Contemporary Report

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................... 1

An Exposure to DU: How Much is Harmful............................................. 1

Some Scientific Information about DU................................................... 2

Biological Effects of Radiation.............................................................. 5

Summary of Recent Human Research................................................... 6

The Balkans...................................................................................... 12

Iraq.................................................................................................. 15

U.S. Legislation................................................................................. 17

Summary and Conclusion.................................................................. 17

Notes............................................................................................... 22

Appendix A....................................................................................... 41

Appendix B....................................................................................... 45

Appendix C....................................................................................... 50

Books, Documents and Websites of Interest........................................ 53

About the Author............................................................................... 54

Grassroots Actions for Peace

Grassroots Actions for Peace believes that non-violent conflict resolution, nuclear disarmament and serious reduction of arms trading throughout the world constitute this nation's only real security. Grassroots Actions for Peace is an organization of volunteers who work on specific local programs and campaigns with short term objectives that are connected to these national and international principles.

The principle effort of Grassroots Actions for Peace in recent years has been to ban the production, sale and use of depleted uranium weapons, which were manufactured in Concord at Nuclear Metals, Inc. (now Starmet Corp), and first used in the Gulf War in 1991.

Contact: Grassroots Actions for Peace

C/O Carol Dwyer

245 Main Street

Concord, MA. 01742

(978) 369-1162

dwyerjandc@aol.com

Military Toxics Project

The mission of the Military Toxics Project is to unite activists, organizations, and communities in the struggle against military pollution, to assure it’s clean up, to limit the transport of hazardous materials, and to advance the development and implementation of preventative solutions to the toxic and radioactive pollution caused by military activities. The MTP mission is based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.

The purpose of the Military Toxics Project is to provide information, education, networking and organizing resources. MTP serves as a bridge and facilitator for organizations concerned with military pollution issues. MTP

fosters a relationship of mutual respect and support with its members, networks, and collegiate campaigns around the country. MTP works to assist local communities, not for them but with them. MTP activities focus on both

service and organizing efforts. MTP helps member organizations and networks to project their individual voices nationally and internationally.

MTP has been organizing around depleted uranium issues since 1993, when it formed the Depleted Uranium Citizens Network and released “Uranium Battlefields at Home and Abroad”, a report by network members Rural Alliance for Military Accountability, Citizen Alert, and Progressive Alliance for Community Empowerment. MTP organized the first international conference on DU munitions, which brought together community activists, military veterans, and technical experts opposed to the use of depleted uranium weapons. MTP has produced a variety of other reports and fact sheets on DU, supported scientific research into the health effects of DU, and founded an email discussion list about DU that serves over 150 activists in two dozen countries. MTP is a founding member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, and continues to support local organizing around DU and network local organizations who want to work together to oppose DU on the national and international levels.

Please visit www.miltoxproj.org

Contact: MTP

P.O. Box 558

Lewiston, ME 04243

(207) 783-5091

www.miltoxproj.org

Introduction

This paper is about depleted uranium (abbreviated DU), and the harm it may cause to human beings primarily as a result of its use in weapons. It deals with exposure dose, basic biological considerations and recent research. To date research has been done mostly in animals and cellular studies and to a far lesser extent in humans. The paper discusses the results of fact-finding missions of the UN Environmental Program in the Balkans. It also deals with Iraq, largely post-war 2003. There is controversy now about DU causing cancers and other illnesses; if we wait the 10-30 year latency period of lung cancer, for example, to resolve this issue, irreparable harm may already have been done to people. For instance, in February 2004, a Scottish veteran won a compensation battle based on his exposure to DU while in the British army, where he served as a driver moving tanks destroyed by DU shells during the 1991 Gulf War (1).

Depleted uranium (DU) is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal. It is a waste product of nuclear fuel or nuclear bomb production, during which natural Uranium has been “depleted” of Uranium 235. When made from recycled nuclear fuel, it contains small amounts of plutonium and other transuranics, (heavy, artificial, highly radioactive elements with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium) (2).

DU is similar to purified concentrated uranium ore except that DU has less mass of the isotopes Uranium 235 and 234. Gram for gram, DU is 60 percent as radioactive as pure uranium ore. DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. It is classified as low-level radioactive waste, which the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) puts in the same category as transuranic waste (3), as its specific activity (radioactivity per unit weight) is about three times higher than that of the lower limit for transuranic waste (4). According to IEER, DU waste should be disposed of in a deep geologic repository (5).

