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IRAQ: Uranium-Coated Weapons Blamed For Health Risks
Iraqi officials are blaming depleted-uranium ordnance used by US and British forces during the Gulf War for increasing the country's rates of cancer and birth defects and creating "environmental hazards."
A report by Physicians For Social Responsibility says that the uranium dust created when the shells exploded "may threaten soil and water resources for years to come." And the Iraqi Red Crescent Society believes there is a relationship between the weapons and increased incidence of leukemia since the war. Ali Jamad, director of the Basra children's hospital, cited seven times more incidents of cancer and 15 times more deformed babies since the Gulf War.
A study by the Rand Corp., commissioned by the US Defense Department, found "no clear link" between the mildly radioactive weapons and cancer in Iraq, but it did call for more information. Some Iraqis are calling on the United States to help conduct tissue and blood tests.
(Bruce Finley, Denver Post, 13 Feb)