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Depleted uranium dust triggers cancer in human body — Defense Ministry

Igor Kirillov explained that the depleted uranium ammunition’s collision with the target produces a hot cloud of fine aerosol of the uranium-238 isotope and its oxides

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The worst hazard resulting from the use of depleted uranium shells is the dust, which accumulates in the human body and triggers the development of malignant tumors and changes in internal organs, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force, Igor Kirillov, told a news briefing on Friday.

"The worst radiation hazard from depleted uranium is its dust, which enters the human body," Kirillov told a news briefing on the consequences that deliveries of depleted uranium ammunition to the Kiev regime could have.

Kirillov explained that the depleted uranium ammunition’s collision with the target produces a hot cloud of fine aerosol of the uranium-238 isotope and its oxides. In the long term, this substance is capable of triggering serious pathologies in living organisms. Alpha-radiation from small particles of uranium deposited in the upper and lower respiratory tract, lungs and esophagus is likely to contribute to the development of malignant tumors. Accumulated in the kidneys, bone tissue and liver, uranium dust leads to changes in these internal organs.

Kirillov recalled the use of air bombs with depleted uranium by NATO forces during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. In all, about 40,000 armor-piercing aircraft projectiles, with a total amount of more than 15 tons of depleted uranium, were dropped on the Balkan country.

Kirillov also cited Iraqi government data to the effect that in 2005 the incidence of depleted uranium ammunition-related cancer soared to 1,600 cases from 40 per 100,000. On December 26, 2020, Baghdad filed a lawsuit against Washington at the International Court of Arbitration in Stockholm to demand compensation for the damage caused.

Military operation in Ukraine

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