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shawnmmcc
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Patroklos, the US military issued some type of warning for crews entering wrecked Iraqi vehicles, it's not a benign substance. In solid form, in the ammunition and in armor, it is essentially harmless for all practical purposes, i.e. sunbathing in Australia or living in Denver will create a greater risk due to ionizing radiation.
That being said, the finely vaporized dust is almost certainly going to be nasty. I suspect nobody is bothering to test it precisely because there is little point except for scientific curiousity. Almost every heavy metal has toxic effects in the body, and inhaling the very fine dust resulting from condensed vapor is an almost textbook way to maximize exposure. It's not going to be healthy. However, just like Agent Orange, the balance of risks (i.e. getting shot at by an intact T-72 versus getting some heavily diluted exposure on the battlefield) makes it a sensible policy. If you are going to do hardware intel on destroyed enemy ordinance, wear a respirator mask.
A good point would be posting warning signs on the burned out vehicles for the families in Iraq. That applies double for the propellant chemicals. They are often highly carcinogenic, and having them "brew up" the vehicle will leave more toxic residue. In fact there are multiple municipalities having problems in the US due to the leaching of rocket propellant chemicals and residues in ground water from as much as half a century ago. I don't think it's going to be easy to seperate out the chemical residue from the heavy metal residue effects. Essentially, the only thing is to keep away from battlefield wrecks, and try to inform the civilian population. That is a positive solution, that deals with the problem, not just a blame game.
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shawnmmcc
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Yes and no. The dust is going to quickly be dissipated over the area, and work it's way into things like the aquifier, etc. Now we are into an area which can be tested, and should. That's why the US military warned the people doing intel work on destroyed enemy vehicles. That's a closed, static environment where the dust will not dissipate. Otherwise I strongly suspect the only real contamination might be to the aquifier, and even then it depends on a variety of factors. Considering how much anti-US proganda is out there (please understand there's plenty of REAL things that people have a right to be upset with this administration, we don't need sensationalist non-facts muddying the water) I would strongly suspect that if ground water contamination was an issue, it would already have been reported. The contamination of water by heavy metals is quite easy to test for.
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16-09-2004 03:07
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