تقدير مخاطر استخدام أسلحة اليورانيوم المنضب في العراق : الجزء الثاني

الملخص EN

In Part I of this study, I defined the effective radiation doses received by the residents and armed forces in areas contaminated by Depleted Uranium (DU) in southern Iraq.

This contamination resulted from the intensive use of (DU) munitions by US /UK armed forces during the first Gulf War of 1991.

Since DU is a radioactive and a toxic substance, it is presented in this article (Part II) an assessment of the health risks resulted from this radiation.

The collective effective doses were calculated for each city in the study areas.

The risk factors adopted by international organizations, such as International Commission on Radiological Protection and The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, were used to determine the total incidence of fatal and non-fatal cancers and other related health damages.

The results indicated that the total expected incidence of fatal, non-fatal cancers, and leukemia in the city of Safwan is up to 1930 cases, which represented 7.2% of total population; and up to 9141 in the city of Zubair, which represented 4.5% of the total population; and up to 4475 cases in westernt Basra, which represented 4.5% of the total population.

Articles published by the University of Basra and on-site surveys confirmed such increases among small village residents.

Total expected incidence of other health damages and genetic diseases that appeared as congenital malformations in future generations are up to 1831 cases in the city of Safwan, or 6.9% of the total population, and up to 8648 cases in Zubair city, which represents 4.2% of the total population, and up to 4234 cases in western Basra, or 4.2% of the total population.

Some 14,350 members of the Iraqi Armed Forces, who were present in these areas during military operations are highly to suffer from fatal cancer, leukemia and other health damages in the future.