-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 29, 2007 10:23:05 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Even 15 Years After Persian Gulf War, Soldiers Test
Positive for DU Exposure
Iraq diggers 'contaminated with radiation'
By Rosemary Desmond
Herald Sun (Australia), March 27, 2007 04:42pm
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/
0,21985,21456111-5005961,00.html
TWO Australian soldiers who served in the first Iraq war have
tested positive to depleted uranium (DU) contamination despite
assurances from the Federal Government they had not been exposed,
an anti-nuclear group said today.
Any such admission from the Government would leave it open to
millions of dollars in compensation, said Pauline Rigby, project co-
ordinator for the group Depleted Uranium Silent Killer (DUSK).
Urine samples from each of the men, who served in different areas
of Iraq, were sent last year for uranium isotope analysis at the JW
Goethe University in Germany at a cost of $1200 each under the
auspices of DUSK and the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) in
Canada, Ms Rigby said.
The results, now being evaluated for publication next month in two
scientific journals, showed both men had tested positive to
depleted uranium contamination more than 15 years after their
return from the first Gulf War.
Ms Rigby said depleted uranium was the toxic and radioactive waste
from the nuclear enrichment process.
Denser and heavier than lead, it is used as a projectile to
penetrate heavy bunkers and tanks.
"This is a huge issue about compensation which the Government would
be determined they will never pay," Ms Rigby said.
"It's going to be Agent Orange all over again, except this time
it's going to be a little bit worse because the mutations go into
the general community from blood and organ donations."
A 52-year-old Sunshine Coast man, known only as "Frank" (not his
real name), said he was one of those tested.
In 1991, he was an army medic in the mountains of northern Iraq,
aiding Kurdish refugees fleeing the persecution of Saddam Hussein's
forces.
He cannot work and has suffered skin rashes on his face, arms and
neck, swollen joints, chronic fatigue and dizzy spells but his
doctor can only treat his symptoms because he is at a loss to
explain their cause.
Frank's wife, from whom he is now separated, had cervical cancer
and burning semen syndrome, a condition reported by American Gulf
War veterans or their sexual partners since returning from the
Persian Gulf.
They or their sexual partners have experienced a burning sensation
after skin and/or vaginal contact with semen.
But Frank says he only wants recognition from the Government.
"I'm not looking for millions of dollars in compensation," Frank
said today.
"I just want to be treated fairly and I want our service recognised
so that I can clearly have what I am entitled to and so my children
can also seek and receive free of charge any and all testing and be
honestly told and informed of where they stand."
A Defence spokesperson said the department had no knowledge of the
two men who had allegedly tested positive for DU.
Australia had not used DU munitions since 1990 and Australian
personnel were not in "immediate proximity" to sites in Iraq or
Afghanistan where DU munitions were used by Australia's coalition
partners.
"Accordingly, it is highly unlikely that any ADF personnel received
significant exposure to DU residues in Iraq or Afghanistan," the
spokesperson said.
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