Health Risks Related to Depleted Uranium Contamination in Iraq

Depleted Uranium use in Iraq

Abstract

To assess any population’s health risks related to radioactive isotopes like depleted Uranium (DU) munitions we need to know several factors - where they have been used, type and mass of the radioactive radionuclides dispersed, contaminated residential areas, and the mechanism of internal and external exposure to the human body. The US and UK armed forces used Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions for the first time in recent history during the First Gulf War in 1991. The weapons were extensively used close to populated areas in Southern Iraq like Basra and its vicinity. About one million bullets, projectiles and missiles were fired along the “Highway of
Death” leading from Kuwait City to Basra, then up to Nasiriya, and other Iraqi cities in 1991.