DEPLETED URANIUM

File: 970619_doc2_01.txt
Page: 01
Total Pages: 1
Subject:	DEPLETED URANIUM 

b1 SEC 1.5C

IRAQI DIPLOMATS TO DISTRIBUTE SUMMARY OF A REPORT LINKING ALLIED USE OF 
DEPLETED URANIUM IN MUNITIONS TO INCREASES IN CANCER AND OTHER DISEASES:  
OCTOBER 1994.

IRAQI DIPLOMATS IN OCTOBER 1994, WERE TO DISTRIBUTE INFORMATION ON THE 
HEALTH IMPACT OF VARIOUS WEAPONS USED AGAINST THE IRAQIS DURING THE GULF 
WAR, SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON THE USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN MUNITIONS.

IRAQI DIPLOMATS HAD A SUMMARY OF  A REPORT ALLEGING A CONNECTION BETWEEN 
ALLIED USE OF WEAPONS CONTAINING DEPLETED URANIUM DURING THE GULF WAR 
AND A SUBSEQUENT INCREASE IN VARIOUS TYPES OF ILLNESS AND HAD BEEN 
INSTRUCTED TO ENSURE THAT THE INFORMATION RECEIVE THE WIDEST POSSIBLE 
DISTRIBUTION.

THE REPORT ALLEGED THAT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE COLLECTED FROM AREAS WHICH 
WERE BOMBARDED HAD PROVIDED SOLID 
EVIDENCE OF THE USE OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENTS, AND STRESSED THEIR 
POTENTIAL DANGER TO THE ENVIRONMENT. IT ADDRESSED THE USE OF DEPLETED 
URANIUM, CLAIMING THAT APPROXIMATELY 40 TONS OF THE MATERIAL HAD BEEN 
FOUND IN SOUTHERN IRAQ.  IT CLAIMED THAT THIS MATERIAL CAME FROM æRADIATIONÆ 
WEAPONS USED AGAINST 
THE IRAQI MILITARY AND ON THE MAIN ROAD TO KUWAIT.  THE REPORT ALSO ALLEGED 
THAT DEPLETED URANIUM FELL INTO THE CATEGORY OF BANNED WARFARE AGENTS, 
AND THAT ITS USE HAD LED TO BOTH SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM DAMAGE.

THE REPORT DETAILED WHAT IT CLAIMED WERE INCREASES IN CERTAIN DISEASES DUE 
TO ALLIED MILITARY ACTIONS, INCLUDING:

1. A TWO-FOLD INCREASE IN THE INCIDENCE OF EPIDEMIC VERTIGO, ALONG WITH 
MANY CASES OF AN UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE CHARACTERIZED BY BLINDNESS, 
FITS OF SEVERE HEADACHE, AND NUMBNESS.  INITIAL REPORTS OF SUCH CASES 
WERE MADE ABOUT SIX MONTHS AFTER THE WAR;
 
2. AN INCREASE IN VARIOUS TYPES OF CANCER, SUCH AS LEUKEMIA, 
PARTICULARLY AMONG THE YOUNG.  THE REPORT CLAIMED AN INCREASE IN 
DAILY REPORTS OF THESE CANCERS FROM TWO TO THREE IN 1991 TO 10 TO 15 A 
DAY AT THE PRESENT TIME; AND
 
3. AN INCREASE IN THE INCIDENCE OF JUVENILE DIABETES, ATTRIBUTING THIS TO 
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO BOMBING, EXPLOSIONS, 
SHELLING, MISSILE ATTACKS, AND AIR STRIKES BY SUPERSONIC FIGHTERS.