Is depleted uranium use in war a greater threat than global warming?

Question

"Since the U.S. military first used DU weapons in the 1991 Gulf War, it has released the radioactive atomicity equivalent of 400,000 Nagasaki nuclear bombs into the global atmosphere (that's no misprint) causing permanent contamination with a half-life of 4.5 billion years."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEN20060119&articleId=1754

There huge increases in birth defects among populations in the Middle East, Pakistan, and India, not to mention huge increases in birth defects among military families who have served in this region. Of course, we could just wait for the radiation to decrease in about 4.5 billion years, since we have no means to clean it up. It travels in the atmosphere around the world in the form of a pulverized powder, so the US is not safe from this man-made disaster.

Answer 1

Just don't play in tanks with holes in them and you will be OK. This theory seems more blown out out of proportion than AGW.

.oO(Hmmmm I wonder where I could get one of those paper weights)

Answer 2

Birth defects create more opportunities than any other ever imagined. Parents are drawn close together. True relationships are developed. Jesus will be loved with each healing.

Why in the world would you persuade any to decrease them?

Have faith in the human heart. See with your immaterial eyes.

O that all weaponry could be made with otherwise wasted radioactive material.

Answer 3

half life of 4 1/2 billion years? lol! sounds pretty safe to me!

Answer 4

No,I made those bullets.A dirty ash tray makes more movement on a Geiger counter than the Du rounds.

Answer 5

It is not usual, but I agree with Gaby 100 per cent.  Not only is your information wrong and nonsense, it is propaganda that is harmful the US.  You should bother to educate yourself before you believe everything you read.  Maybe you should live up to your name, skeptic, which you obviously aren't.

Answer 6

Thanks for this interesting link...  I sure would not want to be around when that paper weight is vaporized. If this wasn't a critical problem, why is there so much concern about disposal of DU?

How many reservists and career military know about the risks associated with DU? It's illegal, but that doesn't stop the US.

Answer 7

I think you'll find the Soviets used this stuff in Afghanistan well before 1992.

Answer 8

Take this or ignore it, but for what it's worth this little blurb definitely calls into question the credibility of Lauren Moret who made that assertion about "400,000 Nagasaki nuclear bombs".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuren_More...

My own skepticism leads me to doubt the veracity of that claim. Unless she's published it in some respected journal where other people knowledgeable about this topic could confirm or deny it, it's just one persons opinion as far as I can tell.

It's not that I favor using depleted uranium, it's just that I don't take extraordinary claims without collaboative evidence.

Answer 9

You obviously know nothing about this subject. It is pure propaganda. Not true. Only an idiot would believe it, and only more of an idiot would spread BULL like this. I have depleted Uranium paperweights on my desk. We have been using this perfectly good metal for many uses in industry for over 50 years. It is U238 metal primarily and it exists naturally in the ground. You get more radiation flying in an airplane across the country than you get from living around it. You are one of our ignorant stupid "Environmentalists",  that spread fear of anything Nuclear with totally unsubstantiated c**p.

Answer 10

No.

The people suffering close exposure to the battlefields do have a problem.  But this stuff doesn't travel that fast or that far.  Yes, there could be a tiny exposure (plutonium levels in the US are still above measurable levels from 50s bomb tests). but a serious health impact?  I just can't see it.

One more time something has an emotional appeal, but doesn't make sense when you run the numbers.