Depleted uranium

I was on the computer for several hours searching for stuff and found a couple of sites that addressed this. So I did a search on it. I didn't know we put this in bombs and according to one site Iraq has been bombed in both wars with this and the people there and our soldiers are exposed and it. And now a slow death will come to those who have inhaled it. There was even a site that had pictures of the effects.
barremore.net/depleted-uranium-kills.html

Sorry I wasn't paying attention to where I posted this. It will have to be moved.

[edit on 19-2-2005 by dbrandt]

lol I was wondering what this had to do with religion

Depleated uranium was used in both wars, but not as bombs. It's a very effective tank killer, and our A-10s use depleted uranium bullets in their gatling gun on their nose.

There's a ton of information on this on the web and here at ATS, too. There's a big controversy from Gulf War 1 about the military not mentioning to the soldiers that they were using minorly radioactive bullets, too. It's not the radioactive aspect that kills, tho, it's the hardness of it. The radiation given off by one of these bullets is almost negligable, but I still feel the military should have warned the soldiers checking out kills what they were using.

Keep researching. The use of depleted uranium and its affects is one of the most covered up aspects of modern western warfare, never mind any one war.

Iraqi doctors were (and still are) constantly ignored when they complained of soaring cancer rates (as were doctors in Bosnia after its use there) and physical maladys after the first gulf war.

There has been (contrary to public opinion) a successful case by a soldier against the government for the damage depleted uranium did to him and subsequently his children.

Imagine the damage to the people that actually live where this stuff is left to rot.

Kenny Duncan, from Clackmananshire, Scotland, yesterday became the first British Gulf War Veteran to win his case for Depleted Uranium Poisoning from Gulf War 1991.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

news.scotsman.com...

Kenny served with the Royal Corps of Transport, as a specialist tank transporter. One of his jobs was to move Iraqi tanks hit and destroyed by Depleted Uranium. Doing this job caused his exposure by inhalation of Depleted Uranium dust from the burnt-out tanks hit by DU. All 3 of Kenny and his wife Mandy's children have physical health problems, since having been born post Gulf War.

Kenny won his case at the Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service at Scotland.

[edit on 19-2-2005 by kegs]

As any British soldier will tell you, that if you have gone into a zone where depleted uranium is used, you get a small business card sized notice.

The back ground is white, with red lettering. On it, is a warning to medical staff, that the holder has been in contact with depleted uranium.

It also out lines some of the symptoms of poisoning so the holder can be aware of them.
These symptoms range from intense itching, haemorraging from the eyes ear and mouth, intense tiredness, and acute radiation sickness leading to death.
Such is if you want a tank busting weapon. Oh, and yes, depleted uranium is still radioactive. Get enough in you, and it will kill you. slowly, but surely.

dpnt they also use depleted uranium in the armor of the M1A2SEP. I think they do.

Originally posted by SmokeyTheBear
dpnt they also use depleted uranium in the armor of the M1A2SEP. I think they do.

Yes they do. Its meshed and sanwiched between layers of other material to form its compositie armour. So IF and that a big if a round gets through the armor, you would get some DU exposre from that.

Well, here is one story more as a proof how those bombs work.
My cousin was serving his military during 1999 strike against Yugoslavia.
He was serving in Yugoslav army, and they were suffering continous bombing on their position. Casualties were small as they were well hidden dug up, but here is the disturbing thing:
His friend died from leukemia soon after the bombing.
So is there any other reason how he got that, but depleted Uranium.
Healthy young man in early 20s. I am sure there are a lot of cases like that, this one I heard from my cousin.
This weapon production got to be stopped, and it can not be considered conventional.

Good lord people, use a little common sense here. There have been many, many studies done on the effects of depleted uranium. Yes, it is poisinous - but no more so than other metals that make good ammunition. It is radioactive - but at insignifigant levels. If you were encased in DU it would sheild FAR more radiation from the outside world than it would expose you to. Also, you consume more radaoactive material when you eat a bannana (or smoke a cigarette) than inhaling particles of DU.

There has not been a *single* study that shows any evidence that DU is an unsafe material. All of this anecdotal evidence and environazi propoganda means absolutely nothing.

If you feel this stongly about DU - here's a web page that you will be really scared of (and all of it's information is actually factual) www.dhmo.org...

?! I though depleted uranium was less radioactive than a banana?!

The Australian Governament removed all DU ammunition from its stockpiles - mostly in the form of 20mm ammo for its Phalanx CIWS. Also we are going to use tungsten cored ammo for our M1 Abrams.

Also, I thought Gulf War Syndrome was attributed to DU use in 1991.

Wasnt depleted uranium blamed for Gulf war syndrome???

I was a Nuke Tech in the army. Trainer nukes had depleted uranium rings. We would go TDY to different artillery units to maintain their trainer nukes.

A sort of 'ritual' for new members to an artillery unit was to make them lick a depleted uranium ring. They would all stand around and giggle. Until we were present and saw it. My squad leader held an AN-PDR-60( geiger counter) to it. The needle was way above the safe 100,000 CPM's. All I can say is that young man's face turned white.

