Date: Tue, 20 Apr 99 10:35:38 EDT
From: "Brian J. Callahan" <Brian=J.=Callahan%MT%DFCI-AT-EYE.DFCI.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Depleted Uranium


Carp writes:
>The Kosovars and serbs receive far more radioative exposure (radon)
>from using their native granite as a building stone for their homes and
>schools than they are ever going to get from DU anti-tank shells.

Yes, humans can get a very large dosage of radiation from radon 222 in areas
with lotsa granite.  I imagine human cave-dwellers would've been getting a 
heckuva dose, too, but ignorance was bliss, kinda.  I doubt the increased 
lung cancer (biggest effect of radon 222 (it's a gas)) would've been obvious 
what with all the smoke from fires in the cave.  

>I will grant you that a cow that grazes on grass that has had dust settle
>on it prior to rain transporting the dust to the ground will ingest
>whatever miniscule amount of DU was left, but even this is going to be
>hard to measure and it's still not hot in any sense of the term being used
>as synonomous as lethal.

Yeah, the biggest radioactive danger from DU is from inhalation by soldiers 
on the battlefield.  As Carp has said, DU is not very radioactive, which 
means passing through the digestive tract is not much of a health concern.  
However, if a soldier gets a good hit off a DU explosion/fire, the resulting 
radioactive particles will probably stick around in the lungs for a long 
while.  While no good studies have been done on this, we can look at similar 
radioactive particle exposure and guesstimate that DU inhalation will almost 
certainly increase chances of lung cancer.  

So anyway, the biggest danger with DU is when an allied vehicle filled with 
DU ammunition/armor is hit and the DU burns;  this happened bigtime in the 
Gulf War when those Abrams with DU armor went up in flames.  

I don't know that the DoD or VA is doing any kind of study of those soldiers 
with documented exposure.  Anybody know.