UK To Send Depleted Uranium Ammo To Ukraine?
That’s what Tass is reporting, and Putin himself stated that Russia would respond “directly”.
The UK will send “armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium” to Ukraine, for use with the tank squadron donated by the British army.
Defence minister Baroness Goldie made the admission yesterday in response to a written parliamentary question from crossbench peer Lord Hylton.
Goldie said: “Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
Russia has previously warned it would regard the use of depleted uranium in Ukraine as a ‘dirty bomb’.
Kremlin official Konstantin Gavrilov said in January: “If Kyiv is supplied with such shells for NATO heavy military equipment, we will consider this as the use of dirty nuclear bombs against Russia with all the ensuing consequences.”
Depleted uranium rounds have been linked to cancer and birth defects. They were fired extensively by allied forces in Iraq.
The rounds are radioactive and scientists believe their toxic effects on human health can continue to be felt long after conflicts have ended.
…
So, tactical nukes up next?
Learn something new every day. I thought the Brits had ditched their DU penetrators out of environmental concerns and gone entirely to tungsten. Turns out they haven't.
This assumes a fact not in evidence, namely that the token number of Challengers promised ever arrives.
FWIW there are no environmentally safe APFSDS rounds. None. Heavy metals are toxic. All of them. Tungsten may be less toxic that uranium, I wouldn't know, but war is bad for the environment. It would be better for the environment if this one were shut down altogether.
Depleted uranium ?
It seems that residents in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are doing okay, but that guess is not based on study, simply observation from a distance.
Then there is this:
"Physiological benefits from low levels of ionizing radiation
T D Luckey. Health Phys. 1982 Dec.
Abstract
Extensive literature indicates that minute doses of ionizing radiation benefit animal growth and development, fecundity, health and longevity. Specific improvements appear in neurologic function, growth rate and survival of young, wound healing, immune competence, and resistance to infection, radiation morbidity, and tumor induction and growth. Decreased mortality from these debilitating factors results in increased average life span following exposure to minute doses of ionizing radiation. "
and:
"The above phenomena suggest the possibility that ionizing radiation may be essential for life. Limited data with protozoa suggest that reproduction rates decrease when they are maintained in subambient radiation environments. This may be interpreted to be a radiation deficiency. Evidence must now be obtained to determine whether or not ionizing radiation is essential for growth, development, nutrient utilization, fecundity, health and longevity of higher animals. Whether or not ionizing radiation is found to be essential for these physiologic functions, the evidence reviewed indicates that the optimal amount of this ubiquitous agent is imperceptibly above ambient levels."
So, maybe using DU rounds is actually a good thing!
(How dare I? I denounce myself. And, yet...)
"
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6759465/