At least 16 different ammunitions contain DU cartridges (6), including machine guns (7). DU is 1.7 times denser than lead making it a highly effective anti-tank weapon; it slices right through the tank. The 120 mm penetrator has a solid cylindrical core of DU weighing 10 pounds (8). The 30mm DU shell fired by the A-10 Warthog jet has a similar solid core made of DU which weighs three fourths of a pound (9). DU shells can be quite small; both the 30mm shell and the 25mm shell (also solid DU) are the size and shape of a cigar or a little smaller (10). About 25 percent of DU shells hit their target (11), leaving DU shells on the ground or beneath the ground.

When a DU shell penetrates through tank armor, it ignites and spews an extremely fine DU dust (including particles 1.5 microns or less (12)) into the air. DU particles can carry for miles (13). DU is also used in the armor of Abrams tanks making it invulnerable to all but DU shells, but exposing the tank operators to increased radiation.

An Exposure to DU: How Much is Harmful

There are no reliable estimates of dose-exposures to DU dust from the 1991 Gulf War (14) making it difficult to do epidemiological studies (15). The RAND report (1999)(16), whose principal finding was that depleted uranium was like natural uranium in its chemical and radiological properties and consequently not harmful, relied on the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (CHPPM) for its estimate for exposure to DU. Based on a single live fire test, CHPPM estimated that two DU shells hitting a tank would expose soldiers within the tank to an average of 24 mg (17) and a maximum of 52 mg of DU dust (18) ( The General Accounting Office found this estimate to be “unreliable”) (19).

In the Gulf War vehicles hit by DU penetrators in friendly fire incidences generally sustained three or four hits (20). Dan Fahey states that an A-10 aircraft in a single attack might use from 5 to 16 DU shells (of 30mm ammunition) creating 300 to 960 gm. of DU dust (21).

A 120mm DU penetrator contains about 4,700 gm. of DU (22); when a 120mm DU shell hits a tank, Fahey says according to test data, generally 20 percent (23) of the DU in the shell is oxidized into an aerosol (10), creating about 950 gm. (about 34 oz) of DU dust (24). However, up to 70 percent of the DU may be oxidized into an aerosol on impacting a hard target (25). Fifty to 96 percent of the particles in the DU aerosol are of respirable size (26) based on Army data.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives a weekly limit for occupational exposure to soluble uranium at10 mg; additional intake would cause uranium poisoning due to chemical toxicity according to the NRC. (27)

There is no agreement about how much DU dust is inhaled by the lungs. However, some experts believe that even one DU particle lodged deep in the lung can cause damage. An extremely small dust particle (a speck) of 1 mg DU will irradiate cells in its vicinity with several alpha particles each second for as long as the particle remains in the lung (at some time in the future it will be metabolized by the body (28) at which point it will no longer bombard these cells).

DU dust is made up of soluble and insoluble components. The amount of soluble and insoluble dust created by the impact of a DU penetrator varies. However the intense heat from the shell striking a tank forms an insoluble ceramic aerosol. Although DU particles can be carried for miles in the wind or be re-suspended from dust by wind or human movement, the soldier inside a tank hit by a DU penetrator is at far greater risk of being contaminated by DU dust than anyone near the tank.

Some Scientific Information about DU

DU is a chemically toxic heavy metal and as such can lead to kidney and lung damage. As a radioactive substance, it is an alpha emitter which irradiates powerfully for short distances. The alpha particles cannot penetrate skin but if inhaled or ingested they can irradiate lung cells and other cells in the body. DU is composed of 99.8 percent Uranium 238, which decays into two principal daughter isotopes which give off beta radiation that can travel through at least 300 to just under 1,000 cells (29). It is also a weak gamma emitter which can traverse tissue and bone cells (30).

Alpha particles cause cancer

Research from England in Harwell, Oxfordshire and the Mt. Vernon Hospital in London (28), which was reported in the New Scientist in January 2001, demonstrated how a single alpha particle damages human white blood cells. Twenty-five percent of the irradiated cells after 12 divisions showed “patterns of broken or bent chromosomes.”(29) The study indicated that this was a first step in a series of biological events that could lead to cancer, more specifically leukemia.

Bystander Effect

Cells that are near by cells hit by alpha particles or other sources of low level radiation show signs of damage such as that sustained by the irradiated cells. Miller and colleagues (33) found that although fewer than 5 percent of human cells were traversed by an alpha particle, approximately 14 percent of the DU-exposed cells underwent neoplastic transformation (34). In an experiment at Los Alamos, a low dose of alpha particles caused excessive sister chromatid exchange (SCE), a chromosomal aberration (35) in about 23 percent of human lung fibrobast cells; in this case under 3 percent of the nuclei of the cells were impacted by the radiation (36).

