5th Imamia Medics International Conference, Najaf, Iraq, April 2012

Asaf Durakovic, Tedd Weyman

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Medical and environmental effects of potential nuclear disasters present a realistic concern to healtcare and management of mass casualites.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons and delivery systems such as strategic air force, land and naval missilies, and tactical weapons of nuclear superpowers had kept a delicate balance since WWII with the global awarness of mutually assured destruction (MAD). The growing list of the nations in the posssesion and capable of production of nuclear weapons increases the risk of the tactical regional confrontation. This concern is enhanced by the possible industrial, transportation, and clandestine disasters with the constant need of medical peparedness for the treatment of acute radiation disease, combined injury, and internal contamination with radioisotopes of fission or radioactive warfare.

Internal contamination is a result of exposure to over 40 radioisotopes of nuclear fission, medically significant due to their half life, corpuscular radiation, and organospecificity. The recent advent of the use of depleted uranium (DU) in the modern battlefield presents and indiscriminate somatic and genetic hazard of single isotope contamination in the radioactive warfare. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) results from a total of partial body exposure to lethal consequences.

Tedd Weyman, 2003, Unpublished Field Team Report

Previously only released in Japan

Uranium Contamination in Afghanistan [View Report]

Quantitative Analysis of four Uranium Isotopes  234U, 235U,236U and 238U in the civilian Populations located in the Areas of the Persian Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and Gaza and in returning Allied Veterans conducted  by UMRC, Canada / USA / UK (1997 – 2011)

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Conference presentation at the 7th  International Conference on Isotopes, Moscow, Russia, September 2011

Asaf Durakovic, Frank Klimaschewski, Tedd Weyman, Isaac Zimmerman

AMSUS 116 Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, October 30-November 4, 2010. (Poster presentation)

Asaf Durakovic

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European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), Vienna, October 10, 2010

Asaf Durakovic and Tedd Weyman

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10th Congress of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology,

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Conference Presentation in Iraq at the First International Conference on Radioactive Pollution and its Implication for Health and Environment in Iraq, Iraq Centre for International Studies, July, 2010

Asaf Durakovic, Tedd Weyman

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– Iraq Conference Cancelled due to Security Issues –

The last two decades witnessed the introduction of a new concept of warfare by radioactive weapons, used inIraqin the first Gulf War, 1991.  It changed the modern battlefield concept from NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) to the current concept of CBRN (Chemical Biological Radioactive Nuclear).  It introduced not only contamination of the human population with the products of nuclear fission and the radioactive waste from the nuclear fuel cycle, but also has an impact on the general environment with possible, irreversible alterations of the biosphere.  Among the direct risks to the human population are multidimensional damage to organs and tissues. As well, malignant tumors at the site of retention have been identified.  This paper addresses questions of the effects of uranium isotopes on the civilian population and environment of Iraq.

Upon the conclusion of the military conflict (OIF 2003), the Uranium Medical Research Centre conducted field work inIraq.  We collected biological samples from 22 symptomatic civilians inBaghdad,Basra, Nasiriyah, Samawa and Kerbala.  Symptoms included headaches, fatigue, intermittent fever, urinary tract disorders, musculoskeletal dysfunction, respiratory symptoms, central and peripheral nervous systems and affective disorders.  The urine specimens were collected under strict guidelines of a standard protocol for a 24-hour sample and subject confidentiality. Urine samples were also collected from three members of the UMRC Iraq field team.

Our results demonstrate the presence of DU and non-DU containing the manmade isotope 236U in the civilians of Baghdad, Basra, and Nasiriyah.  In addition, all DU and non-DU civilian samples have average concentrations of 300 – 500 per cent above normal populations.  These data are in agreement with the Uranium Medical Research Centre’s previous findings in military personnel in Gulf War I (Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox) and Gulf War II (Operation Iraqi Freedom) in Iraq (from 1995-2007) and field and laboratory studies of Afghan civilians from Operation Enduring Freedom (2002-2005).

Presentation in Montréal at Forum Social Québecois (www.fsq2009.org), October 2009 

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Estimating the Lung Burden from Exposure to Aerosols of Depleted Uranium.

Valdes, Marcel (2009) Radiation Protection Dosimetry. 134: 1, 23-29

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Following exposure to aerosols of depleted uranium (DU), biological samples show the presence of a synthetic mixture of natural uranium and DU. By partitioning the uranium in the 24-h urine sample along the isotopic fractions of natural uranium and DU, one can study the kinetics of these subpopulations independently. A linear model is developed to estimate the lung burden of DU from measurements of DU in 24-h urine samples, years after inhalational exposure to aerosols of DU. This model takes into account the intracellular dissolution of the retained particles and the precipitation of a significant fraction of the dissolved DU as insoluble uranyl phosphates.