BBC News – Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects
A spokesman for the US military, Michael Kilpatrick, said it always took public health concerns “very seriously”.
“No studies to date have indicated environmental issues resulting in specific health issues,” he said.
“Unexploded ordinance, including improvised explosive devises, are a recognised hazard,” he added.
Depleted Uranium comes to mind, although the military assures us there’s no hazard.
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Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 7:10
The WHO also assures us that DU is relatively safe – http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 8:31
What happens in an adult human may be — and almost certainly is — different from what happens in a small clump of rapidly-developing, relatively undifferentiated cells (and the jury is still out on adults).
No one knows about the effect of DU on developing fetuses, nor long-term post-partum effects, because no research has been done. None. Medical ethics prohibits it in Western countries, and the others don’t really care much.
There is also the issue of what is “relatively safe.” Quite frankly, I’m not about to willingly breathe vaporized or submicroscopic particles of any heavy elements, and I suspect the WHO isn’t, either.