In a study by Belyakov, Malcolmson et al. (2001)(37) a helium ion (“effectively an alpha particle”) hit the nucleus of a single human fibroblast cell in a dish 10 by 10 milllimeters (38) in size and populated by 5,00 human fibroblast cells. The targeting of one of these cells typically led to mutations (micronuclei formation (39)in this case) in approximately 100 other cells in different regions of the dish. Damaged cells were often more than a millimeter apart. As the researchers stated, since other bystander effects besides micronuclei formation might have been present, the measurement of the number of cells showing micronuclei formation only may have underestimated the number of damaged cells (40).

Bystander effects include, in addition to neoplastic transformation, chromosomal aberrations including breakage and micronuclei formation, mutations, apoptosis (cell suicide), cell killing or delayed cell death, enhanced cell growth and the induction of genomic instability (see next topic)(41) as well as increased radioresistance (42).

It is thought that damage to the unirradiated (bystander) cells may occur via signaling across gap junctions from an irradiated cell to a non-irradiated cell. However culture medium of irradiated cells when put in a different cell population can cause the same damage as in the original irradiated cells (43). Yet another mechanism that can cause damage to bystander cells such as DNA lesions (44) are increases in intracellular oxygen reactive species (hydrogen peroxide falls into this category (45)) generated by ionizing radiation. Bystander effects can vary with different types of cells (46). However more than one mechanism may impact bystander cells in the same model system (47). The bystander effect is not noticeable in high level radiation as high dose radiation kills cells. The bystander effect has not been taken into consideration by agencies setting safe radiation limits. However research into the bystander effect is in the early stages.

Genomic Instability

Radiation-induced genomic instability occurs with low level radiation. Miller et al (2003)(48) have defined genomic instability as “the induction of a persistent instability in the genome of surviving irradiated cells.” (49). That is, mutations caused by low level ionizing radiation are carried forward from one generation to another. The progeny of cells damaged by radiation through the bystander effect may also show this effect (50). Successive generations of cells targeted directly or indirectly by low level radiation show the same (clonal) and also non-clonal chromosomal aberrations as well as a heightened rate of mutation, a higher death rate and “reproductive irregularities” (51). These changes may persist for many generations (52). Miller et al. (2003) showed that DU exposure to human osteoblast cells led to genomic instability (53). They studied the frequency of delayed reproductive death (or yield of lethal events) and micronuclei formation in the progeny of human osteoblast cells over 30 generations. Some of the initial cells in this study were exposed to low levels of gamma radiation leading to genomic instability although to a lesser extent than the DU-exposed cells (54). Although chemical toxicity as in heavy metals can also cause genomic instability (55), in this study, nickel as a heavy metal did not generate genomic instability to any great degree, far less than that generated by either DU or gamma radiation (56).

Uranyl ion an affinity to chromatin (genetic material)

Inhaled particles of DU that lodge in the lung may dissolve into uranyl ions which then pass through the body. Uranyl ions are thought to be the chief form of uranium to be found in body fluids (57).They are attracted to and fasten onto DNA, particularly the genetic material called “clumped chromatin” (58). Spermatazoa have the greatest concentration of chromatin of any cell in the body (59). It has been conjectured that uranium found in semen is probably in the nucleus of the sperm cell (60).

DU is genotoxic

DU like other heavy metals such as nickel, tungsten and even lead, (recently shown to be weakly mutagenic) (61) have proved to be genotoxic. In 1998 Miller et al. found that DU- transformed cells when implanted in athymic nude mice led to the development of tumors within four weeks which they initially conjectured was due to the chemically toxic nature of DU (62). In 2002 a similar experiment with similar results, was done using an insoluble DU compound (63). Again the researchers thought this was due to the chemical toxicity of DU, which like nickel, can be carcinogenic. It is commonly thought that DU’s ability to cause damage is due to its being chemically highly toxic.

In 2002 Miller and co-workers showed that DU’s chemical toxicity could generate free radical (64) damage to DNA bases, including lesions in the DNA. Gradual accumulation of oxidative damage could occur which is important in the development of tumors (65) or birth defects (66). Using an insoluble DU compound, Miller et al. showed that DU caused single strand DNA breaks in immortalized human cells (67). Yazzie and collegues found that uranium in a uranyl ascorbate complex also led to single strand DNA breaks in plasmid DNA (68) in vitro which also could eventually lead to cancer (69).

Other research by Miller et al. found that the radiological component of DU may be genotoxic. Using a DU compound and two other uranium compounds, all of which were the same chemically, but which differed in specific activity (amount of radiation given off), they showed that DU had the greatest frequency of neoplastic transformation in immortalized human cells. Results indicated that radiation may be involved in neoplastic transformation (70). In the same study the researchers showed that DU exposure can cause dicentric chromosomal aberrations in immortalized human cells, an aberration caused by ionizing radiation (71).

