U.S. ammunition blamed for Iraqi cancer spike
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By Al Jazeera
News Bulletins
Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009
Doctors in Iraq are recording a sharp rise in the number of cancer
victims south of Baghdad. Sufferers in the province of Babil have risen
almost tenfold in just three years.
Locals blame depleted uranium from US military equipment used in the
2003 invasion. Some 500 cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2004 alone.
That figure rose to almost 1,000 two years later.
In 2008, the number of cases increased sevenfold to 7,000 diagnoses.
This year, there have so far been more than 9,000 new cases, and the
number is rising.
Mosab Jasim reports that Iraqi researchers
believe radiation is responsible for the increase in cancer and birth
defects in the country, but he says the US and British militaries have
sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium.
However, Christopher Busby, a British scientist and activist who
has carried out research into the risks of radioactive pollution, said
there is proof of a definitive link between cancer and depleted uranium.
"I made this link to a coroner's inquest in the West Midlands into
the death of a Gulf War One veteran ... and a coroner's jury accepted
my evidence," he told Al Jazeera.
"It's been found by a coroner's court that cancer was caused by an exposure to depleted uranium.
"In the last ten years, research has emerged that has made it quite
clear that uranium is one of the most dangerous substances known to
man, certainly in the form that it takes when used in these wars."
Interview: Abdulhaq Al-Ani on Uranium in Iraq
Iraqis living to the south of Baghdad have blamed depleted uranium
from US military equipment for causing a rise in the number of cancer
cases.
Iraqi researchers and some Western scientists believe radiation is
responsible for the increase in cancer and birth defects in the country,
Mosab Jasim interviews Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq, for more analysis.
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