Silent, Brutal and Imminent Death: Consequences of Depleted Uranium Shells Usage

DU is used in armor-piercing shells that cause significant damage upon penetration. Despite the hypocritical claims of British officials that depleted uranium shells are just like any other, experts point out the tremendous dangers such projectiles pose to nature and human health.

At the end of the day, all uranium isotopes are radioactive. DU is less radioactive than unprocessed uranium, but still exposure to it is a sure way to come down with cancer. What is more important, depleted uranium will contaminate the soil for many centuries since it has a tremendously long period of fallout.

Western officials are well aware of these facts since NATO has a long history of using DU shells in Iraq and Yugoslavia. During the Gulf War, the US alone unleashed 340 tons of DU ammo. The shells proved to be so effective that later Western nations used them while bombing the people of Yugoslavia, and again during the 2003 invasion in Iraq.

DU shells are double-edged sword since they endanger not only those targeted but also the lives of soldiers who handle them on orders of their commanders and are unaware of the health risks.

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The use of DU shells led to a surge of cancer in Iraqi children. In this photo you can see a boy waiting for chemotherapy. He was born blind and suffers from a brain tumor. The cancer has spread to his abdomen, causing it to swell.

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Four-year-old Alla Saleem, who suffers from a tumor in her eye, lies on her bed as she waits for medication at the Ghazwan Children's Hospital in the southern Iraqi town of Basra, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the border with Kuwait. Iraqi authorities claim that about 300 tons of bombs with depleted uranium were used by the allied forces during the Gulf War bombing campaign, and this caused the increase of cancer cases in the area. According to Doctor Jawal Al-Ali, chief cancer consultant of the Basra teaching hospital and member of the Royal College of Physicians in London, these cases have multiplied by 12 since 1991.

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A tank destroyed by a depleted uranium shell during course of Second Gulf War. Even if some of the crewmembers survived the explosion, chances are they died later of cancer.

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NATO used depleted uranium munitions during the airstrikes against Bosnian Serbs in 1995 and during the air campaign in Kosovo against Yugoslavia in 1999.

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Portuguese and Italian KFOR soldiers measure radiation levels near a Yugoslav Army tank destroyed during NATO's bombing campaign, in the western Kosovo town of Klina.

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NATO and US command never told their soldiers about the healths risks, associated with DU. So they did not take precautionary measures while coming into contact with these projectiles.

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In this photo you can see a US Army Specialist handling 25mm rounds of depleted uranium ammunition with bare hands.

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As a result, there was a surge of leukemia cases among soldiers who served in Iraq and Yugoslavia.

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DU contained in bombs used during NATO's air campaign in Yugoslavia will remain in the soil for billions of years, filtering into ground, water and moving into the food chain.

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Everyone who came in contact with DU shells must undergo a number of check-ups.

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Radiation from DU shells contaminates not only the soil but

almost everything.

In this photo you can see soldier measuring the radiation levels of weapons and army equipment at a military factory in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac. The factory was targeted during the 1995 NATO airstrikes.

Reportedly, short after that its workers started dying of unknown causes.

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A Yugoslav Army tank destroyed by NATO DU shells. It will emmanate radiation for centuries.

How the West's Depleted Uranium Ammo Spells Death for Soldier and Civilian Alike