Insoluble DU dioxide activated 10 out of 13 “stress” genes in 13 different recombinant cell lines developed from human liver carcinoma cells. Results indicated once again that DU is mutagenic: the DU caused potential damage at the genomic level including DNA strand breaks and/or chromosomal aberrations; one gene influenced the incorrect folding of proteins, thus potentially changing their functions (72).

DU’s chemical toxicity and radioactivity may work synergistically

Miller and co-workers found that the chemical toxicity and the radioactivity of DU seemed to work together synergistically to produce more genetic damage than either facet of DU could cause by themselves when the effects were simply added together. Miller said to the Guardian (73), “You can get more than an eightfold greater effect than you’d expect”(74). This synergistic working of chemical toxicity and radiation thus results in more than eight times as many cells damaged genetically as expected (75). These new findings have not been taken into account by the experts who set radiation limits.

Animal Studies

Animal research on the effects of DU has centered mostly on the effects of embedded DU in animals, that is, pellets of DU are surgically implanted in animal tissue. This research has largely been done by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) in Bethesda, MD.. A summary of their research is listed below:

· Distribution of DU in rats embedded with DU pellets: DU traveled in the body, accumulating primarily in the kidney and bone. DU was also found in the lymph nodes, brain, heart, liver, spleen and testicles (76). DU went to tissues even far from the implantation site within one day of transplantation (77).

· Repeated testing of liver, kidney and muscle tissue after implantation of DU in rodents resulted in changes in the expression of several genes which have been implicated in carcinogenesis (78).

· DU caused electrical changes in rat hippocampal slices. (This area of the brain is important in learning and memory) (79).

· DU crosses the blood brain barrier. Rats with medium (10 DU pellets) and high (20 DU pellets) exposure to DU (pellets were implanted in the thigh) had significant amounts of uranium in the brain including the midbrain, the motor cortex and frontal cortex; rats with high exposure to DU had significant amounts of uranium in the cerebellum (80).

· DU crosses the placenta and is stored in the fetuses of rats with embedded DU pellets. Litter size was reduced (81).

· DU pellets implanted in rats did not lead to functional or histological kidney toxicity (82).

· Soluble DU (uranyl chloride) was taken up by mouse macrophages leading over time to the death (apoptosis) of these cells including fragmentation of the nuclear DNA (83). (Macrophages are immune system scavengers found in the lung, lymph nodes, kidneys and other organs).

Animal research by non-AFRRI groups include:

· Research done at the Lovelace Respiratory Institute, found that some rats with embedded DU showed kidney tumors on autopsy after 500-650 days; the difference was not significant although DU was found in the kidneys of all the rats. The researchers also showed that DU fragments caused cancer in rat muscle (84).

· Duke University researchers found that a DU substitute (uranyl acetate) when given to rats in multiple low doses resulted in reduced coordination and impaired movement in a dose-dependent manner (85).

· Rats whose lungs (lower third of trachea) were instilled with DU dust (86) showed histological evidence of kidney damage at higher lung burdens of from 170-200 micrograms of DU per lung; rats that were injected with DU dust in leg muscle (maximum 65 micrograms DU per leg) did not sustain similar kidney damage. About half the DU in the lung and in the muscle appeared in the urine within the first day after DU was implanted in the bodies of the rats (87). The DU dust used contained both soluble and insoluble components.

Animal and cellular research indicate that DU causes genetic damage and has other harmful effects, that both its chemical toxicity and its radioactivity are involved in this damage although it is not known to what degree radiation is involved. It does lead to the bystander effect and to genomic instability. DU also causes damage in ways which are unrelated to DU’s ability to cause genetic changes. In addition it should be noted that biological systems have repair mechanisms so that changes may not necessarily be permanent.

Biological Effects of Radiation

Ionizing radiation breaks molecular bonds. Radioactive atoms give off one or more of four different types of radiation – alpha and beta subatomic particles as well as gamma rays and X-rays (88). Ionizing radiation leads to the formation of ions which are electrically charged particles from particles which were formerly neutral, and creates free radicals (89) which can alter proteins, DNA or lipids (fats) (90). A number of experts believe that there is no dose of ionizing radiation that does not pose a risk of malignancy (91).

