Depleted Uranium

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-04-09 06:12pm

My friend today at school went off on one of his anti-war/western-imperialism rants today, and somehow the subject of depleted uranium came up. He implied it was a WMD and I'm like, "Um, no." He went on about it being used at a weapons test range in Scotland and that people there had 200% higher leukemia and other cancers. He then showed me a book by some radical lunatic about it, and his sources were cited. It said that upon impact, DU "aerosolizes and is inhaled and ingested", causing cancer apparently. I thought it was rather fishy, so what's the truth about it? Does it contaminate areas where its used?

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2003-04-09 06:16pm

Anything that is inhaled has the slightest possibility to cause cancer...

But if it is Depleted it would have no radiation in it, so I would say he smocked a bit too much of the wacky tobacky.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-04-09 06:21pm

This is like the umpteenth thread on this.

DU is not benign. The dust is toxic, and can cause some bad stuff. That said, it isn't the nightmare substance the conspiracy theorists want you to believe it is; if it was, American soldiers who had had DU exposure would be fathering/mothering deformed babies and developing cancer left and right.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-04-09 06:22pm

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... t=depleted

Here ya go.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-04-09 06:23pm

DU rounds are quite deadly when they rip one's body apart, after having penetrated armor and sucking one out the exit hole of the armored vehicle in a mixture of small body pieces and goo. On the good side, as a result, one's long-term health isn't an issue.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-04-09 06:28pm

ANY heavy metal is toxic to humans and potentially carcinogenic, people used to think asbestos wasn't dangerous until all these respiratory problems arose.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-04-09 06:52pm

Well, OK then, thanks everyone. Sorry for repeat topic.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-04-09 06:55pm

Besides, DU is barely radioactive. Doesn't it have a half-life of something like a few billion years??

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-04-09 07:16pm

U238 does have a halflife of a few billion years, yes, and U238 makes up the vast majority of DU. Heavy metal poisoning is the big problem, which, since it's relatively insoluble, isn't a problem.

Queeb Salaron · Post by **Queeb Salaron** » 2003-04-09 07:20pm

A bit off topic: What type of radiation does U238 give off? Alpha, Beta, or Gamma?

Luke Starkiller · Post by **Luke Starkiller** » 2003-04-09 08:13pm

It is a weak alpha emitter I believe.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-04-09 08:15pm

Alpha emitter.

Queeb Salaron · Post by **Queeb Salaron** » 2003-04-09 08:16pm

Spanx.