Publication Laka-library:
Malignant Effects; depleted uranium as a genotoxin and carcinogen

AuthorICBUW
6-05-0-00-33.pdf
DateJanuary 2014
Classification 6.05.0.00/33 (DEPLETED URANIUM - GENERAL (F.I. HEALTH CONSEQUENCES))
Front

From the publication:

Preface
Depleted uranium (DU) weapons have proved a controversial addition to the conventional arsenals of militaries since their first development in the Cold War. Opposition to their use has varied in pitch over the years but has tended to correlate closely with their deployment in conflict. Yet throughout this period, it has been clear from the column inches printed, the parliamentary debates and, more recently the bills, motions and resolutions passed, that the use of DU munitions appears to be intrinsically unacceptable to most people.
The stigmatisation of inhumane and unacceptable weapons has been crucial to extending the impact of the international treaties banning anti-personnel landmines and cluster bombs. But while DU has shown itself, to a degree, to be self-stigmatising – evidence for which is clearly demonstrated by the energetic public relations strategies of its proponents, the difficulty of establishing a causal link between its use and humanitarian impact requires a different approach to judging its acceptability to those that have historically been applied to explosive weapons.
Common sense lies at the heart of people’s innate response to assessing the acceptability of DU’s use in conventional weapons, thus it seemed only right for ICBUW to launch a discourse rooted in precaution. The Precautionary Principle provides a useful model for both health and environmental protection, particularly where scientific complexity and uncertainty meet.
The purpose of this report is to introduce the reader to the growing weight of evidence relating to how DU can damage DNA, interfere with cellular processes and contribute to the development of cancer. The report uses peer-reviewed studies, many of which have been published during the last decade and, wherever possible, has sought to simplify the scientific language to make it accessible to the lay reader. The executive summary simplifies the report’s findings further. A glossary of key scientific terms is provided on each page to further aid understanding and a compendium of these terms and full bibliography are available at the end of the report.