Don't tell me depleted uranium is safe. I worked around both enriched and depleted for 3 years. I see a very grim future for myself, and those others who has our occupation.

depleted unranium used to be available for the home (ammo) reloader. Silluette shooters used to prefer it.

i haven't seen it available for quite some time but have not really looked for it either. it was just too expensive for my tastes.

it makes one great armour peircing round if put into a large rifle- say 308 or 50 cal. though i actually prefer 30 cal tungston sabots in 50 cal. running of 6000fps, because it can be picked up at any welding store, weighs tons less and not too difficult to form/reload.

. . . . . . . and if you want to talk hazardous material once turned into dust tungston is going to be high up the list!!!! (which it does after hitting a hard object). for that mater any inhaled particulate is going to be VERY bad for you- city dewellers lungs are remarkably more blackened than the average rural area dwellers- it takes over ten years for the lungs to clear themselves out. any large quantities of DUST is going to greatly decrease your life expectancy whle raising your chances for lung dease- any war zone is bound to be dusty- best wear a dust mask if you go.

Originally posted by nathraq

Don't tell me depleted uranium is safe. I worked around both enriched and depleted for 3 years. I see a very grim future for myself, and those others who has our occupation.

In that case you should go tell all of the scientists who have handled uranium (and many other things) for years who are now in their 70's and 80's that should go out any die right now.

Many (ignorant) peopel speculated that DU caused the Gulf War syndrome, but that made no sense and never had the slightest shred of evidence (if that were the case then people who worked at target ranges where DU was used all the time would also be sick, correct?) A more likely cause was exposure to trace amounts of chemical weapons.

[edit on 21-2-2005 by Starwars51]

Originally posted by Starwars51

Many (ignorant) peopel speculated that DU caused the Gulf War syndrome, but that made no sense and never had the slightest shred of evidence.

I guess there must many ' ignorant ' scientists out there then, according to you; since they see a connection with DU to GF Syndrome.

(if that were the case then people who worked at target ranges where DU was used all the time would also be sick, correct?) A more likely cause was exposure to trace amounts of chemical weapons.

[edit on 21-2-2005 by Starwars51]

Incorrect, It is DU powder inhaled by soldiers which they believe is responsible for GFS. This was mainly from 120mm tank rounds destroying Iraqi tanks, whereby the round disintegrates and burns leaving a very fine dust. There are pictures of soldiers crawling inside some of these tanks and the entire interior is covered by a white dust.
These conditions just aren't found on training ranges especially since they almost never fire the real deal but use training rounds.

SO Starwars it seems you may be the one who needs enlighten yourself far more.

Originally posted by Starwars51
[
In that case you should go tell all of the scientists who have handled uranium (and many other things) for years who are now in their 70's and 80's that should go out any die right now.


[edit on 21-2-2005 by Starwars51]

I don't know anything about the Gulf War Syndrome. I can not say what caused it.

But I can say that, if DU is so 'safe', then why is there a 1 Meter Rule, according to Army Regulations? If a tech is not actively involved in the maintenance on the weapon, whether it was a Pershing II, Lance, 155, or old 8", he was to stay at least one meter away. Why was it, if i held a DU ring in my hand, the reader went nuts? We used liquid freon to clean the rings. Why is the pads, after you swabbed the ring, still showed an above average reading?

I don't need to see any scientist when I know for a fact what the harm is, and will be. They can say all day long DU is harmless. But some of us know that isn't true.

Originally posted by rogue1


Incorrect, It is DU powder inhaled by soldiers which they believe is responsible for GFS. This was mainly from 120mm tank rounds destroying Iraqi tanks, whereby the round disintegrates and burns leaving a very fine dust. There are pictures of soldiers crawling inside some of these tanks and the entire interior is covered by a white dust.
These conditions just aren't found on training ranges especially since they almost never fire the real deal but use training rounds.

SO Starwars it seems you may be the one who needs enlighten yourself far more.

Oh my god. Somebody better call CNN. It seems that someone on ATS has single handedly solved a medical mystery that scientists haven't been able to solve in 15 years. I am in awe.

Seriously though, uranium is one of the most common metals on earth. Depleted uranium simply has the fissile isotopes removed (which also are the most radioactive isotopes). It is 100% chemically identical to the uranium that is found, for example, in granite. Do people that work in granite mines and work with granite (and certainly inhale signifigant amounts of uranium) experience gulf war syndrome? No. Does the powered rock and metal cause damage to their lungs? Probably - but becuase it isn't politically benificial to complain about the suffering of poor granite workers becuase of the some evil entity it isn't a big deal.

Ignorance is the issue here. Most people have no concept of what DU really is, or how common uranium is. The point of this board is to defeat ignorance, not perpeutaute the same (ridiculous) alarmist idea.

Mate, all these examples you are using have no releveance to the situation in Iraq. Granite miners are not exposed to nearly the same concentrations as a soldier crawling through an Iraqi tank hulk. Actually a miner would experience concentrations thousands of times less than a soldier.

Do you really know what you're talking about ? It doesn't really sound like it.

How many hours is the solider in contact compaired to the granite miner? Think of that one.

ya know what? burned up magnisium is a white powder. Tank chassis are mostly magnisium (aluminum alloy).

a single anti tank round would not have enough left of it to coat an entire other vehicle especially AFTER a fire which will cause air currents to move the dust around.

i worked on c-141b's for a long while (to me at least) as a hydraulic specialist and rigger the planes have DU counter weights to all the control surfaces and i spent most of my time around them- no ill effects here.

me thinks you have a higher likelihood of suffering from Radon poisoning - which is a nationwide, near, eppidemic and unranium related......