skygeek 0 #1 March 25, 2006 Anyone know first hand? I have family in Iraq who has a high possiblity of being exposed to this substance. And frankly I dont know which articles to belive, the ones that claim its harmless, or the ones that claim it causes horrid birth defects and cancer. Exapmles below: http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/ Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cumplidor 0 #2 March 25, 2006 I don't know first hand, but the WHO page seems to minimize DU effects, yet it says Quote The behaviour of DU in the body is identical to that of natural uranium. which doesn't sound good to me. Natural Uranium is known to cause cancer as I understand. Here is an article that describes an increase in DU in Europe since Gulf War 2. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2047373,00.html Of course, they write it off and call it a coincidence. A Scottish article http://www.sundayherald.com/32522 I have heard rumors that the Gulf War Syndrome is actually radiation poisioning from DU. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AdD 1 #3 March 25, 2006 I remember reading that there were some high radiation readings from parts of Baghdad, couldn't say where. I don't think I'd want that stuff in my breakfast cereal.Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #4 March 25, 2006 Just about all heavy metals have some toxicity associated with them. Depleted uranium is about as heavy as you can get. It probably ain't as bad as some say, but you may also note that it is not included in any reputable multivitamin. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #5 March 25, 2006 I've handled the stuff at Boeing a couple times, they use it for counterweights on flap assemblies in commercial jets. The stuff is UNBELIEVABLY heavy ! Only messed with it 2 - 3 times, had a really healthy kid after that, so far 18 years later everybody's just fine. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skygeek 0 #6 March 25, 2006 http://www.laka.org/teksten/Vu/where-how-much-01/main.html I'm no ammo expert but this seems to be a load of shells made from this shit. http://www.idust.net/Tutorial/DURadiation01.htm Can anyone explain the above link? i got lost. Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akarunway 1 #7 March 25, 2006 Irag, Depleted Uranium= Vietnam, Agent OrangeI hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tcnelson 1 #8 March 25, 2006 as a chemist: depleted uranium is used in shells because it is extremely dense and it does not have the radioactive characteristics of non-depleted uranium. the fact that it is dense enables it to penetrate heavy armor. more acurately, you can concentrate a relatively large amount of mass in a small round which gives you a shit load of momentum in a projectile of low surface area. it's like shooting a 20 lbs. bb at a sheet of paper. the term "depleted" means that the uranium atoms have undergone radioactive decay already. depleted uranium is safe to handle because there is no risk of harmful radiation. i think that the use of this material came about because scientists wondered what use there was in uranium rods that were spent in nuclear reactors. once they're "spent", you have depleted uranium and it's hella dense without the radioactive down side."Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skygeek 0 #9 March 25, 2006 ok I can understand that but what about this line from the WHO website # DU, consequently, is weakly radioactive and a radiation dose from it would be about 60% of that from purified natural uranium with the same mass. # The behaviour of DU in the body is identical to that of natural uranium. is 60% enought to worry about ? does that mean that it would take double the deadly does of regular uranium to kill you? any idea what the lethal dose is? Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tcnelson 1 #10 March 25, 2006 QuoteDepleted uranium is about as heavy as you can get. very true. osmium and iridium are actually the most dense, stable materials but, depleted uranium is far cheaper to isolate for other uses than either one of the first two and it's about twice as dense as lead. complete uranium decay yields lead but, that process takes a very long time. the half-life of uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years."Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tcnelson 1 #11 March 25, 2006 that is all true. especially, the second part notes that if you ingest DU, the effects would be similar to non-DU. this is because your skin protects you from alpha radiation, which is how uranium initially decays into protactinium. the technical aspects of radiation apply here. the easiest way i can tell you that depleted uranium is far less harmful than uranium is that the dosage of DU is far below that of non-DU. right now, your body is being bombarded with radiation as is everything on the earth (radioactive elements aren't just the ones at the bottom of the periodic table. carbon-13 is radioactive, is present in everything that contains carbon, and is the basis for carbon dating. many, many elements have radioactive isotopes). if the concentration of radiation gets too high on a living organism, radiation poisoning sets in. you can do research on this topic to learn more, and there is alot to learn, but, it's very interesting (i think). read about alpha emmision and beta emmision. both are processes by which uranium decays (eventually) into lead-206. i didn't look up what the "deadly" dose of uranium-238 is to a human but, that info is out there. however, uranium-238 is not depleted uranium; depleted uranium is a mixture of uranium, protactinium, and lead which is far less radioactive than pure uranium. happy hunting and enjoy the reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_radiation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_rays"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cumplidor 0 #12 March 25, 2006 Quoteuranium-238 is not depleted uranium; depleted uranium is a mixture of uranium, protactinium, and lead which is far less radioactive than pure uranium. I guess that is about like saying light cigarettes aren't as bad for you as full flavor. Poision is still poision, even lighter versions of it. You claim it is fairly safe. I assume this means as long as it isn't airborne, which DU dust particles is airborne, and being breathed in by everyone in Iraq right now, and upwind to Europe too. Does anyone note the fact that the thing about DU is they found a use for this industrial waste. Not only found a use, but a way to make money off of it! Very similar to the poision, flouride- another industrial waste, which is being added to municipal water in most cities The Wikipidia definition of DU is interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium Says that during processing they have to monitor and filter airborne particles. Do you reckon they are filtering the particles in Iraq? What about the poor folks whose land we are poisioning forever? The DU dust will get into their crops, water supplies, everything. So tell me again how safe this stuff is for our troops? Can you assure the reader that with all these shells we dropped that we wouldn't have kicked up an ass of dust to be breathed in by the Iraqis and our troops too. I think not. All you can do is say it is safe as long as it is not ingested. Which doesn't mean much since you can't see it to avoid it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #13 March 25, 2006 QuoteYou claim it is fairly safe. I assume this means as long as it isn't airborne, which DU dust particles is airborne, and being breathed in by everyone in Iraq right now, and upwind to Europe too. Do you have a confirmed radioactivity plot of that? I'd like to see the data, if you can provide it.Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #14 March 25, 2006 Can dust move Up Wind? (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle7 0 #15 March 25, 2006 Here is a 2003 article from the Sunday Herald in Scotland. It discusses the effects of DU on soldiers and civilians in Iraq. http://www.sundayherald.com/32522 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skygeek 0 #16 March 25, 2006 Thanx for the info, I really appreatate the time you took to awnser me. I found this info on DU shell impacts.> here http://serendipity.nofadz.com/nato/du.htm Bullets, shells and missiles tipped with radioactive depleted uranium made every weapon in Iraq's arsenal obsolete. The higher weight of DU shells allows American tanks to shoot twice as far, giving them a range of two miles. During the [1991] Desert Storm terror campaign at least 944,000 rounds of DU ammo were fired from American A-10 Warthogs all over Iraq and Kuwait. The A-10 is an aircraft built around a 30mm, 7-barrel gattling gun that can spew 3900 rounds per minute. When a depleted uranium tipped shell strikes a tank or armored personnel carrier it easily penetrates the armor and burns the crew alive. The impact also vaporizes the depleted uranium, creating an aerosol of radioactive heavy-metal particles which can spread as far as 190 miles on the wind. When inhaled or ingested, the depleted uranium particles cause chemical and radioactive damage to the bronchial tree, kidneys, liver and bones. Cancer often results, and the effects can even include genetic damage. The Dutch Laka Foundation estimates that the United States terror campaign left behind 300-800 tons of radioactive waste from this [depleted uranium] ammunition all over Kuwait and Iraq — poisoning the air, the land, the water and the people everywhere. Afterwards, wherever the depleted uranium firing had been concentrated, there were cancer epidemics among Iraqi civilians living nearby. In the ten years since then, sanctions, polluted water and depleted uranium together have killed somewhere between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Iraqi civilian people. At least 600,000 of the dead are children. Cancer rates have quadrupled in areas of southern Iraq bombed by the American and British state terrorists. http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/special/index3.html Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #17 March 25, 2006 Quotethe United States terror campaign Wow... no preconceptions THERE, huh? I'll have to look around some other sources that are available and see how their numbers match up...Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,027 #18 March 25, 2006 Quoteas a chemist: depleted uranium is used in shells because it is extremely dense and it does not have the radioactive characteristics of non-depleted uranium. the fact that it is dense enables it to penetrate heavy armor. more acurately, you can concentrate a relatively large amount of mass in a small round which gives you a shit load of momentum in a projectile of low surface area. it's like shooting a 20 lbs. bb at a sheet of paper. the term "depleted" means that the uranium atoms have undergone radioactive decay already. depleted uranium is safe to handle because there is no risk of harmful radiation. i think that the use of this material came about because scientists wondered what use there was in uranium rods that were spent in nuclear reactors. once they're "spent", you have depleted uranium and it's hella dense without the radioactive down side. All uranium isotopes are radioactive. DU is just less radioactive than natural uranium because the most radioactive isotopes have been removed. DU is still radioactive, however, (U238 is an alpha emitter and its first daughter decay product is a beta emitter), which means it is most hazardous when inhaled as dust, when it can cause lung cancer. There are also chemical toxicity effects common to all heavy metals.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trent 0 #19 March 25, 2006 Please be careful what you read. While this article probably isn't 100% inaccurate... you read stuff like this QuoteDuring the [1991] Desert Storm terror campaign... ... and you have to get an idea of what the motivations of the people writing it are. Maybe stick with the stuff that is more scientific in origin and then come back to the protest sites to see what some people are saying.Oh, hello again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tenshi 0 #20 March 25, 2006 I wouldn't brush my teeth with a depleted uranium toothbrush... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trent 0 #21 March 25, 2006 QuoteI wouldn't brush my teeth with a depleted uranium toothbrush... I wouldn't use depleted uranium cologne either. Nothing I've said or seen has said that DU was good for you.Oh, hello again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydemon2 0 #22 March 25, 2006 DU is is very bad unless cooked properly, it should never be over cooked and should be cooked with a garlic and onion sauce (my preference you can experiment). the wine will some what depend on the sauce but most prefer a light white wine. you can pm me for recipes if needed!Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone! I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest 1010 #23 March 25, 2006 don't eat it don't sniff it don't snort it don't smoke it don't inject it don't put it in your eye don't put it in your butt other than that it's fine You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,027 #24 March 25, 2006 QuoteDU is is very bad unless cooked properly, it should never be over cooked and should be cooked with a garlic and onion sauce (my preference you can experiment). the wine will some what depend on the sauce but most prefer a light white wine. you can pm me for recipes if needed! Cooking U238 turns it into Pu239 which is much much nastier... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #25 March 25, 2006 WHoops.... you forgot... Dont get shot by invading forces who use it...... A Lot (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites