No Evidence that Depleted Uranium is Harmful

Michael McNeil has a post on depleted uranium. Despite the hysteria to the contrary, it presents a pretty convincing case that there's no evidence that depleted uranium causes any harm.

Update

Originally my title read "Depleted Uranium is apparently harmless"

As Piero Scaruffi points out, even sugar can be harmful. He points out there is no

scientific or statistical evidence that DU is more dangerous than sugar, even if people routinely quote the "thousands" of civilians (usually, children) killed by DU-weapons.

Then there's Dan Fahey's SCIENCE OR SCIENCE FICTION? Facts, Myths and Propaganda In the Debate Over Depleted Uranium Weapons:

Few humans exposed to DU have been studied, therefore little is known about the effects DU has had or may have in the future on exposed populations...

The Iraqi government, often using its scientists and doctors as spokespeople, has attributed widespread and severe health effects to DU. Claims about 12-fold increases in childhood leukemia and cancer and 10-fold increase in birth defects are very alarming, but the Iraqi studies simply lay the blame on DU without providing evidence that study subjects were ever near DU, let alone exposed to it. Moreover, they do not analyze possible alternative causes, such as industrial pollution, malnutrition, or the Iraqi use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war...

In the face of so much contradictory information about DU, it can be difficult to know where to turn for fact-based assessments and sensible recommendations. US government reports contain a wealth of valuable information about DU, but they are also laced with propaganda and lies that cast doubt upon their comprehensiveness and make their conclusions suspect. Reports and claims from anti-DU activists are similarly plagued by speculation, propaganda and lies that detract from the activists. often legitimate concerns about DU.s health and environmental effects.

There are many uncertainties about the use and effects of DU munitions, but the growing body of scientific research points to the conclusion that the use of DU munitions creates environmental contamination that can affect the health of people, particularly combat soldiers and children. It is likely the US and British militaries will rely less and less upon DU ammunition, however, as they develop newer technologies that destroy tanks and other enemy targets with greater ease and from greater distances than currently afforded by DU munitions.

Most of what is known about the use of DU munitions comes from the governments of the United States and United Kingdom, but the manufacture, testing, sale and use of DU munitions by Russia and Pakistan remain shrouded in doubt. Has Russia used DU munitions in Chechnya? Has Pakistan sold DU rounds to militant groups or North Korea? Exactly who has DU munitions, and where have they been used? These and other questions deserve to be answered, but anti-DU activists are not even asking them.

Similarly, Howard Fienberg of the nonpartisan Statistical Assessment Service wrote of depleted uranium munitions:

...reliable clinical and epidemiological data are hard to come by, and U.S. officials contend that the Iraqi government remains more interested in propaganda than the health of its people.

The process of refining raw uranium for use in nuclear power plants results in uranium "depleted" of most of its powerfully radioactive component. Depleted uranium, though radioactive, is not a nuclear weapon. But its extreme density makes it militarily beneficial as both armor and an armor-piercing munition.

Many military personnel were exposed to depleted uranium during the gulf war - and some during the conflict in Kosovo. Fortunately, the radioactivity is so faint that mere exposure to it poses little discernible health risk.

Unfortunately, war is not clean. Opponents of depleted uranium point out that when the shells explode into armor, a quantity of the depleted uranium burns and oxidizes into minute particles.

These particles create an airborne dust that can be inhaled or ingested. In addition to the danger posed by particles lodging in the lungs (which might eventually lead to cancer), uranium is toxic and can lead to kidney failure and other health problems.

But lead, tungsten and other metals used in armor and armaments are also unhealthy to ingest and are more common sources of adverse wartime health effects.

A U.S. presidential oversight board reported that "the available evidence does not support claims that depleted uranium is causing the undiagnosed illnesses some gulf war veterans are experiencing."

Similarly, a report from Rand, the independent think tank, for the Department of Defense, showed an extremely low likelihood of long-term ill health effects from depleted uranium...

Opponents of depleted uranium so far lack the ammunition needed to score a direct hit. The majority of evidence shows depleted uranium a weapon more effective, but no more dangerous, than most other instruments of destruction.