this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (67 children)

I'm sure Ukrainian soldiers on the front line are worried about cancer and birth defects.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (49 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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. ☠️

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sure, burn pits and other crap will help.

But this kind of ammo, kids will find and hang on to. They bring it home, add it to their collection of other cool shit they've scavenged...and then their brothers and sisters are born with malformed limbs, mishaped heads, etc.

There have been a lot of stories written about it over the years. The one I read was specifically about Iraq I believe, but it was a while ago.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

To be fair, the impact of DU is mostly because of heavy metal poisoning, not radioactivity.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

You’re acting like being near this stuff is akin to standing in Chernobyl while it just isn’t true

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