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| Afghanistan | ||||
| Afghans to probe if US used depleted uranium | ||||
| 2008-04-20 | ||||
KABUL - The Afghan government plans to investigate whether the United States used depleted uranium during its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and if it might be linked to malformed babies born afterwards.
Depleted uranium is a heavy metal used in some weapons that can pierce armour. It has small levels of radioactivity associated with it.
“It’s then that we can tell you what is going on. But until then it is still speculation,” he said. “In Afghanistan, we have so many problems with nutritional deficiency, like folic acid. So it’s difficult to tell if it’s due to depleted uranium or due to some nutritional problems or some other genetic issues,” he said.
Kakar said he would like to see the study done as soon as possible, but the Afghan government, which largely relies on Western aid and troops, needed to find ways of funding it. | ||||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #34 Frank G, Was/Is the Gordian Knot left handed or right? Inquiring minds should like to knows! >:) |
| Posted by: RD 2008-04-20 23:16 |
| #33 Dr. Steve White: What is important about DU is that it's a heavy metal. Exposure to heavy metal dust can cause some medical problems. The big one is renal failure; all heavy metals are known to do this. Lead is soft but dense and heavy.. Tungsten, Heavy yet Hard as hell, hence a good Tank Penetrator. Germans and Americans used this metal for anti-Armor weapons etc... |
| Posted by: RD 2008-04-20 23:07 |
| #32 Use it to insult a boss or cow-orker who needs it, USN,Ret. They might not understand the word. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2008-04-20 22:56 |
| #31 The Afghan government plans to investigate whether the United States used depleted uranium during its invasion of Afghanistan I sure as hell hope so. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-04-20 22:27 |
| #30 If I was going to loot a destroyed tank, I'd wear a dustmask. Outside of that, I'd worry more about mad cow when spreading bone meal on the garden. |
| Posted by: KBK 2008-04-20 21:50 |
| #29 Case in point, Napalm. |
| Posted by: George Smiley 2008-04-20 21:20 |
| #28 "consanguineous" Now just HOW am I going to work that into any sort of conversation tomorrow @ work? I bet that this is also one word never used in the Reader's Digest "It pays to increase your word power" section, either. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-04-20 19:40 |
| #27 When your family tree looks like a /Just buildin' on what Commodore Frank was sayin' |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-04-20 17:06 |
| #26 Left-conformists demonize DU because it is effective. The sole purpose of their various campaigns against specific weapons, including DU, cluster bombs and (tentatively) fuel-air explosives, is to create political pressure for the removal of these weapons from the arsenal, thereby providing our enemies, and the left's clients, with a military advantage. In this, as in all else, the "peace movement" is a ruthless, depraved, and almost demonically hypocritical fraud aimed only at promoting the power of thugs, dictators, and other scum with whom peacenik power-seeker neurotics identify. I am especially put out with them today because I spent a big part of last night talking with a group of young Americans who had come here as refugees from communist conquered Vietnam. It would break your heart to hear their accounts of communist atrocities and malfeasance, then contrast this with the media left's fawning praise for the Vietnamese communists, not to mention the Democratic Party's open support for that Stalinist theft of an entire country. The wheel has turned though, and I believe I will live to see Vietnam a free country, with the communists hanging from lampposts and their American shills disgraced and driven from their positions of power and reduced to begging and turning tricks in dark alleys, if not worse. Damn them and all their works, and damn their media and their depraved political and academic culture. They are the enemy, and the Islamic terrorists are only their current tools of convenience. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2008-04-20 16:45 |
| #25 Very erudite way of saying their family tree don't fork, Frank. *golf clap* :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-20 14:32 |
| #24 the consanguineous marriages Pssst. That means cousin-boinking. (or worse!) |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-04-20 14:25 |
| #23 when your family tree looks like a Gordian Knot, you might have issues |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-20 13:31 |
| #22 I'm guessing it's also the consanguineous marriages, Jim. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2008-04-20 13:10 |
| #21 What bothers me is that people are exposed to "depleted uranium" all the time. It occurs naturally in the soil. If you live downwind from a coal power plant you are breathing the stuff. Uranium 238 isn't all that toxic, what is most toxic are the decay products. One would be exposed to about the same level of these as they get from normal background radiation ... in other words ... from plain old dirt. Depleted uranium is used for bullets because it is denser than lead. It also poses less of a health hazard than lead does. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-04-20 12:36 |
| #20 And what are you, Steve White, some kind of doctor? *I* know, but I 'll bet mac-whoever-pooplist does not. I hate it when a beautiful theory is gunned down by a brutal gang of facts. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-04-20 11:48 |
| #19 Steve has it right. The major health risk of DU is heavy metal poisoning. In fact, each of us has a tiny amount of natural uranium in our bodies. A little bit is absorbed and excreted each day. It is highly unlikely any DU API was used at Tora Bora. It was a heavy bomber operation with support by F-15Es. They dropped gravity bombs (dumb, laser and GPS). The A-10s that carry the 30mm DU anti-tank rounds were not in theater. Even today, I doubt the the A-10s based in Afghanistan even carry them. The high explosive incendiary rounds are much more effective since taliban tanks are not an issue. Why blame their crappy society when it's much more edifying to blame |
| Posted by: ed 2008-04-20 11:22 |
| #18 Let's be clear about DU: it's 'depleted' for a reason. It has three times less 238U than natural uranium. It's an alpha-emitter, but alpha-radiation is not an issue (excepting very, very high doses). What is important about DU is that it's a heavy metal. Exposure to heavy metal dust can cause some medical problems. The big one is renal failure; all heavy metals are known to do this. Inhalation of dust, or direct entry due to wounds, is the prime method of getting any heavy metal dust into the body. Ingestion results in negligible systemic absorption. According to the WHO fact sheet (reasonably reliable), there are no reports of reproductive or developmental abnormalities associated with DU exposure. That means there is little likelihood of DU causing the terrible birth defects that the foolish left-wing nutters (hello mac-b) claim it does. It's interesting what an application of science, medicine, logic and reason can do to counter rabid left-wing paranoia. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-04-20 10:52 |
| #17 [mac-b-only has been pooplisted.] |
| Posted by: mac-b-only 2008-04-20 10:51 |
| #16 And I have noticed a lot of poop-listing over the last year, just sayin. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-04-20 10:09 |
| #15 mac-b-only --it is idiots like this that make me want us to tell the world to go fuck themselves..they can take care of mother russia and imperial china... we really do not need these scumbags who use america...80% of our economy is home grown..something the euroslam cannot say..fuck em all -- tell'em go to hell if you have ever traveled outstide the US you would thank your golden nuts you are AMERICAN...these little shits around the world would be lost if the american cowboy did not materialize |
| Posted by: Dan 2008-04-20 10:08 |
| #14 I have heard of tankers having deformed children at a higher than normal rate, DU was suspected as a possible cause. But tankers have about a thousand times the exposure to the DU dust and debris than the people that they are shooting the rounds at. I would wonder if the birth defect rate in Afghanistan was that high before the invasion, my guess would be that it was. Farm chemicals, drug processing chemicals, and poor nutrition are likely the culprit. DU may very well have aggravated the situation but they were running a human roach motel and I don't feel very bad for them. Guess I'm not a very nice person. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-04-20 10:07 |
| #13 ahhhh a moral-high-ground troll. Can we keep him? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-20 10:03 |
| #12 Steve, actually you are right... Now that I think back, my father used to use the word "idjit-farm" when he was referring to golf courses... Sorry... I totally forgot... many years ago... |
| Posted by: mac-b-only 2008-04-20 09:22 |
| #11 Thanks Steve... I think you are full of shiest... ya'll needed an English to SOOPID dictionary???... LAMO... Don't get sensitive... |
| Posted by: mac-b-only 2008-04-20 09:12 |
| #10 Time to add folic acid to our tank rounds. And yes, Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot - Vitamin Enriched (APFSDS-VE) is a mouthful, but at least it is good for you. Unless you are directly on the receiving end. As for there is something very telling about one who cannot spell "idiot" correctly, there is also something charming about foreigners tripping over transliterations of American slang and regional accents. For future reference, so you don't look foolish, consider adding 'sumbitch' (son of a bitch), 'furrener' (foreigner) and 'idjit' (idiot) to your lexicon. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-04-20 09:06 |
| #9 Maybe this 82 Y/O WW2 Vet is a maroon as well... Read much??? http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/DU-Deraps0807.htm |
| Posted by: mac-b-only 2008-04-20 09:04 |
| #8 Whatchoo gonna do when you run out of alphabet, "mac-whatever-only"? Idjit. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-20 09:04 |
| #7 What a maroon. |
| Posted by: George Smiley 2008-04-20 09:00 |
| #6 "There's a reason why it's called depleted, you idjits" Not sure where to start with this one... I love Americans, silly little monkeys you are... I would think ( however thinking gets me kicked off this site most usually) that the folks that hang-out on this site would have heard of a gulf war syndrome. I thought you guys had some respect for your Vet's. Ask one of the Vets that worked around DU during the GW1 about potential fall out of DU... Not quite as funny when it is Americans suffering... But it never is... Oh yeah one other thing... I am not the greatest one for spelling and punctuation, however there is something very telling about one who cannot spell "idiot" correctly ... So telling in fact I am almost positive to which political party affiliation he must belong... :) "Tie Chein" Rantburgers |
| Posted by: mac-c-only 2008-04-20 08:13 |
| #5 [mac-d-only has been pooplisted.] |
| Posted by: mac-d-only 2008-04-20 08:12 |
| #4 "So it’s difficult to tell if it’s due to depleted uranium or due to some nutritional problems or some other genetic issues,” he said. "But that little fact won't stop us from blaming you anyways!" |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-04-20 08:08 |
| #3 ...Someone needs to sit Mr. Kakar down and tell him exactly how close Afghanistan came to seeing a much more devastating form of U235 one night in September of 2001. It was on the table. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-04-20 07:52 |
| #2 Could have been worse. A lot worse. |
| Posted by: George Smiley 2008-04-20 07:10 |
| #1 It's called depleted because its U235 isotope has been removed for fuel and is the U238 left behind. U238 is still radioactive emitting an alpha particle and has a half-life of approx. 4 billion years. Could the malformed babies be from the prevalent Bronze Age lifestyle? Just askin'. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2008-04-20 01:39 |