Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault (confirms earlier estimates)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Martin Chulov | Thursday December 30 2010 21.34 GMT -

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.

"We suspect that the population is chronically exposed to an environmental agent," said one of the report's authors, environmental toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani. "We don't know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq

---

The earlier Guardian article on this posted in LBN last year: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4145904

[Bobbieo]

1. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

[Pavulon]

2. oops it is back compare it to chernobyl and then pack it in.

if it sounds like bullshit is really is. cycle it back it is still a pile of shit a person with an iq over room temp and google can see right through. Hey did you hear the hews have a arab killing super virus... NEXT.

[Arctic Dave]

13. What makes you think the Russians told the truth about fatalities

and sickness?

[fascisthunter]

3. "Spreading Freedom"

:crazy:

[aquart]

4. We really improved on Saddam.

He didn't kill nearly so many Iraqis.

[Pavulon]

5. Before taking the bait, compare to the Ukraine

where tons of toxic heavy metals were blown out of a reactor. This turd floats up from time to time.

[aquart]

25. You compare reactor carelessness to WAR?

You compare a country's mistake with its own TO AN ARMED INVASION BY ALIENS FROM THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY?

Really?

[boppers]

6. "No other city in Iraq has anywhere near the same levels of reported abnormalities."

That likely rules out a bunch of possible sources then, or, at least, requires a combination of things with one required component only found in Fallujah...

[Pavulon]

8. compare to those who lived in pripyat, the meme fails(nt)

[boppers]

9. We can guess at a very likely source of danger in Pripyat.

Not sure there was a reactor that went boom at Fallujah.

[Pavulon]

10. Compare the claims and when you find these mutation numbers many times those

in the Ukraine the reality becomes clear.

[boppers]

11. What reality is that?

The two sets of circumstances have almost nothing in common, in terms of events, responses, medical care, culture, terrain, water supplies, food sources... what point are you trying to make?

[Pavulon]

14. We used DU in the balkans, saw it, touched it, moved it

personally. falluja had no armor, no tanks no DU, you shoot HE rounds to make little white chunks fly on liveleaks.. DU does not do that. , its like the arab melting super weapons in the west bank and gaza, just horse shit. There is real data for people who actually give a fuck, for pimps there is this tripe.

[boppers]

16. We used DU all over Iraq.

These numbers are specific to Fallujah. That doesn't rule DU out as a possible contributor, but it does mean there are more factors at play... one thing that caught my eye was a large number of home births, and people avoiding hospitals, so there could be something about Fallujah pre-natal care involved, that other cities don't have.

[Pavulon]

17. Same in Gaza, bet you see numbers correlate

its called an agenda and stupid people willing to get hooked in the mouth.

[boppers]

18. Are you implying fudged research?

Or perhaps valid research, but it's being used/abused for political purposes?

[Pavulon]

20. sure am. saw this same shit a bit back, turned out the rate of defect was higher than liquidators

people who got the LD50 for gamma in 45 seconds. its a lie.

[freedom fighter jh]

30. Not necessarily more factors in play . . .

. . . Could be just a whole lot more depleted uranium.

Fallujah was a major assault. Maybe they just used that much more depleted uranium, creating that much more exposure and therefore that much more genetic damage.

Home births causing birth defects? Hard to imagine.

[boppers]

31. Concentration could be another factor.

As far as the home births being the cause, rather than a symptom, I was pointing to a possible lack of pre-natal care, not the birthing process itself.

[Prometheus Bound]

35. The report identifies metals as potential contaminating agents, not DU.

So why are you going on and on about DU?

[eridani]

27. Nonsense. Basra has had high levels for years n/t

[boppers]

32. I was quoting the OP's article.

If Basra has high levels that weren't accounted for, that could be a flaw in the study.

