By Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 23rd, 2010
The apparent spike in cancer and infant mortality rates for Fallujah, Iraq since 2005 should make everyonereconsider the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) in modern munitions.
A study released in July by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggests ahuge increase of birth defects and cancer rates for Fallujah, a spike which began five years ago.
The Journal came to its conclusion after comparing Fallujah’s birth defect and cancer rates from 2005-2010with similar periods for Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan–states which neighbor Iraq.
The research exposed a number of apparent trends in Fallujah, including:
- A Leukemia rate 38 times higher than that of neighboring states
- A breast cancer rate 10 times higher
- An infant mortality rate 5 times higher
- Numerous birth defects
- An unusual gender disparity–860 male newborns for every 1,000 newborn girls
These results are awfully similar to what researchers discovered among survivors of the radioactive fallout fromthe Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
In 1945, the United States exploded a nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Hiroshima–a second suchweapon was exploded over Nagasaki. The bombings effectively ended World War II.
The Fallujah study supports anecdotal evidence of increases in mutations and cancer-related deaths in the citysince America began its fruitless nation-building of Iraq in 2003.
The researchers say such sudden and large-scale mutagenic damage could only have been caused by arecent catastrophic contamination of Fallujah. Though they remain uncertain of the catalyst creating so muchpain, they already have identified a prime suspect: Depleted Uranium munitions (DUs).
The U.S. military bombed Fallujah with tons of DU munitions in 2004. The move killed both Iraqi “insurgents”and unarmed civilians.
The Pentagon often employs DU munitions as they are much more dense than lead, and make for superiorarmor-piercing rounds. DU essentially is made from the spent fuel of nuclear reactors.
Nuclear waste normally is stored in a secure place far away from human beings. But in recent years, spentnuclear reactor fuel has been sold to munitions manufacturers for the creation of DUs.
The U.S. government’s official stance? There is no nuclear fallout from DU use.
