenic poisoning was considered “heavy metal poisoning” but maybe I’m wrong.. Beryllium is sometimes classified as a heavy metal toxin even though it’s not heavy at all, so maybe arsenic would be eventhough it’s not really a metal? Or maybe I’m just wrong on that one.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
drbuzz0 said:
To the best of my recollection, clinical toxicology doesn’t make that particular fine distinction and refers to all that class as metallic poisoning when they don’t refer to the toxin by name. i.e. ‘Mercury poisoning’
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October 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
“bladder & sphincter paralysis” – That one sounds especially unpleasant!
This list is just another example of how silly this stuff gets. The sad thing is that even though there are pages on this which are so out there that they’re clearly not true, there are enough that have mainstream appeal and therefore the public and politicians and even veterans are buying into this crap and that is a tragedy.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
What I find interesting are the more mundane of the symptoms. Things like abdominal pain, or joint pain.
If abdominal pain is a disease caused by depleted uranium, I guess farting is the cure. Sure makes my abdominal pain go away real quick.
Joint pain? Wonder if there is another possible explanation for that symptom? Let me think… can’t think of anything else that might be responsible, obviously after a marathon my knees hurt because somewhere along the way, I encountered some DU.
I don’t mind someone listing the possible symptoms of exposure to a toxic substance, but this goes too far.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
CBMTTek said:
Oh it all makes perfect sense. DU is heavy, so if you carry it around then it will cause you to have joint pains and fattigue from the weight. If you eat a big chunk of depleted uranium it will probably cause some abdominal pain, and when it finally cones out the other end, there’s likely to be some blood in the stool, especially if it’s a jagged piece with sharp edges to tear up your colon. Blood in urine or burning semen is the likely result of taking a thin piece of depleted uranium and sticking it up your urethra. The result of this is likely to cause some to contemplate suicide.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Weird how uranium miners don’t just instantly die. (I mean, sure, they wear masks and such, but they’ve still got to get more inadvertent inhalation or swallowing than any DU incident I’ve ever heard of that didn’t kill the person involved [ie, being in a tank hit with a DU round].)
Yet the worst thing I’ve ever heard of uranium miners suffering is a slight increase in lung cancers, caused not by uranium itself but from inhaling radon gas in the mines.
Weird how the World Health Organization, looking at actual (exceedingly minor, it turns out) real-world DU exposure from the Balkan wars (this doubtless explains the invention of “Balkan Syndrome”) found… nothing, really.
Guess the WHO, as part of the UN, must be in the pocket of the US government. The UN is, after all, famously biased in favor of the US military!
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October 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Maybe I’m odd like this, but if I come upon a chunk of metal or a spent projectile, the first thing I think is usually not “What bodily oraface should I stick this thing in?
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October 23rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Mister J said:
Obviously, you are some kind of a weirdo.
Now, get out there and do something with that I-beam, dammit!
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October 24th, 2008 at 1:16 am
I like the above graphic. Har har “Burning Semen” har har..
I guess I’d assume that in a serious context they mean it burns on its way out, but considering all that they seem to think DU does, maybe it does turn semen into some kind of highly caustic fluid. Or maybe people who touch DU are burned when they come in contact with semen? Or come in contact with a seaman? I guess that would be a problem for the navy.
Anyways, the list and the page it’s on is full of more spelling and grammatical errors than one of the posts on this page (kidding kidding). But really, these folks are not necessarily playing with a full deck. I guess I can see how they might even be the type to find a chunk of metal and suddenly think “Wow this would be perfect to stick in my mouth. Wait, no, my nose. No, even better! I’ll stick it in my urethra!”
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October 24th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Along those lines….
Naked Man Arrested At A Vanderburgh County Park
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October 24th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Calli Arcale said:
Well wasn’t that the most cringe-worthy thing I’ve read in a long time…
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October 24th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Calli Arcale said:
EWWWW
That story starts off disturbing and then just gets worse and worse and…
EWWWWW
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