[eridani]

34. Sad that they didn't put the issue into a broader context. Oh well n/t

[Holly_Hobby]

7. DUH! n/t

[purrFect]

12. i'm sure it has nothing to do with our horror over there

if you listen to our PR folks, they say the same thing every time, e.g. napalm in vietnam, nukes in japan, etc.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. Observation: those who try to downplay the damage to Fallujah often try to whitewash Gaza, too.

Almost as if they are afraid that studies linking the US use of toxic weaponry in civilian population centers in Fallujah might somehow lead world investigators to study the same thing in Gaza.

People who make was against civilians should just admit what they are doing, and not try to pretty it up. The rape of Fallujah was staged to distract the press from Grand Theft Election Ohio 2004. Bushed WANTED to bomb the hell out of civilians with barbaric weapons for the press it would get.

[Pavulon]

21. how about the rape of kuwait and bosnia? no the numbers dont add up?

its agenda bullshit and vomits in the face of science. see the UN's website for WHO data on actual DU use. check back later.

[McCamy Taylor]

22. And we have a winner!

[EvilMonk]

23. I was in the "Push" in Fallujah...

We didn't use Depleted Uranium. Why?

'Cuz those things go through anything. And keep on going. DU is a giant fin-stabilized spike that is fired from a 120mm smooth-bore cannon (main gun on the M1A1/M1A2 Abrams tank). It is considered a 'kinetic weapon' due to it's simple raw force and penetration. It does not explode or release poison gas or molest little children. It just goes right through armor (which we didn't encounter in Fallujah or the surrounding areas) and tends to keep on going.

The problem with this in an urban environment is what we call over-penetration. Those spikes will go through several houses before beginning to slow down. What's that? You think we don't care about civilian casualties? Okay, you're wrong, but consider the other friendly units that may be beyond your field of fire. "Friendly fire ain't", to quote the late great immortal somebody.

Also...

I don't suppose anyone continued reading to the last line of this "awesome" article.

The line where it says:

"We suspect that the population is chronically exposed to an environmental agent," said one of the report's authors, environmental toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani. "We don't know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out."

Now that's some good journalism right there. Nice title! When you can't link the story to your conclusion, just make s*** up.

Awesome work.

[bhikkhu]

24. Do you have any ideas about what environmental factor it could be?

No snark intended, but they say the effects began after the fall of the city, and are perhaps getting worse. Like every one else who wasn't there, I have no idea what it might be, though du is the usual suspect...

[EvilMonk]

42. You're correct that DU is the usual suspect...

...but the fact that it really isn't that hazardous is continually down-played by a media that is hellbent on villifying the US.

"The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for the Department of Health and Human Services estimates there are an average of 4 tons of uranium in the top foot of soil in every square mile of land. A heavy metal similar to tungsten and lead, uranium occurs in soils in typical concentrations of a few parts per million (equivalent to about half a teaspoon of uranium in a typical 8-cubic yard dump truck-load of dirt)." ~ GlobalSecurity.org

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/du.htm

The DOD gets it's DU from the DOE. It comes from the Nuclear Energy Reactors' spent fuel rods, hence it's "depleted" status. When it can no longer generate the radiological energy to boil water, which spins the turbines, which powers our homes, it is handed off to the DOD for processing into weapons.

Now the increase in child mortality/malformation rates in Iraq could come from a number of things and I won't rule out our involvement just yet. I just happen to find the immediate leap to DU as the culprit to be more than a little convenient (and inconclusive). I don't suppose that the fact that there are more children being born there now than there have been for several generations might have an increasing effect on statistical outcomes would it? More kids means an increase in the chance for problems and so on, right?

It could very well be a simple case of looking for the worst explanation in a case that is largely good news...

[rosscaputi]

33. I was in the "push" too

I was in the "push" too (1/8 Alpha co), and I have no idea if DU was used or not. How can you be sure that artillery didn't use DU? Regular grunts usually aren't privy to this sort of information, so I just don't know.

