The Biden administration will for the first time send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to a document seen by Reuters and separately confirmed by two U.S. officials.

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.

  • cooljacob204@kbin.social
    29·
    1 year ago

    The amount of Ukrainians dying right now will pale in comparison to those effected by the munitions.

    The controversy around depleted uranium rounds is way overblown.

    Even in Iraq the evidence is super inconclusive. And yes birth defects rose however the entire country basically collapsed for years and nothing clearly indicates it was the DU used.

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s nasty stuff. But this is war, more people are getting killed by bombs then any DU related cancer can cause.

      • mashbooq@infosec.pub
        9·
        1 year ago
        1. correlation ≠ causation. 2) if the disease is caused by DU, is it due to the radioactivity or the fact that DU is a heavy metal?
        • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
          5·
          1 year ago

          i never said it had to be because of radiation. Even just in its effect as a heavy metal it seems to be much worse. Also it could be that it becomes airborn more easily than other metals such as lead, so the wreckage of tanks shot with DU are more dangerous to the people cleaning them up.

          • mashbooq@infosec.pub
            3·
            1 year ago

            Why are you so worried about speculated harms when Ukrainians are actually being raped, tortured, and murdered by russians? Your lack of humanity is showing

              • severien@lemmy.world
                3·
                1 year ago

                How about letting Ukrainians make that cost/benefit analysis for their own country? I think they’re grown-ups, no need to patronize.

                • mycorrhiza they/them@lemmy.ml
                  3·
                  1 year ago

                  it’s not the Ukrainian people who decide, it’s the Ukrainian government that decides, and America basically decides what they decide

                • slice1@lemmy.ml
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  Are you really this delusional? Sure Ukraine has their own uranium munitions that they can decide to use anytime they want… When does the public get to decide on what happens with the tax money - fund schools, build infrastructure, etc. or send radioactive ammunition to fuel a proxy war in some corrupt country?

              • mashbooq@infosec.pub
                3·
                1 year ago

                Weighing costs and benefits happens with a comprehensive set of actual facts, not a hodgepodge of speculations and fearmongering that play into the fascists’ hands

        • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
          5·
          1 year ago

          Because the issue is specific to the region and started specifically after the tank battle where DU ammunition was used. If it would be a general issue with some dangerous chemical being used, we’d expect to see similiar issues in other regions. Of course it is hypotheticakky possible that at the same time some dangerous and persistant chemical exposure happened in the region, but that is not plausible and also the US would have a strong interest in finding such an alternative explanation. But there isn’t any research published, that provided an alternative.

          Also look into the wording of the US when sending the ammunition to Ukraine. They state that no radiation hazard is to be expected for the Ukrainians. They do not talk about a toxicological hazard.