Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault

[think]

America has many fine legacies of providing help and care around the world. From The Red Cross to Unicef, to Save The Children, and so many more groups, we help those that are hit by famine , floods, and earthquakes though out the world. My hope is we shall continue to be a beacon of light and hope for those suffering across the globe.

Unfortunately the legacy of the Iraq war will not be one we can be proud of. This is directed at both political parties as depleted uranium has been used in war by both parties and although depleted uranium is not currently being used, it has not been banned and could be used again.

We can't undo the damage done by it's use starting with testing in Puerto Rico or it's use in the first gulf war or again when we used it in Yugoslavia , and now in the last war in Iraq.

But we as a people can contact our government and demand they put an end to this legacy of horror. We cannot continue to believe that the use of depleted uranium is ethical and just. It's a weapon of mass destruction which kills and deforms the most innocent victims. Children:

Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault

• Defects in newborns 11 times higher than normal
• 'War contaminants' from 2004 attack could be cause

A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that took place six years ago.

The research, which will be published next week, confirms earlier estimates revealed by the Guardian of a major, unexplained rise in cancers and chronic neural-tube, cardiac and skeletal defects in newborns. The authors found that malformations are close to 11 times higher than normal rates, and rose to unprecedented levels in the first half of this year – a period that had not been surveyed in earlier reports.

The findings, which will be published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, come prior to a much-anticipated World Health Organisation study of Falluja's genetic health. They follow two alarming earlier studies, one of which found a distortion in the sex ratio of newborns since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – a 15% drop in births of boys....

....The latest Falluja study surveyed 55 families with seriously deformed newborns between May and August. It was conducted by Dr Samira Abdul Ghani, a paediatrician at Falluja general hospital. In May, 15% of the 547 babies born had serious birth defects. In the same period, 11% of babies were born at less than 30 weeks and 14% of foetuses spontaneously aborted....

Link to entire article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...h-defects-iraq

Here is a brief history of the attempts by sovereign nations to ban the military use of depleted uranium:

Requests for a moratorium on military use

Some states and the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, a coalition of more than 120 non-governmental organizations, have asked for a ban on the production and military use of depleted uranium weapons.[42]

The European Parliament has repeatedly passed resolutions requesting an immediate moratorium on the further use of depleted uranium ammunition,[43][44] but France and Britain – the only EU states that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – have consistently rejected calls for a ban,[45] maintaining that its use continues to be legal, and that the health risks are entirely unsubstantiated.[46]

In 2007 France, Britain, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution to hold a debate in 2009 about the effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium. All other European Union nations voted in favour or abstained.[47]

The ambassador from the Netherlands explained his negative vote as being due to the reference in the preamble to the resolution "to potential harmful effects of the use of depleted uranium munitions on human health and the environment [which] cannot, in our view, be supported by conclusive scientific studies conducted by relevant international organizations."[48]

None of the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council supported the resolution as China was absent for the vote, Russia abstained and United States voted against the resolution.[47]

In September 2008, and in response to the 2007 General Assembly resolution, the UN Secretary General published the views of 15 states alongside those of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO). The IAEA and WHO evidence differed little from previous statements on the issue.[49]

The report was largely split between states concerned about depleted uranium's use such as Finland, Cuba, Japan, Serbia, Argentina and predominantly NATO members who do not consider the use of depleted uranium munitions problematic.[49]

In December 2008, 141 states supported a resolution requesting that three UN agencies: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), WHO and IAEA update their research on the impact of uranium munitions by late 2010 - to coincide with the General Assembly's 65th Session, four voted against, 34 abstained and 13 were absent[50]

As before Britain and France voted against the resolution. All other European Union nations voted in favour or abstained: the Netherlands, which voted against a resolution in 2007, voted in favour, as did Finland and Norway, both of which had abstained in 2007, while the Czech Republic, which voted against the resolution in 2007, abstained. The two other states that voted against the resolution were Israel and the United States (both of which voted against in 2007), while as before China was absent for the vote, and Russia abstained.[50]

On June 21, 2009, Belgium became the first country in the world to ban: "inert ammunition and armour that contains depleted uranium or any other industrially manufactured uranium."[51]

The move followed a unanimous parliamentary vote on the issue on 22 March 2007. The text of the 2007 law allowed for two years to pass until it came into force.[52] In April 2009, the Belgian Senate voted unanimously to restrict investments by Belgian banks into the manufacturers of depleted uranium weapons.[53]

In September 2009, the Latin American Parliament passed a resolution calling for a regional moratorium on the use, production and procurement of uranium weapons. It also called on the Parlatino's members to work towards an international uranium weapons treaty.[54]

In October 2010 the General Assembly First Committee passed a draft resolution calling on users of depleted uranium to hand over quantitative and geographical data, upon request, on their use to the relevant authorities of affected states. The resolution passed by 136 votes to four, with 28 abstentions. Five states that have abstained on previous resolutions in 2007 and 2008 voted in favour - Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, Luxembourg and Slovenia, and no former supporters changed position. The UK, US, Israel and France voted against.[55]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deplete...n_military_use

[katherine]

I would say other nations show the same lack of respect for human life.
That's why France has performed nuclear testing very far from continental France.

Concerning depleted uranium the US has huge amounts of it and the Pentagon just doesn't know how to dispose of it. Solution: use the Third World as a large-scale waste dump.
This is the modern version of Agent Orange. In fact all types of industrial/consumer waste from Western nations end up somewhere in poor countries - then it's no longer our problem, it's theirs. You bet they must be grateful.