The military loves depleted uranium because it cuts through steel or concrete like they’re butter. The problem is that when depleted uranium hits its target, it burns at a high temperature, throwing off clouds of microscopic particles that poison a wide area and remain radioactive for billions of years. If inhaled, these particles can lodge in lungs, other organs or bones, irradiating tissue and causing cancers.
Nobody knows how serious the problem is. At the war’s start, the United States refused to allow U.N. or other environmental inspectors to test DU levels within Iraq. Now the United Nations won’t even go near Iraq because of security concerns. Despite regulations authorizing tests for radiation poisoning, the U.S. military is avoiding doing those tests—or delaying them until they are meaningless.
Gerard Matthew, a member of the New York National Guard, attempted to get tested when he learned that a bunkmate, Sgt. Ray Ramos had tested positive, but was turned back;
“When we asked to be tested at Ft. Dix, they wrongly told us we didn’t have to worry unless we had DU fragments in our body,” says Matthew. His buddy, Sgt. Ramos, who exhibits symptoms resembling radiation sickness and heavy metal poisoning, adds that at Walter Reed Medical Center he was grilled for hours about why he wanted to be tested and was then branded a troublemaker by his own unit. Matthew says Walter Reed “lost” his sample.
Matthew immediately urged his wife to get an ultrasound check of their unborn baby. They discovered the fetus had a condition common to those with radioactive exposure: atypical syndactyly. The right hand had only two digits. So far Victoria Claudette, now 13 months old, shows no other genetic disorders and is healthy, but Matthew feels guilty for causing her deformity and angry at a government that never warned him about DU’s dangers.
The government has betrayed its soldiers in Iraq twice over, first by lying to them about the reasons for the war and second by covering up the effects of depleted uranium and obstructing testing for returning soldiers.
This is an issue that needs to be addressed on a state level since the federal government is covering up the problem. We need to be pushing for state laws allowing for testing for any soldier returning from Iraq who wants them, and a publicity campaign informing the soldiers of the dangers that they face.