However, I am positive that you didn't read the paper that was quoted in the article from the Guardian and that you requoted in your post. That quote did not come from an article in some newspaper, so it is not "journalism". That quote came from a paper published in an academic journal (the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health) and it is perfectly acceptable for a paper to make an argument (which is exactly what this paper did) that toxic metals (which includes DU) left over from our attack on Fallujah might be causing the birth defects that they are seeing. It is also perfectly acceptable for an academic paper to admit that it is not conclusive, academic papers often admit when they can't be conclusive and call for more research on a particular topic (which is exactly what this paper did).

I am not a biologist, but the data that they present in this paper is very convincing. Our attack on Fallujah was incredibly cruel and I'm ashamed of it. I'm ashamed of what we did in 2004, I'm ashamed that people are still suffering because of it today, and I'm ashamed that my country is still occupying two countries.

[Ghost Dog]

37. Thank you rosscaputi, and welcome to DU

(this DU!).

I recall white phosporous use appearing to be well-documented at the time... Of course we're not supposed to know what else...

I'd guess, also, if the likes of Halliburton got the no-bid contract to clean up the water supply, for example, afterwards, (if there was such a contract) then a first-class job would have been done.

A first-class job diverting the funding elsewhere, I mean, and disappearting it.

[Bigmack]

39. rosscaputi... not only welcome to DU...

but welcome to at least one DUer who feels as you feel.

Earlier war, different outfit, but same shame. Killing darker people for their "freedom".

M-3-7 MOS 0331

Semper Fucking Fi

[EvilMonk]

40. Artillery use DU?

Sure, I guess.

But when there is no armor to use it against...

Remember all those tanks and T-72s we encountered?

Neither do I.

Oh. And artillery doesn't use DU. It's a direct fire weapon, not an indirect one. The only systems to use DU are the M1 series of tanks (including the much older first version that utilized the M68 rifled main gun; the modern version is smooth-bore), the heavy machine guns on land-attack aircraft (such as the venerable A-10's main rotary cannon), and area-denial landmines that have a powdered version thereof for it's explosive properties under extreme heat and overpressure.

See here: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/du.htm

DU is expensive, and since it was the USMC that was the primary push force, I doubt that they were just lobbing it all over the place. How would it have been effective? It puts a hole the size of your big toe in things. Not exactly a big effect on anything other than armored vehicles and hardened structures. We used HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) rounds with our tanks. They don't have any DU in them, just two explosive charges that are designed to explode first through any armor or structural wall, and second inside the target itself. Much more effective a weapon on the reinforced concrete buildings and houses that are the sole building style of the city (or Iraq in general for that matter).

Incidentally, our "cruelty" was evidenced by dropping leaflets over the city for 3 months prior to the assault telling everyone to leave and inviting Bad Guys to come play. Which they did. The cruelest thing I saw were the mental patients that were all that was left of the original occupants of the city. They were simply released at large or left behind by the families that left as they were "too inconvenient" to take care of properly. More than one of them accidentally wandered into a field of fire...

And no. I disagree with the assertion that it is fair for a "journalist" to arrive at a titled conclusion that American Military Action is the reason for these children's maladies. Especially when the report held up as some sort of proof is inconclusive at best. You can't simply state that you know the reason and wait for the research to "catch up" to your fore-gone conclusion.

I don't suppose that the deplorable living conditions naturally evident in the city or more importantly the surrounding villages (Saqliweah, for instance) has anything to do with it? How about those villages? Our presence in them was minimal to say the least, and when we made a larger presence, and saw first hand how they lived in an almost virgin setting, it was hideous. There was bright neon green water all over the ground that those kids would play in or even drink from. That has nothing to do with birth defects and rampant health problems I suppose? Let's not even begin to discuss the "rich culture" that uses one's own hand to wipe after excrementation, using only filthy water to rinse off with...

[Ghost Dog]

43. "Bright neon green water". That's an interesting observation.

If there is empirical evidence of a statistical spike, way beyond the standard deviation for sanctions- and war-zone Iraq in general, then we should look for a reason.

Since micro-pulverized DU will be present in many places (and, indeed has been dispersed all the way round the planet), that's unlikely to be the reason.

