�Horrific� wounds in Gaza may be warfare of the future
In early July, shortly after the beginning of Israel�s
bloody military siege of the Gaza Strip, reports began to appear that Israeli
forces were using a new weapon that inflicted strange and untreatable wounds,
and significantly increased the death tolls of Israel�s attacks. [1] [2]
Italian investigators have reported evidence that the
unidentified Israeli weapon is probably Dense Inert Metal Explosives, or DIME,
a so-called LCD (�low collateral damage�) weapon developed by the United States
Air Force. [3]
DIME bombs blast a superheated �micro-shrapnel� of powdered
heavy metal tungsten alloy (HMTA). Studies indicate that HMTA embedded in the
body disrupts biochemistry and rapidly causes cancer. Like depleted uranium
(DU), HMTA is genotoxic -- it is capable of inflicting genetic mutations. [4-10]
Publicly slated for deployment in 2008, DIME bombs are small
but unusually powerful. Their carbon fiber casings make �more of the blast
energy . . . available as blast as opposed to being absorbed in [a] steel
case". The carbon reportedly breaks into �thousands of harmless fibers� to
prevent unintended casualties from casing shrapnel. [11]
The �footprint� of the DIME blast is much smaller than a
conventional bomb�s, because gravity and air resistance quickly drag the dense,
finely powdered �micro-shrapnel� to the ground. The blast radius is reportedly
as small as 25 feet. [12] [13]
DIME is part of the Air Force�s Focused Lethality Munitions
(FLM) program, which is expected to �allow� the targeting of �terrorists�
wherever they are, even in places "previously off limits to the
warfighter." [14]
The ideal of FLM is to reliably kill every human within the
blast zone -- one way or another. It is �total war� on a 50-foot circle, within
which deaths are not admitted as collateral, but purchased as insurance.
Israel�s new weapon �slices� off its victims� legs, leaving
�signs of heat and burns near the point of the amputation.� It�s �as if a saw
was used to cut through the bone,� according to Dr. Habas al-Wahid, head of the
emergency room at Gaza�s Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital. [15]
Viewing photographs of the living and dead Palestinian
victims of this device, many of whom are children, we notice patches of
darkened but unburned skin, possibly where metal powder was driven into and/or
through the skin by blast force. A child's torso is peppered with holes, some
of which, judging from doctors� reports, probably tunnel through to exit wounds
in the back. The skin and muscle of one victim is ripped into a blood-encrusted
pulp, as if blasted at close range with tiny birdshot. Some of the corpses are
unrecognizable. Most of the recent photos of �strange� wounds from Gaza appear
to be consistent with what is known about DIME weapons. [16]
The area of a DIME blast should be treated with caution
until it has been decontaminated (assuming this is possible). Depending on the
local HMTA concentration, soil in the blast area may remain barren for an
indefinite period of time, or it may grow plants internally contaminated with
HMTA. [17] [18]
The �who knew?� charade
In the scientific literature on tungsten and its alloys, the
toxicity of HMTA stands apart. This formula (roughly nine parts tungsten and
one part nickel and cobalt or iron) damages DNA even when powders of the metals
are simply mixed together. [4] [5] [9]
Implanting four tiny bits of weapons-grade HMTA in lab mice
induced terminal cancer in 100 percent of the subjects. A powdered HMTA recipe
was tumor-generating and capable of �genotoxic effects.� At least one
experiment found parallels in the way DU and HMTA attack DNA. The results of
another suggested that HMTA may pass its genetic damage down to the next
generation. [8] [5] [9] [10]
HMTA may be much more carcinogenic than DU when it is
embedded in the body -- as intended. �Tumors developed rapidly� in rats
implanted with pellets of HMTA, but researchers �did not observe tumor
formation in the DU-implanted rats.�
Multiple syndromes of heavy metal poisoning have also been
attributed to this alloy, including polycythemia, which can be induced by
cobalt overdose. Because HMTA contains far too little cobalt to cause the
disease by itself, researchers suspected a synergistic effect among or between
the metals. [8]
In a 2005 article reviewing the �status of health concerns�
about depleted uranium and �surrogate metals� such as HMTA, three scientists at
the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) wrote that �medical
and political controversies surrounding the use of DU� had spurred �a search
for substitute metals in armor-penetrating munitions.� [19]
�[N]ew alloys of tungsten/nickel/cobalt and
tungsten/nickel/iron . . . rival DU in armor-penetrating performance,� and are
�among the leading candidates to replace DU in selected munitions.� Some of
this ordnance �has already been deployed, although on a relatively small
scale.�
The article then reviews the science detailing the alarming
health risks of HMTA, much of it conducted by the authors, whom we thank for
their work. It then attempts to explain how the military�s favorite �surrogate
metal� turned out to be almost as genotoxic as DU, and probably more
carcinogenic:
�In many ways the development of substitutes for DU in
munitions has followed a pattern similar to that for DU deployment, in that
incomplete toxicological information was available prior to their release . . .
it was assumed that many years of industrial use of tungsten and alloys such as
tungsten carbide . . . meant they could be used as safely in armaments.�
We infer that it was reasonable for the military to deploy
DU weapons, because the toxicological information was �incomplete.� It�s a
strange scientific rigor that requires us to know exactly how a known poison
works before we stop giving it to people.
