Iraq: Doctors warn on increasing deformities in newborn babies

[Liberty Belle]

This article blames a sudden rise in deformities among Iraqi babies on old conflicts. Where are those articles indicating US troops may have used depeleted uranium weapons in the current war? This makes me sick.-- LB


IRAQ: Doctors warn of increasing deformities in newborn babies.

4/27/2005


…According to Dr Nawar Ali, at the University of Baghdad, who works in the newborn babies research department, a significant number of cases of deformed babies had been reported since 2003.

“There have been 650 cases in total since August 2003 reported in government hospitals - that is a 20 percent increase from the previous regime. Private hospitals were not included in the study, so the number could be higher,” Ali warned.

The health expert said polluted water, which could contain radiation from weapons used in previous conflicts, was the main factor behind the increase.

The type of deformities found in newborn babies are characterised by multiple fingers, unusually large heads, unilateral lips or no arms or legs..
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46840

[legally blonde]

1. the culture of life is at it again

But I guess they don't count deformed brown babies born in Iraq. This is just horrible.

[BattyDem]

2. Can you say .... DU?

And no ... I'm not talking about Democratic Underground! :grr:

[Poiuyt]

3. Depleted Uranium?

[BattyDem]

5. You got it!

The bastards contaminated Iraq the last time we were there and it caused all sorts of deformities. Looks like we did it again! :grr:

[The Magistrate]

6. That Is An Easy Statement To Make, Ma'am

But it is pretty clear from the article itself that the journalist writing it has no idea of the cause, and the that the foctors are none to certain either. "Polluted water" is a broad concept, lacking any specificity whatsoever, and there is a very wide range of possible chemicals that could be involved, given the industries of the area. It will take actual research, rather than bald assertion, to determine the cause with any exactitude.

[BattyDem]

9. Google Depleted Uranium and Iraq ...

and look at the pictures of the babies. Many have the same extreme deformaties described in this article. Is DU the only cause? Probably not. Iraq is a shithole at the moment, so I'm sure there are lots of things contaminating the bodies of Iraqis. But we've done this before ... why are you so sure it hasn't been done again? After two years of dropping shit on them, we must have had some sort of environmental impact.

[The Magistrate]

11. The Pictures Mean Nothing, Ma'am

They provide no indication whatever to a layman of the underlying cause. It has not been demonstrated as a matter of fact that depleted uranium causes anything but heavy metal poisoning, and possibly on rare occassions cancer: it has been widely claimed it does, but that is not the same thing....

[Liberty Belle]

12. Italian soldiers exposed to DU in Iraq came home and had

deformed babies. There was an article on it a few months back, but I don't recall which publication.

I wonder how many US servicemen and women in Iraq will come home to have deformed babies, too?

[The Magistrate]

14. Some Deformations Occur All The Time, Ma'am

Causation must be proved. The linking of lung cancer to cigarette smoking, for instance, is demonstrated not just by the signifigant correlation between the incidence of the cancer and the incidence of the practice, but by the isolation of particular combustion products and the demonstartio of their effect on the reproduction of cells.

It is far from enough to say that merely because someone was exposed to a particular substance, that exposure causes whatever adverse health effects occur to them or their off-spring later. With birth defects, something that effects the chromosomes or the natal environment must be identified, and how it affects it must be demonstrated. That has not been done satisfactorily in the case of the material you are urging as the cause.

[BattyDem]

13. Let's just ...

agree to disagree on this one. :toast:

[Lexingtonian]

7. Nope

We know what heavy metal poisoning effects look like. This ain't it.

Btw, there are people living with shrapnel fragments of depleted uranium munitions in them, including American military people. It seems as highly inert as the chemists and biologists thought it would be- probably does alot less than equivalent iron or lead fragments.

[BattyDem]

10. I hope you're right

because I've seen the pix of DU-related deformities and they're not pretty ... and many do look like what's being described in this article. I just hope we're not hitting those poor people with some other crap that's even worse. :-(

[Lexingtonian]

4. hard to know

It could well be that doctors or quacks don't have adequate medications in stock give women there stuff like anticonvulsants and antipsychotics to deal with morning sickness and the like. It might be PCBs or other oil/electrical industry contaminants, dispersed into the water supply by bombings.

[thecai]

8. A Link With Pictures

This is all so heart-breaking...

http://worldmessenger.20m.com/uranium.html

[MisterP]

16. severe Harlequin Syndrome; probably caused by a mutation in

the chromosomes

[FreedomAngel82]

15. So disgusting

:cry: How can anybody for this bs of a "war"?