So, I think we have a duty to investigate the cause, and to do what is possible to at least mitigate the consequences.

Are you aware of any measures having been taken, let's just limit ourselves here in this discussion to "after the event", to clean up, to limit within the bounds of the possible, the consequences for the civilian population?

[EvilMonk]

45. Other than the build-up of the Iraqi's autonomous government...

...no.

I know that it has been a concern, and various organizations have supplied scientists, education materials, and medical items, but I have no specific knowledge regarding the clean-up of the war.

For all I know (and suspect) those green puddles are still there. They certainly are in the local water tables. Natural purification takes a long time and organized industrial efforts are expensive.

Quite frankly, they're too busy stabilizing an already unstable country to get to it yet.

That said, I suppose that I do know of one thing that will help:

Fresh water purification and irrigation is and always has been (even for us) a priority. Crops, livestock, and especially humans all benefit from this relatively cheaper alternative. They may not have gotten around to cleaning anything up yet, but fresh water access has improved considerably as has education.

[Ghost Dog]

46. Let's make that an urgent priority, then.

Legally-speaking.

:hi:

[EvilMonk]

47. I couldn't agree more.

We lost too many good people in this effort to not wish the best from the situation.

A spot of good news:

In 2007-'08 A certain unit was in a certain notoriously bad city. They experienced roughly 6 attacks a day. By the time they left, they hadn't been attacked in 6 weeks!

Furthermore, later reports said that the tables had turned again (for the better). The usual modus operandi for the US military convoys was "get out of our way" in '07. By the end of '08, the convoys were stopping regularly for hordes of schoolchildren going to their classes. A 1 mile trip could take as long as 45 minutes.

I was overjoyed to hear of this development to say the least.

The process will be long and full of set-backs, but I hope to eventually find that we have another friendly "face" in that region. We could use more friends there after all...

[unhappycamper]

48. Welcome to DU, rosscaputi!

I've been following DU and birth defects in Iraq for about five years now.

Depleted uranium is Agent Orange with a half life of 4 billion years (or so). Truly nasty stuff.......

:hi:

[avaistheone1]

26. Anyone know if depleted uranium still being dispersed in Iraq or in Afghanistan?

[Ghost Dog]

38. The answer, my friend, is blowing (still, planet-wide) in the wind.

Will be for years, whether or not such use continues.

We're talking micro, or even nano-particles. Everywhere.

[EvilMonk]

41. Some in Iraq, more in Afghanistan...

...for use against armor and armored targets.

Given that the Taliban doens't have much in the way of tanks (if anything at all), it is used primarily against hardened structures (think along the lines of a fort) found on the surface.

[Bragi]

28. The goal was to punish the residents of this city

The residents of the city will suffer for generations for the crime of stringing up American mercenaries. This appalling mission was totally successful.

Now U.S patriots just have to hope that Wikeaks doesn't expose the people who collaborated with their military murder machine on this. That would be just so unfair.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[newspeak]

44. remember the Italian journalist who was shot?

I thought there was more than DU-I thought she had exposed a chemical agent. The chemical is supposed to be used for night observation; however, there were many burned bodies on the ground. I'm sure there are some other DUers who remember the conversation when Falluja was hit--right after Little Boots was re-selected.

[lovuian]

49. Depleted Uranium= Genocide

The findings are likely to prompt further speculation that the defects were caused by depleted uranium rounds, which were heavily used in two large battles in the city in April and November 2004. The rounds, which contain ionising radiation, are a core component of the armouries of numerous militaries and militias.

Their effects have long been called into question, with some scientists claiming they leave behind a toxic residue, caused when the round – either from an assault rifle or artillery piece – bursts through its target. However, no evidence has yet been established that proves this, and some researchers instead claim that depleted uranium has been demonstrably proven not to be a contaminant.
and we didn't give a hoot for our soldiers either
how long are they going to live

this is going to be devastating for the whole world