The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

erated. Rounds that miss the target are typically buried several feet below the surface where they slowly erode over the years. Depleted ura- nium is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium and buried rounds add little to the existing levels of natural uranium in the soil — there are four tons in just the top foot of soil per square mile. The U.S. Army recently published an extensive study detailing the aerosol levels inside a depleted urani- um-armored Abrams tank penetrat- ed by large caliber depleted uranium munitions, which is a highest-aerosol scenario. This peer-reviewed report, currently under review by the National Academy of Sciences, clear- ly states that only a small fraction of the total round aerosolized, and that only a small fraction of the aerosolized particles could reach the deep lung. This dose is not enough to cause health-effects concerns. The Department of Veterans Affairs has been monitoring the health of some 70 of the 104 survivors of depleted uranium friendly-fire incidents in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Without doubt, these service members had the highest potential exposure of any service members. All of them had inhalational exposure to depleted uranium, and about one- third retained depleted uranium shrapnel. To date, none of these indi- viduals have developed kidney abnor- malities, leukemia, bone or lung can- cer, or any other uranium-related health problems. Also, none of the children born to these veterans have shown any physical abnormalities. The primary concern about expo- sure to genotoxic substances is can- cer. Despite many decades of research looking for a possible link between uranium exposure and can- cer, the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states in its Toxicological Profile for 10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 L E T T E R S u