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January 17, 2001 FACT SHEET ON DEPLETED URANIUM U.S. Department of State What is Depleted Uranium? Depleted Uranium (DU) is what is left from natural uranium when most of the radioactive isotopes U234 and U235 have been removed. Forty percent less radioactive than the natural uranium that has always existed in the earth's air, water and soil, depleted uranium is extremely hard and dense. What is DU used for? Civilian uses of depleted uranium include use in aprons to protect patients in hospitals and dentists' offices from excessive x-rays, and as ballast in 747 airplanes and in the keels of yachts and large sailboats. Because of its strength and density, depleted uranium is sometimes used in defensive plating on armored vehicles and other platforms. It is capable of deflecting rounds that might otherwise kill or wound personnel inside the vehicle. It is also used as tips in rounds used against tanks and other armored vehicles and can be fired from other tanks, ground artillery, or planes. Isn't uranium highly radioactive and therefore dangerous to humans and the environment? No. Uranium is a naturally occurring chemical element that is mildly radioactive. Humans and animals have always ingested particles of this naturally occurring substance from the air, water and soil. When uranium is enriched to produce material for nuclear reactors, the radiation produced by this new substance is potentially very hazardous, and great care must be taken in its handling and storage. Natural and depleted uranium, however, have not been linked to any health effects. There have been 16 epidemiological studies of some 30,000 workers in U.S. radiation industries. Some of these workers, particularly in the early days of the industry, had very significant exposures to uranium particles. According to scientists in the field, there have been no recorded cases of illness among these workers as a result of their exposure to uranium. (Dr. Ron Kathren, Professor Emeritus at Washington State University and former director, Transuranium and Uranium Registries.) Can exposure to DU cause leukemia? According to environmental health experts, it is medically impossible to contract leukemia as a result of exposure to uranium or depleted uranium. (Dr. Naomi Harley, Medical Isotopes Committee, New York University Medical Center, Digital Video Conference with Italian journalists and officials, January 12, 2001.)
Cancer rates in almost 19,000 highly exposed uranium industry workers who worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory projects between 1943 and 1947 have been examined, and no excess cancers were observed through 1974. Other epidemiological studies of lung cancer in uranium mill and metal processing plant workers have found either no excess cancers or attributed them to known carcinogens other than uranium, such as radon. Some media reports suggest that dust from depleted uranium munitions and armor has caused health effects among soldiers and civilians in areas where such armaments have been used. According to a number of comprehensive studies and reviews, no health effects have been seen in U.S. soldiers who are known to have had substantial exposure to depleted uranium dust and fragments. --During the Gulf War, 15 U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles and nine Abrams tanks were mistakenly fired on and hit by shells containing depleted uranium. Thirty-three survivors of these incidents, roughly half of whom have retained fragments of depleted uranium in their bodies, have been studied in the Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program (DUP) of the Baltimore Veterans' Affairs Medical Center. To date, although these individuals have an array of health problems related to traumatic injuries resulting from their wounds, none of those studied had any clinically significant medical problems caused by the chemical or radiological toxicity of depleted uranium. --The RAND Corporation, a non-profit research organization that provides analysis to public and private sector clients worldwide, published in 1999 "A Review of the Scientific Literature As It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses," Volume 7, "Depleted Uranium" http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1018.7/MR1018.7.html RAND concluded that there are no peer-reviewed published reports of detectable increases of cancer or other negative health effects from radiation exposure to inhaled or ingested natural uranium at levels far exceeding those likely in the Gulf War. The report also noted that the human body is very effective at "eliminating ingested and inhaled" uranium, and that the mass of uranium "needed for significant internal exposure is virtually impossible to obtain." --The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) published a review entitled "The Toxicological Profile for Uranium." ATSDR reviews are recognized internationally as an authoritative source of information about the human and environmental effects of hazardous substances. The ATSDR report concluded that it expects no radiological health hazard from inhalation, dermal or oral exposure to natural or depleted uranium. --According the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists," (Nov./Dec. 1999, vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 42-45, www.thebulletin.org) "radiation doses from ingestion and inhalation of depleted uranium appear to present a health risk too small to detect through epidemiological means." Because of "the low radioactivity of depleted uranium," even a soldier exposed to several direct hits would only be exposed to radiation "that is roughly half the annual average dose from inhaled radon and its decay products in a typical single-family home in the United States."
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