Review of the toxicologic and radiologic risks to military personnel from exposures to depleted uranium during and after combat
By: Committee on Toxicologic and Radiologic Effects from Exposure to Depleted Uranium During and After Combat, Committee on Toxicology, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Division on Earth and Life Sciences, National Research Council of the National Academies.
Contributors: National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on Toxicologic and Radiologic Effects from Exposure to Depleted Uranium During and After Combat.; National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology.; National Academies Press (U.S.)
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Washington, DC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 154
ISBN-13: 9780309110365
Subjects: United States. -- Army; United States. -- Army -- Weapons systems; United States. -- Army -- Sanitary affairs; Uranium -- radiation effects; Chemical Warfare; Military Personnel; Risk Assessment; Depleted uranium -- Health aspects; Depleted uranium -- Environmental aspects; Projectiles; Tank warfare -- Health aspects; Depleted uranium -- Military applications
Description: "Since the 1980s, the U.S. military has used depleted uranium in munitions and in protective armor on tanks. Depleted uranium is a toxic heavy metal and is weakly radioactive. Concerns have been raised about the adverse health effects from exposure to depleted uranium that is aerosolized during combat. Some think it may be responsible for illnesses in exposed veterans and civilians. These concerns led the Army to commission a book, Depleted Uranium Aerosol Doses and Risks: Summary of U.S. Assessments, referred to as the Capstone Report that evaluates the health risks associated with depleted uranium exposure. This National Research Council book reviews the toxicologic, radiologic, epidemiologic, and toxicokinetic data on depleted uranium, and assesses the Army's estimates of health risks to personnel exposed during and after combat. The book recommends that the Army re-evaluate the basis for some of its predictions about health outcomes at low levels of exposure, but, overall, the Capstone Report was judged to provide a reasonable characterization of the exposure and risks from depleted uranium."--Publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-140).
Table of contents: title: Introduction and technical background; title: Toxicokinetics of depleted uranium; title: Toxic effects of uranium on the kidneys; title: Toxic effects of uranium on the lungs; title: Toxic effects of uranium on other organ systems; title: Radiologic effects of depleted uranium; title: Uranium carcinogenicity and genotoxicity; title: Evaluation of the Army's Capstone Report; title: Appendix A: Biographic Information on the Committee on Toxicologic and Radiologic Effects from Exposure to Depleted Uranium During and After Combat; title: Appendix B: Risk of selected cancers and nonmalignant diseases in uranium workers.