Cheiron

Based on the information I've managed to gather, Depleted Uranium has plenty of radiation, just in the generally non harmful type, ie alpha, beta, but not gamma. Now alpha and beta are not harmful in low ammounts, because they cannot penetrate most solid objects, hence your dead skin cells stop the radiation before it has a chance to do any damage to the living cells.

Now in the case of GWS(Gulf war syndrom) one hypothesis is that due to depleted uranium use, in shells and such, small ammounts of DU were vaporized, which is what is supposed to happen in the case of armor piercing rounds. Now this vapour coalesces into dust, This dust is very very easily breathed in, and once the DU gets into your lungs, well there is no dead skin on the insides of your lungs, not to mention that Uranium being a heavy metal, it builds up in your body. And slowly the radiation affecting you increases.

Of course tests for radiation like this, say running a geiger counter over someone wouldn't work because the radiation is being blocked by the persons body.

Now this is just one of the supposed causes of GWS and from what i've read this one seems to be the most legitimate, IE GWS is showing up in other places where DU was used, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and now Iraq#2

The SwampThing

Oh, you are one of those? Oh well, your kind is everywhere, plaguing every forum and nitpicking at people�s mispeling errors...
But perhaps you should take notice that not everybody speaks english as mathernal language.
And i have way more things to do than to care about such trivial shit.
But if you are going to be a jerk everyday of your life, the least you could do is to post the correction, so people can learn from your "expertize", even if just a little.
And now, how about posting something constructive?

J� dizia a minha av�zinha: Quem nasce burro, morre palerma!
Agora, vai pegar num motor de tradu��o na net e traduz isto, pode ser que aprendas, mam�n!!

P.S: Answering to Jon1,i never ment to sugest Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was the same thing as Gulf Syndrome. What i mean is, the troops are coming home suffering from BOTH. Namely the prisioners of war who were released, seem to suffer from Post Traumatic S.D. As for those who suffer, or think they suffer from the Gulf Syndrome, let me just say that this syndrome reports to the first gulf war, when chemicals were released on the atmosphere by allied bombing raids and bio-chem weaponry, wich is not the case in this war. Unless i�m mistaken, i haven�t heard any mention of chemicals or biological agents being released or used during this conflict. Of course, there is always Depleted uranium. Many seem to think it is safe to use.
But i doubt that. When a uranium shell explodes, the radioactive material is vaporized, turning to a very thin dust, floating in the air where it can easelly be inhaled by anyone without a gas mask.
Besides, the explosion causes the uranium molecules to aquire neutrons and atoms of other materials, resulting more dangerous than the inert stuff you get in contact with, while handling active shells. But i leave that to chemists and physicists.
Either way, you won�t see me touching the stuff, that�s for shure!! I never trust what the armament industry techs tell us, and neither should you.

Oh, and by the way, you won�t see the US government investigating and treating any iraqis, especcially from Bagdad, who suffer from severe shell shock, from all those tons of US bombs...
Who will care for them? Or will the US government claim that shell shock is not real??
Bummer!! That�s one big post-scriptum, no?
:banghead:

Kat_Somm_Faen

DU is radioctive.

Also, upon impact some part of it are blown up into small particles or powder which than can drift in the atmosphere. Not the entire slug but chips and grains... that sort of thing.

The fact we onlt have US military sources saying NO and most other inquiries not even taken, not subsidized or not talked about is very worrying.

Nog

Actually were i got my information about the cause of GWS was the US military, they are teaching US soldiers to stay away from vehicles that were destroyed by DU shells.

The SwampThing

Here in Portugal, we have absolutely no weapons of DU, but inspite of that we had a few soldiers suffering from radiation poisoning. They were stationed in B�znia, and when they returned home a good percentage got sick. The government started a double investigation, done by both the Army and a private independant company. It turned out the men that got sick were all stationed in the same immediate area, wich had been targeted by DU ordenance.
The NATO Air Force had targeted lots of tanks and troop carriers in the area, and used mostly US airplanes and ammunition.
Although there was significant data showing that DU was infact responsible, and although we were not the only country with sick troops in B�znia, the case was closed and the troops received nothing. A couple died, and their fathers are still trying to take the case into court, but our government is suffering some pressure from the other side of the Atlantic. The US don�t wish to see their most effective ordenance questioned, wich could lead to a world wide DU weapons ban...
Politics, just politics!! Meanwhile, the boznians and the iraqis are suffering from cancer,mutated babies, leuchemia, and other nasty stuff caused by the DU weapons usage.

It�s a brave new world, boys!!!
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Loren Pechtel

This makes no sense--if the trivial radiation from a tank shell hit was the cause then the tankers would be coming down with it in droves--there's a *LOT* of shells in a tank and they are much closer to them.

Loren Pechtel

It's toxic but nowhere near as toxic as most things classed as poisons.

Loren Pechtel

If this were the explanation it would be easy to find out with a blood test. If it wasn't in the blood it couldn't get through the body to cause systemic problems.

Loren Pechtel

There's a difference between nitpicking and seeing humor in spelling errors or typos.

Not too long ago I ran into "ecriminalize" instead of "decriminalize"--I sent the host a message asking if it was only going to be illegal on the web. Of course with a big <G>.

Nog

Ya, those shells didnt destroy anything..