Iraq diggers 'contaminated with radiation'

By Rosemary Desmond
AAP
Mar. 29, 2007

TWO Australian soldiers who served in the first Iraq war have tested positive to depleted uranium (DU) contamination despite assurances from the Federal Government they had not been exposed, an anti-nuclear group said today.

Any such admission from the Government would leave it open to millions of dollars in compensation, said Pauline Rigby, project co-ordinator for the group Depleted Uranium Silent Killer (DUSK).

Urine samples from each of the men, who served in different areas of Iraq, were sent last year for uranium isotope analysis at the JW Goethe University in Germany at a cost of $1200 each under the auspices of DUSK and the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) in Canada, Ms Rigby said.

The results, now being evaluated for publication next month in two scientific journals, showed both men had tested positive to depleted uranium contamination more than 15 years after their return from the first Gulf War.

Ms Rigby said depleted uranium was the toxic and radioactive waste from the nuclear enrichment process.

Denser and heavier than lead, it is used as a projectile to penetrate heavy bunkers and tanks.

"This is a huge issue about compensation which the Government would be determined they will never pay," Ms Rigby said.

"It's going to be Agent Orange all over again, except this time it's going to be a little bit worse because the mutations go into the general community from blood and organ donations."

A 52-year-old Sunshine Coast man, known only as "Frank" (not his real name), said he was one of those tested.

In 1991, he was an army medic in the mountains of northern Iraq, aiding Kurdish refugees fleeing the persecution of Saddam Hussein's forces.

He cannot work and has suffered skin rashes on his face, arms and neck, swollen joints, chronic fatigue and dizzy spells but his doctor can only treat his symptoms because he is at a loss to explain their cause.

Frank's wife, from whom he is now separated, had cervical cancer and burning semen syndrome, a condition reported by American Gulf War veterans or their sexual partners since returning from the Persian Gulf.

They or their sexual partners have experienced a burning sensation after skin and/or vaginal contact with semen.

But Frank says he only wants recognition from the Government.

"I'm not looking for millions of dollars in compensation," Frank said today.

"I just want to be treated fairly and I want our service recognised so that I can clearly have what I am entitled to and so my children can also seek and receive free of charge any and all testing and be honestly told and informed of where they stand."

A Defence spokesperson said the department had no knowledge of the two men who had allegedly tested positive for DU.

Australia had not used DU munitions since 1990 and Australian personnel were not in "immediate proximity" to sites in Iraq or Afghanistan where DU munitions were used by Australia's coalition partners.

"Accordingly, it is highly unlikely that any ADF personnel received significant exposure to DU residues in Iraq or Afghanistan," the spokesperson said.