How Harmful is Depleted Uranium?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-03-20 01:18am

Anyone have any expertise on this? I know it's harmful to humans on at least some level, but just how bad is it?

There are pictures of deformed Iraqi babies floating around the net whose deformities are supposedly caused by their mothers being exposed to depleted uranium. However, I'm a bit skeptical of this, given that Americans who have been exposed to high levels of the substance haven't been giving birth to severely deformed babies.

Any thoughts? No politics, PLEASE, just asking a question.

Sr.mal · Post by **Sr.mal** » 2003-03-20 01:21am

Yeah DU is dangerous, especially when a 30MM DU round enters and exits the body at high speed. DU is non-radioactive. If it weren't crews of M1's would be cosmic catastrophies. The birth defects are most likely caused by natural radition seeping from the ground, but is most likely being propagandalized by the Iraqi's.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-20 01:22am

Ingested into the body, it's extremely toxic.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-20 01:24am

From the MSDS for uranium oxide (which is produced by burning uranium, obviously):

Emergency overview:

Special Hazard Precautions: In some states of this material, it can be extremely flammable, may be pyrophoric. It is radioactive.

Acute: Kidney damage, arterial lesions and possible liver effects. May irritate eyes and skin. Toxic if inhaled. Irritating to lungs. May cause kidney damage. arterial lesions, and liver effects.

Chronic: Dermatitis. Possible carcinogen of lymphatic and blood-forming tissue.

It's hardly benign.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2003-03-20 01:25am

Darth Wong wrote:Ingested into the body, it's extremely toxic.

But that's going to be from heavy metal poisoning, rather than radiation. My brother has been doing some work on the chemical toxicity of Uranium for his summer jobs, and it's pretty nasty stuff. I don't know if it's a Cadmium levels of toxicity, but you definetly don't want to ingest it.

The problem with DU rounds is that once they impact, they break up and the material enters the environment, at least according to a documentary I saw about it a few years ago on either CBC or Discovery.

Sr.mal · Post by **Sr.mal** » 2003-03-20 01:26am

Well, is DU Uranium Oxide? I don't think it is.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-03-20 01:26am

This is what the military has to say about it

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-20 01:29am

Sr.mal wrote:DU is non-radioactive.

Wrong. I don't know where you studied physics, but you should go back and tell them you want your money back.

If it weren't crews of M1's would be cosmic catastrophies.

False dilemma; DU is harmless in solid form because it is encased in a shell and it emits mostly weak alpha radiation, which has very little penetrative power. When you BURN it, which is likely in its designed usage, you get uranium oxide flakes and powders which can be ingested into the body. Inside the body, weak alpha radiation is highly toxic.

The birth defects are most likely caused by natural radition seeping from the ground, but is most likely being propagandalized by the Iraqi's.

Contamination levels from DU may very well be a non-factor in civilian areas when compared to other, more obvious issues such as medicine, toxic chemicals released by burning oil wells, poor hygiene, etc. But the stuff is NOT harmless.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-20 01:30am

Sr.mal wrote:Well, is DU Uranium Oxide? I don't think it is.

Depleted uranium becomes uranium oxide when it burns, dumb-fuck. Do you know what burning is?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-03-20 01:31am

The photos in question are so bizarre that no sane person could possibly believe them to be genuine at first glance. I mean, these babies lok like FROGS, and no, I'm not exaggerating.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-20 01:33am

Durran Korr wrote:The photos in question are so bizarre that no sane person could possibly believe them to be genuine at first glance. I mean, these babies lok like FROGS, and no, I'm not exaggerating.

Mutations can be a terrifying thing. It is not widely recognized that photographers in the 20th century have an unwritten rule about publicizing photos of "freaks". The result is that we do not often see this side of the human condition. There was a 19th century collection of circus-freak photos that was published many years ago, but it's out of print and it's almost impossible to find copies.

Sr.mal · Post by **Sr.mal** » 2003-03-20 01:35am

Darth Wong wrote:
Sr.mal wrote:Well, is DU Uranium Oxide? I don't think it is.
Depleted uranium becomes uranium oxide when it burns, dumb-fuck. Do you know what burning is?

Jeez I learned my lesson. I based my answer on too little information. Now I know.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2003-03-20 01:39am

Durran Korr wrote:Anyone have any expertise on this? I know it's harmful to humans on at least some level, but just how bad is it?

It's a heavy metal and poses all the health risks generally associated with heavy metals. In addition it's an alpha emitter. Solid blocks of DU are reasonably benign but DU dust can be fatal if it's inhaled or ingested.

For the pedantic, the reason for drawing a line between solid blocks and dust is that solid blocks are rather hard to ingest or inhale....

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How Harmful is Depleted Uranium?

How Harmful is Depleted Uranium?

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