[ranxer]

the D.U. issue is confused partly due to the odd ways the info is coming out and the stifling of investigation, such as the botched testing program on the soldiers and du testing facilities being shut down in U.S. and Canada. we will probably continue to have misquotes and misunderstandings about the du problems for as long as certain folks can confuse it.

d.u. rounds, rods, protective armor etc. don't cause anything like the harm that shrapnel and dust do, i don't think they are technically a wmd or a huge radiation problem or havnt proven to be so yet. until they are exploded, pierced, or used..

the DUST is the WMD! the shrapnel less so, i've heard of the dangers and the harmful dosages being pretty small .. here's one scientist's view:
(if this is anywhere close to being correct the use of du on 'enemies' is not just clever, it's diabolical.)

"Leonard Dietz, retired scientist, has estimated the radiation dose from a depleted uranium oxide particle in the lung as being 170 rem per year. 13 This dosage from a 2.5 micrometers diameter particle - small enough to be passed into the lung - is 34 times the maximum permissible dose for radiation workers and 100 times the permitted dose for the general population. The dosage from a 5 micrometer diameter particle - still small enough to be inhaled - is 1360 rem, 272 times the maximum permissible dose for a radiation worker. He notes that 'Until these doses can be related to a cancer risk factor, they must be viewed as qualitative indicators of danger, as red flags... the younger the person exposed to alpha particle radiation, the greater the risk that cancer will develop.' In both 1987 and 1990, the US Army issued guidelines on the handling of DU munitions and DU contaminated vehicles. It includes instructions to fire-fighters that they must wear 'self contained breathing apparatus, protective clothing, and gloves when approaching a burning tank... to approach the tank it should be upwind of any smoke coming from the tank''14 No such guidelines have been passed to Iraq."

i'd settle for amnesty for the criminals in our government behind this stuff if we could just get it to STOP. and that includes the direct attempts to use false intelligence to get our military to commit atrocities on civilians for war escallation and profiteering..