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TESTS SHOW GULF WAR VICTIMS HAVE URANIUM POISONING
Jonathon Carr-Brown and Martin Meissonnier
The Sunday Times
September 3 2000

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/09/03/stifgnnws02001.html

NEW evidence that Gulf war syndrome exists and was caused by radiation
poisoning will be revealed today by a former American army colonel who was
at the centre of his government's attempts to diagnose the illness.

Dr Asaf Durakovic will tell a conference of eminent nuclear scientists in
Paris that "tens of thousands" of British and American soldiers are dying
from radiation from depleted uranium (DU) shells fired during the Gulf war.

The findings will undermine the British and American governments' claims
that Gulf war syndrome does not exist and intensify pressure from veterans
on both sides of the Atlantic for compensation.

Durakovic, who is professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown University,
Washington, and the former head of nuclear medicine at the US Army's
veterans' affairs medical facility in Delaware, will tell the conference
that he and his team of American and Canadian scientists have discovered
life-threateningly high levels of DU in Gulf veterans 10 years after the
desert war.

His findings, which have been verified by four independent experts, is
embarrassing for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and American Defence
Department, which have consistently refused to test Gulf war veterans for
DU.

Durakovic will tell the European Association of Nuclear Medicine that tests
on 17 veterans have shown DU in the urine and bones of 70% of them.

Depleted uranium does not occur naturally. It is the by-product of the
industrial processing of waste from nuclear reactors and is better known as
weapons-grade uranium. It is used to strengthen the tips of shells to ensure
that they pierce armour.

Durakovic, who left America because he was told his life was in danger if he
continued his research, has concluded that troops inhaled the tiny uranium
particles after American and British forces fired more than 700,000 DU
shells during the conflict.

The finding begins to explain for the first time why medical orderlies and
mechanics are the principal victims of Gulf war syndrome.

British Army engineers who removed tanks hit by DU shells from the
battlefield and medical personnel who cut off the clothes of Iraqi
casualties in field hospitals have been disproportionately affected.

Once inside the body, DU causes a slow death from cancers, irreversible
kidney damage or wastage from immune deficiency disorders.

In the UK, where more than 400 veterans are estimated to have died from
"Gulf war syndrome", at least 50 of those victims came from Reme (Royal
Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) units. Others, such as Ray Bristow, 42,
of Hull, who was a theatre technician for 32 Field Hospital, are now
wheelchair-bound.

Tests carried out by Durakovic on Bristow showed that, nine years after
leaving the Gulf, he had more than 100 times the safe limit of DU in his
body.

Durakovic said: "I doubt whether the MoD or Pentagon will have the audacity
to challenge these results. I can't say this is the solitary cause of Gulf
war syndrome, but we now have clear evidence that it is a leading factor in
the majority of victims.

"I hope the US and UK governments finally realise that, by continuing to use
this ammunition, they are effectively poisoning their own soldiers."

An MoD spokesman said it would study any new evidence: "Our aim is to get
the best care for British veterans and our views are based on the best
evidence around."

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