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Today: US and UK military continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite cancer warnings
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A Today investigation will reveal that the United States and UK military have continued to
use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings from scientists that it poses a
potential long-term cancer risk to civilians.
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A former senior scientist with the United Nations will tell the 成人论坛 Radio 4 programme tomorrow morning that he believes studies showing that it was
carcinogenic were suppressed from a seminal World Heath Organisation (WHO)
report.
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The US has refused to fund some major research projects into the effects of
depleted uranium and has been criticised for not yet co-operating with UN
attempts to conduct a post conflict assessment in Iraq.
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Both the US and UK used depleted uranium in Iraq. Its use is highly
controversial - blamed as one of the possible causes of cancer and birth
defects.
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The WHO conducted a major assessment of the post conflict hazards
overseen by Dr Mike Repacholi and published in 2001.
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The monograph - as it is
called - found that depleted uranium was basically safe although children
should be restricted from going into post-conflict areas.
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But now Today reporter Angus Stickler has been told its finding may be skewed.
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Dr Keith Baverstock - now retired - was a senior radiation advisor with 12
years experience at the WHO - and was part of Dr Repacholi's editorial team
at the time.
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He says he came across research indicating that depleted uranium
is a potentially dangerous carcinogen.
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"When you breathe in the dust the deeper it goes into the lung the more
difficult it is to clear. The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part
radioactive - and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung - and then later
as that material diffuses into the rest of the body, and into the blood stream
a potential risk at sites like the bone marrow for leukaemia, the lymphatic
system and the kidney."
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This is called genotoxicicty. According to Dr Baverstock it could take decades
before evidence of cancer starts to emerge.
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As part of the WHO team he
submitted these findings - based on peer reviewed research conducted by the
United States Department of Defence - for inclusion into the monograph but it
was discounted.
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Dr Repacholi says this was because it was the committee's general conclusion
that the data did not substantiate that there was a health effect at this
stage.
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He added: "We don't want fairytale stuff - it wasn't collaborated by
other reports."
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He also described eight other published peer reviewed research
studies attesting to the genotoxic nature of uranium that could have been
included in the report as speculative.
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However Dr Baverstock says the WHO stance that this is inconclusive science
is not safe science and that he attempted to take the issue further.
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"When it wasn't included in the monograph - I with two other colleagues
prepared a paper for the open literature and the WHO did not permit me to
submit that paper for publication... I still have not had a reason as to why that
paper was not allowed to be published."
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Asked why he thinks the study was, as he claims, suppressed he replies:
"It is naive to think that in institutions like the United Nations one is free
from political influences - the member states have their own agendas."
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Questioned on whether he was saying that the WHO was pressurised by the
likes of the United States to come to the right conclusion, he answers: "I think
that could be the case - yes."
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Dr Baverstock believes that the major player behind the decision to block
publication of his study was the nation state that conducted the research he
was citing: The United States' Department of Defence Armed Forces
Radiobiological Research Institute: a credible State laboratory.
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In response to this point Dr Repacholi said: "The problem that WHO had and it went right up to the Director General's
office that it was finally disapproved at that level was that on the basis of
the evidence that we have - we can't conclude that it is harmful - and to have
a paper from another WHO staff member that says we absolutely think it's
harmful - makes WHO look a bit odd... .the odd part is that it looks like
WHO is not in control of its shop."
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Dr Repacholi denies that pressure was brought to bear on the WHO.
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The findings of the US Department of Defence research are now in the public
domain: depleted uranium is genotoxic - it chemically alters DNA and could be a
precursor to tumour growth.
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Since 2001, there have been numerous studies
supporting the findings.
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The Today programme asked for a 成人论坛 broadcast interview with the scientist who
conducted these studies - Dr Alexandra Miller - the US Department of Defence
refused.
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The 成人论坛 has been told that she applied to the US Army Research
Programme to do further work on the effects of depleted uranium in 2004, five
and six. All the applications were turned down.
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The programme hears from Professor Randall Parrish from the Isotope Geo-science
laboratory at the British Geological Survey, whose equipment has been used by
the British Government to conduct the most extensive research so far into
depleted uranium contamination of UK troops.
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He says: "I've been to several international conferences where I've heard Iraqi medical
physicians summarise health statistics on the occurrence of birth defects and
Non Hodgkin's Lymphomas and the rise in incidents in these kind of effects,
especially in the area of southern Iraq and the Basra area, appears quite
alarming on the basis of the figures that I've seen - significant data - that
would suggest that we should be erring on the side of caution here - and it
ought to be investigated."
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Professor Parrish has recently completed another research study - as yet
unpublished - but it shows that, if inhaled, depleted uranium remains in high
concentrations in the body - a potential hazard - for decades.
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The priority
now, he says, is to ascertain whether it poses a real risk to humans - the
people of Iraq.
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"If we want to get to bottom of this issue as to whether populations and people
are really suffering - we have to conduct environmental and health assessments
- in places where people are exposed and we can I think solve this problem if
sufficient resources and the will is there to actually address the problem."
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Asked if there was a will on the part of the politicians, Professor Parrish
says: "Unless we can conduct additional work - this issue of DU and the
politics of it will continue to hang over many governments for years and years
and years to come."
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Notes to Editors
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The Today programme is Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme.
Almost 6.5 million people listen to Today each week.
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