Letter: Uranium weapons
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: It is Richard Bramhall who has not kept up to date with depleted uranium (DU) munitions (letter, 25 November).
No one is disputing that DU is an alpha emitter and that an alpha particle lodged in the lungs can irradiate the surrounding tissue. But consider: several workers in the US nuclear weapons programme suffered considerable exposures to plutonium, especially in the early days, and the plutonium entered their bodies through various pathways, including inhalation. Yet many of these workers are now healthy 70-year-olds despite the fact that they have carried plutonium particles around inside them for 40 years or more and that plutonium 239 is roughly 200,000 times more radioactive than depleted uranium.
Richard Bramhall also overstates the effects of the mobility of DU particles. Whilst it is true that DU oxides may be carried downwind for long distances, Dan Fahey, whose work with US Gulf war veterans was instrumental in pressuring the Pentagon to undertake their own DU study has recently written that "most of the oxides settle out within 50 metres of an impacted vehicle, and the remainder that are carried downwind would likely be dispersed into concentrations that pose little health risk".
DAVE ANDREWS
Wrexham
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments