Whatever munition you choose, it will lead to heavy metal poisoning.
this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
291 points (90.5% liked)
World News
32282 readers
843 users here now
News from around the world!
Rules:
-
Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
-
No NSFW content
-
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
OP is known tankie just fyi. Doesn't justify US or Ukrainian actions but make sure you understand that the reason for posting this isn't out of any actual concern for human beings. They're also peddling covid conspiracies
load more comments
(7 replies)
Using depleted uranium rounds on your own territory seems bad. Especially since ukraine is a major exporter of grain.
Then again , shooting a gun inside is stupid, until someone is breaking in and trying to kill you.
According to the article, studies in places where the ammunition has been used "indicated that the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions."
What effect does it have on the grain?
load more comments
(6 replies)
Does not compute. Why should depleted uranium have any effect on grain production. Its strong radioactive components are, as the name says, depleted. The only worry is inhalation immediately following impact.
I think there's way too much misinformation about this and way too many people talking without a clue
load more comments
(4 replies)
I'm sure Ukrainian soldiers on the front line are worried about cancer and birth defects.
It's not about them. It's the children who find the spent ammo later.
This crap is the reason that there are birth defects spikes anywhere the US military operates.
Ok but the alternatives are not environmentally conscious either, finally the people who’s land it is should be the ones making choices about the conditions of that land
The alternative bring tungsten? It's very stable so anything besides eating a spent rod isn't going to have effects. If it's in the air it'll just be inert. Even if it gets in your lungs it'll be like any other dust. DU on the other hand would keep emitting radiation internally.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Is ammo made from lead that much better? I honestly don't know. Sure the radiation sucks but Uranium, at least the isotope they're sending is "barely" radioactive. It's the same Uranium people had in their plates etc. The toxicity is probably the far more relevant factor but I don't know how Uranium compares to lead.
Depleted uranium is not really that radioactive. Everything is technically radioactive eventually though. Depleted uranium is what's left behind when you seperate the radioactive stuff out. It's a heavy metal still, so isn't good for you, but heavy metals will always be involved. Trying to have a war using only healthy, organic, ethically sourced munitions isn't going to happen.
It's nothing to do with radioactivity, it's the toxicity that comes with most heavy metals.
load more comments
(1 replies)
This makes sense.
I imagine there's a lot more reasons for birth defect spikes post US mil ops in addition to this. The military isn't exactly an environmentally conscious operation. ☠️
load more comments
(5 replies)
The amount of Ukrainians dying right now will pale in comparison to those effected by the munitions.
The controversy around depleted uranium rounds is way overblown.
Even in Iraq the evidence is super inconclusive. And yes birth defects rose however the entire country basically collapsed for years and nothing clearly indicates it was the DU used.
Don't get me wrong, it's nasty stuff. But this is war, more people are getting killed by bombs then any DU related cancer can cause.
In Basra the rate of leukemia in children rose dramatically and that is too specific of a disease to not be linked to DU exposure due to the heavy use of it in surrounding tank battles.
load more comments
(11 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Yes, Ukrainian soldiers on front line are worried about cancer and birth defects. They are rational human beings who hope to return to their homes and live long lives and grow healthy children, not some subhumans with only intent to kill, kill, kill, as you wish to think.
load more comments
(1 replies)
You will get cancer sooner by staying in the sun on a beach or anywhere.
load more comments
(14 replies)
Oh well... The amount of health risks that these rounds would cause would pale in comparison to the mines that the Orcs have planted everywhere. Anything to drive out the invaders!
load more comments
(2 replies)
The amount of ruscist sympathisers in this thread is depressing. Are depleted uranium munitions fucked up? Yeah and they shouldn't be used. But that isn't an excuse to bootlick a fascist invader that is already performing ethnic cleansing on territories they took last year
Yeah, I use threads like these to block users. Can't wait for lemmy to implement user level instance blocking like mastodon has.
Edit: don't downvote me, tell me what issue you have with this.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Seems a little strange considering their refusal to provide M1 Abrams tanks from their stockpile as these have depleted uranium armor.
Maybe there are way more secrets in making armor with depleted uranium (and certainly other things layered in) than just shaping a shell with it?
They'll receive their first 14 M1A1 by Sept. 25. I don't think any foreign countries get the reactive armor except for the US.
load more comments
(2 replies)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The rounds, which could help destroy Russian tanks, are part of a new military aid package for Ukraine set to be unveiled in the next week.
The munitions can be fired from U.S. Abrams tanks that, according to a person familiar with the matter, are expected be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
It follows an earlier decision by the Biden administration to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns over the dangers such weapons pose to civilians.
The United States used depleted uranium munitions in massive quantities in the 1990 and 2003 Gulf Wars and the NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that studies in former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon "indicated that the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions."
Parts of the country are already strewn with unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs and other munitions and hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines.
The original article contains 499 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 66%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
From what I've read depleted uranium is not proven to cause cancer, nor is it not proven (With the exception that you inhale it or eat it).
In Iraq it's still up to debate if it causes cancer or birth defects, since burning buildings and other burning stuff also causes a lot of nasty things to humans.
From what I've read they were also used in Bosnia, and they haven't had similiar effects to Iraq.
So let the Ukrainians have their depleted uranium.
I was just gonna say, you're correct, and I'm pretty sure there are WAY more toxic chemicals and debris on a battlefield. Think of all the older structures built with asbestos products being destroyed, for example...
Last I read, alot of the effects Vets ended up with from Iraq, were from the immense open pits they burnt their trash in.
Tankies shaking in their boots over that Abrams 120mm DU APFSDS slicing though Russian steel like butter.
It's so easy to trigger tankie bridgades. How many posts yall got about me now? Tagged me in a few!
view more: next ›