By: Berna Villanueva

Depleted Uranium

• What is Depleted Uranium (DU)?

• DU as a public health issue

• Current policies / practices

• Public Health Implication

Learning Objectives

When uranium is enriched, you get depleted uranium

40% less radioactive than natural uranium but same chemical toxicity

Embedded Shrapnel

Image Courtesy: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/nov/03-testing-for-shrapnel-sickness

• Radioactivity versus Chemical Toxicity

• Gulf war syndrome and toxic embedded substances

• Iraqi population

• Animal studies

• Atmospheric and environmental concerns

Potential Health Risks and Issues associated with DU Use and Exposure

Depleted uranium weaponry fails all four tests. For that reason it is illegal under all treaties, all agreements and all war conventions:

The military use of DU violates current international humanitarian law, including the principle that there is no unlimited right to choose the means and methods of warfare (Art. 22 Hague Convention VI (HCIV); Art. 35 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva (GP1); the ban on causing unnecessary suffering and suoperfluous injury (Art. 23 §le HCIV; Art. 35 §2 GP1), indiscriminate warfare (Art. 51 §4c and 5b GP1) as well as the use of poison or poisoned weapons.

The deployment and use of DU violate the principles of international environmental and human rights protection. They contradict the right to life established by the Resolution 1996/16 of the UN Subcommittee on Human Rights. “

Weapons must pass four tests in order to determine that they are legal under international law. The tests are:

TEMPORAL TEST – Weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over.

ENVIRONMENTAL TEST – Weapons must not be unduly harmful to the environment.

TERRITORIAL TEST – Weapons must not act off of the battlefield.

HUMANENESS TEST – Weapons must not kill or wound inhumanely.

LEGALITY TEST FOR WEAPONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

• US Department of Defense: 2003 Health Affairs Policy and Operation Iraqi Freedom DU Medical Management

• US Department of Energy:  Depleted UF6 (Uranium) Management Program

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• 2010 UN General Assembly (148 to 4 votes) - (UNEP, WHO, IAEA)

• DU Ban: Belgium (2009) and Costa Rica (2011)

Current Policies, Programs, Practices

• Advocate for screening of those exposed and long-term follow-up (veterans, populations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans)

• Advocate for policy of either restricting use of DU munitions or requiring military organizations to disclose what munitions are composed of (taking into account environmental and human rights protection)

• Further research in potential health and environmental effects of DU (prevention)

• Enforcing UN Resolution

Public Health Implications

Alaani, S., Tafash, M., Busby, C., Hamdan, M., & Blaurock-Busch, E. (2011). Uranium and other contaminants in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah, Iraq. Conflict and health, 2, 5-15.

Briner, W. E. (2006). The evolution of depleted uranium as an environmental risk factor: lessons from other metals. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 3(2), 129-135.

Carvalho, F. P., & Oliveira, J. M. (2010). Uranium isotopes in the Balkan's environment and foods following the use of depleted uranium in the war. Environment International, 36(4), 352-360.

Hindin, R., Brugge, D., & Panikkar, B. (2005). Teratogenicity of depleted uranium aerosols: a review from an epidemiological perspective. Environmental Health, 4(1), 17.

Milacic, S., & Simic, J. (2009). Identification of health risks in workers staying and working on the terrains contaminated with depleted uranium. Journal of Radiation Research, 50(3), 213-222.

Squibb, K. S., & McDiarmid, M. A. (2006). Depleted uranium exposure and health effects in Gulf War veterans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1468), 639-648.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/depleted_uranium/

U.S. Nuclear Policy and Depleted Uranium. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.grassrootspeace.org/TribTest062803.html

What is Depleted Uranium? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://olivebiodiesel.com/depleteduranium/URANIUM0415.gif

References