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Depleted uranium (DU) is the by-product of uranium enrichment and nuclear power plants. Uranium’s density and other physical properties have encouraged states to use it in armour-piercing bullets, tank shells and vehicle armour. Depleted uranium ammunition is composed of a solid rod of uranium – a tank shell can contain over four kilograms of the chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal.
For the past two decades, DU has been used in military operations by the United States and Great Britain. Weapons containing DU were deployed in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War of 1991, in the Balkans during the mid to late 1990s, and again in Iraq in 2003.
While DU has properties that are strategically valuable for military operations, its long term effects are devastating for both the people and the environment in the impacted areas.
Upon impact, the solid uranium core of these weapons burns to create a fine powder, which can then become suspended in the air. Inhalation of this dust or ingestion of contaminated groundwater can lead to a variety of health problems in both soldiers and civilians.
DU has chemical and radiological toxicity that can manifest itself through a variety of whole body symptoms. In areas of Iraq where uranium weapons were used on a large scale, doctors have witnessed an increase in the rates of cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia.
Once released into the environment, the fine particles of DU are essentially impossible to clean-up. While the half-life of DU is lower than other isotopes of uranium, DU gets progressively more radioactive as it decays into other radioactive isotopes.
The use of these weapons constitutes a grave breach of the basic principles enshrined in International Humanitarian Law. Soldiers exposed to DU are seldom informed of the risk or given adequate protection, and civilians are left with radioactive and chemically toxic contamination that will affect them and their families forever
For more information:
ICBUW - International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons
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