IRAQ: Contaminated flour taken out of bread basket

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/090508af8648ae6b35726c677466e9de.htm

BAGHDAD, 26 April (IRIN) - Flour rations included in Iraq's monthly food Public Distribution System (PDS), operated by the Iraqi Ministry of Trade (MoT), were not provided in March and April due to traces of iron found in the flour, officials confirmed.

"The main source of the traces of iron is in Australian wheat, which is imported by the MoT. We have examined random samples of wheat in our laboratories and this confirmed iron dust in some grain grinders," director of the quality control department at the MoT, Ibraheem Kuther, told IRIN in Baghdad. snip

"Iron exerts toxic effects through the liver, heart, pancreas and joints. It can also lead to darkening of the skin, liver cancer, enlargement of the heart, congestive heart failure, infertility, impotence, joint pains and diabetes," manager of the central children's hospital in Baghdad, Dr Talib al-Janabi, told IRIN.

"We have had many cases of stomach and liver pain, but I cannot confirm if these complications were related to iron poisoning from flour. We need to do more tests," al-Janabi added.

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[eternalburn]

1. Caleb Brett?

http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/newsroom/news_view.phtml?news_id=1012

[HeeBGBz]

2. Um, don't we ingest iron intentionally???

IronKids bread, etc?

Am I missing something here?

Besides the fact they are holding back food rations.

[Paulie]

3. Must be quite a bit of iron

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp

Lots of info in that link. Seems the upper limit of iron for a healthy adult is 40mg, normally around 10mg per day.

The news item mentsions iron dust, as in iron filings? wow....

[Rainscents]

4. What do they mean... trace of Iron?

:wtf: To be toxic by Iron, one must consume large amount of Irons over long periods of time. This story doesn't make any sense and it sound very fishy. Maybe, we are poisoning Iraqi people with other mean and now we are trying to blame it on trace of Irons in the food.

[Paulie]

5. the item says iron dust, found by magnet

Thats quite a bit of iron.

[SnowGoose]

7. You can get visible amounts of iron from a breakfast cereal

with a magnet. You have to dissolve it in something like water or milk, and make sure it turns into a good mush first, but it's not difficult.

That doesn't mean there *wasn't* a lot of iron in the samples, but you can't reason from the magnet to an inappropriately large amount or iron.

[Rose Siding]

6. Sometimes a food recall is just a food recall, but...

I can't help noticing (sign of the times) that a number of the ailments listed correspond with symptoms of Gulf War Illness, as well as with results of previous studies of children's health in Iraq...

snip>
A survey of more than 10,000 Gulf War veterans who have reported mysterious illnesses (muscle and joint pain, chronic fatigue, depressed immune systems, neurological disorders, memory loss, chemical sensitivities, rashes, and various other symptoms)
....
9.5 Cancer Epidemic in Iraq
Dr. Guenther (see paragraph 6.5) carried out extensive studies in Iraq between 1991-97. Their results produced ample evidence to show that contact with DU ammunition has the following consequences, especially for children <55>:

Considerable increase in infectious diseases caused by severe immunodeficiencies in a great part of the population
Frequent occurrence of massive herpes and zoster (shingles) afflictions
AIDS-like symptoms
Renal and hepatic dysfunction (as early as the end of 1991)
Leukemia, aplastic anemia (bone marrow failure to produce blood cells), and malignant tumors
Congenital heart deformities caused by genetic defects found in both humans and animals

http://vzajic.tripod.com/9thchapter.html

[kineneb]

8. from depleted uranium, not the flour??

So you wave a magnet over your flour and solve the problem. Seem to me since they probably arn't getting the proper amount of green vegies, the iron bits might actually be helpful. Perhaps something "they" are not telling us about what else is in the flour???

[daleo]

9. This seems pretty fishy.

What have the Australians said about this? On the one hand, they would have a concern about their wheat's international reputation, but on the other hand they were in on the invasion, so they might play along if this is bogus.

To answer my own question (from the story):

"However, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) said it had carried out tests in response to the allegations and concluded that it was safe for consumption."