DU and Uranium Dust in Mines

Dr. Rosalie Bertell, a leading expert on ionizing radiation, states that the RAND Report did not differentiate between soluble and insoluble DU dust (92). Uranium dust found in uranium mining is a soluble uranium oxide. However DU dust when in a ceramic aerosol oxide form as exists on the battlefield, is much more insoluble than the dust particles of uranium oxide found in a uranium mine or mill. They are different forms in as much as the ceramic DU particles are created by very high temperatures (up to and more than 4,000 degrees Centigrade) (93) and are extremely tiny; the dust particles of uranium in a mine or mill are larger and are comparatively soluble and traverse the body quickly. They pass through the kidney within a few days, damaging only the kidneys (94). The RAND study concentrated on studies of uranium miners and millers.

Particles of ceramic DU stay in the deep lungs for 2 (95) or up to 20 years (96). Insoluble ceramic DU particles lodge deep in the lung, in mucus that touches lung tissue where it radiates (97), giving off 2 alpha particles a second (98) (or 7,200 in an hour). Each DU alpha particle gives off approximately 4.2 MeV (million electron volts); only 6 to 10 eV (electron volts) are needed to break DNA or other sizeable molecules (99), causing damage that cellular repair mechanisms may not be able to offset. Monocytes take up DU particles from the deep lung and carry them to the thoracic lymph nodes and the lymphatic system (100). Fine ceramic particles travel through the lung-blood barrier, into the blood stream and take root in bone and body organs where they irradiate neighboring tissue and may even disrupt organ function (101).

DU and Natural Uranium

Natural uranium enters the body through food and water rather than through dust reaching the lungs. It goes through the digestive system, which it may irritate and is excreted in the feces. Up to 99 percent of ingested natural uranium leaves the body within 24 hours in this fashion (102). While 75 percent of the inhaled DU aerosol goes into the digestive system, 25 percent of the ceramic and non-ceramic particles lodge in the lungs, which have no exit portal other than the lung-blood barrier or the lymph system. Soluble DU particles that are trapped in the lungs, are carried by the blood and are excreted through the kidneys. With time, some of the insoluble DU particles also become soluble and follow this route with the DU being gradually excreted in the urine (103). The kidneys may adjust to this slow rate of uranium excretion and not be visibly harmed (104).

Any existing DU radiation caused by ceramic DU will be over and above radiation from natural sources. The Childhood Cancer Research Institute reports that most epidemiologists concur that natural background radiation causes a percentage of childhood cancers (105). In fact, the Childhood Cancer Research Institute states that low-level ionizing radiation is considered to be the “best scientifically established cause of childhood cancer” (106).

Other ways in which low-level radiation causes harm

Bertell (107) has catalogued three ways in which low-level radiation achieves effects which for the most part are not found with high-level radiation. They are based largely on biological mechanisms so that the radiation effect is indirect but present. They indicate that low level radiation injures cell membranes, depresses the immune system and causes chronic fatigue syndrome.

1. Low–dose radiation damages cell membranes – The Petkau Effect: At the slow-dose rate of 0.001 rad per minute (a rad is the amount of radiation absorbed by exposed material), it takes only 0.7 rad to destroy a cell membrane. At a high or fast-dose rate of 26 rad per minute, it takes a total of 3,500 rads to accomplish this. A further discussion of the biological mechanisms involved can be found in Appendix A.

2. Monocyte depletion, anemia and a depressed immune system: Monocye depletion causes iron deficient anemia because monocytes recycle 37-40 percent of the iron from dead red blood cells. Low level radiation can reduce the monocyte population by 80 percent. Low level radiation also leads to a depressed immune system as monocytes play a role in activating lymphocytes. (See Appendix A for mechanism). In addition, iron transport may be reduced by the binding of uranyl ions to red blood cells (108).

3. Deformed red blood cells which cannot easily enter capillaries to bring oxygen and nutrients to muscle and brain cells. (See Appendix A). This leads to chronic fatigue syndrome and even short-term memory loss.

Most scientists would agree that more needs to be known about the relationship between irradiation and its effects on biological cells (109). More studies are needed.

Summary of Recent Human Research

Little research has been done on the effects of DU in humans. More research is needed on inhalation of depleted uranium.

A German study published in 2003 (110) found specific chromosomal aberrations known as dicentric and centric ring chromosomal aberrations in the peripheral lymphocytes of 16 Gulf War and Balkans War veterans. The veterans were ill and suffered from chronic fatigue, headaches and muscle and joint pain (111). None of the veterans were heavy smokers. The number of chromosomal aberrations were 5 times greater than expected. Dicentric and centric ring chromosomal aberrations are known to be caused by ionizing radiation. All the veterans in this study suspected that they had been exposed to DU dust on the battlefield

The DU Program at the Baltimore VA Medical Center (112) has followed a small number o