The cold fact is that there never was a scientifically valid
reason to �assume� that depleted uranium could be used �safely in armaments.�
Quite the opposite; as we shall see in part three, the Army realized more than
60 years ago that finely powdered uranium products could make extremely potent
antipersonnel weapons. [20]
We currently have �incomplete toxicological information�
about HMTA, but for more than 15 years we have had clear warnings about the
health risks of combining these metals. US weapons scientists should have known
as early as 1992 that mixing cobalt with tungsten could greatly increase the
resulting alloy�s cancer potential. [21] [22]
It is hardly news that nickel is carcinogenic and genotoxic,
and specialists have long noted that heavy metal alloys tend to unpredictably
amplify the toxicities of their component metals. With this kind of �incomplete�
information at hand, could military scientists have reasonably �assumed� that
nickel would be a �safe� addition to HMTA?
Concerns have been voiced about tungsten sport ammunition
for several years. Tungsten alloy bullets, some also containing nickel and
cobalt (for superior hardness), were found to pose potential environmental
hazards in several studies. A probable link between industrial tungsten and
leukemia has been identified. Compared to these findings, however, the toxicity
of HMTA may be of a different order. [17] [18]
The �who knew?� apologia offered by the AFRRI researchers
asks us to assume that the scientists who developed DIME weapons proceeded in
sheer ignorance of the existing science. They were so incompetent that they
merely �assumed� that they could use any tungsten alloy.
Does this implausibility jibe with the rest of the picture?
A multi-billion dollar military weapons program is stung by the �controversies�
surrounding its toxic DU weapons, and is under pressure to produce an expedient
alternative. Would this program�s scientists have been allowed to be so
cavalier about consulting the literature? Would the replacement metal be chosen
on blind faith, without bothering to conduct even simple studies of its
potential health impacts?
Logically, we must conclude that the military developed HMTA
in the knowledge that it could have significant carcinogenic and genotoxic
effects. Did they �assume� that saying �tungsten is safer than DU� would take
care of the matter?
Perhaps relatively non-toxic tungsten carbide, famed for its
hardness and cutting ability, would not have sufficed for the purposes of the
DIME bomb. Focused Lethality Munitions like DIME must kill all of their
victims. Slicing off their arms and legs is not enough.
The last installment of this article will trace the roots of
HMTA in depleted uranium and decades of US warfare with poisonous, DNA-damaging
powders. Then we will return to Gaza to consider the damage done, and the
damage to come, if the warmakers have their way.
References
1) Israel
accused of using 'Dime' bombs, AlJazeera, 10/13/2006
2) Israel used
chemical weapons in Lebanon and Gaza, Jean Shaoul, wsws.org, 10/24/2006
3) Italian TV:
Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip, Ha'aretz, 10/12/2006
4) Abstract:
Potential late health effects of depleted uranium and tungsten used in
armor-piercing munitions: comparison of neoplastic transformation and
genotoxicity with the known carcinogen nickel, Miller, AC, et al, PubMed,
11/26/2006
5) Neoplastic
transformation of human osteoblast cells to the tumorigenic phenotype by heavy
metal�tungsten alloy particles: induction of genotoxic effects, Miller, AC, et
al, Carcinogenesis, Vol. 22, No. 1, 115-125, January 2001, Oxford
University Press
6) Abstract:
Carcinogenic Potential of Depleted Uranium and Tungsten Alloys, Alexandra C
Miller, Ph. D., Department Of Defense, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research
Institute (AFRRI)
7) Depleted
uranium-catalyzed oxidative DNA damage: absence of significant alpha particle
decay, Miller, AC, et al, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, Issue 91, 2002
pp. 246� 252
8) Embedded
Weapons-Grade Tungsten Alloy Shrapnel Rapidly Induces Metastatic High-Grade
Rhabdomyosarcomas in F344 Rats, Kalinich et al, Environmental Health
Perspectives Volume 113, Number 6, June 2005
9) Abstract: Effect
of the militarily-relevant heavy metals, depleted uranium and heavy metal
tungsten-alloy on gene expression in human liver carcinoma cells (HepG2),
Miller, AC, et al, SpringerLink/Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 1/1/2004
10) Preconceptional
paternal exposure to radiation or heavy metals like cadmium can induce cancer
in unexposed offspring, Alexandra C. Miller, Rafael Rivas, Robert J. Merlot
and Paul, Carcinogenesis 5: Environmental and Endogenous Carcinogens/Proc Amer
Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006
11) Air Force seeks a
bomb with less bang, Greg Jaffe, The Wall Street Journal/Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, 4/11/2006
12) Cancer
Worries for New U.S. Bombs, DefenseTech.org, 5/20/2006
13) Dense
Inert Metal Explosive (DIME), GlobalSecurity.org, 10/18/2006
14) USAF
Unfunded Priority List (UPL), SAF/FMB POC, FY 2007, February 2006, Page 54
15) Italian TV:
Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip, Ha'aretz, 10/19/2006
16) Effects
of Israel's New Weapon, Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
17) Possible
Health And Environmental Impacts Of Tungsten In Lead Replacement Shot, Paul
Harrison and Karen Bradley, MRC Institute for Environment and Health 2005
18) Tungsten
Effects on Soil Environments, Nikolay Strigul, et al, UMass, Annual
International Conference on Soil, Sediments and Water, 10/18/2004
19) Status
of Health Concerns about Military Use of Depleted Uranium and Surrogate Metals
in Armor-Penetrating Munitions, D.E. McClain, A.C. Miller, and J.F.
Kalinich, NATO, 2005
20) Memorandum
to: Brigadier General L. R. Groves From: Drs. Conant, Compton, and Urey,
Midfully.org/War Department, United States Engineer Office, Manhattan District,
Oak Ridge Tennessee, 10/30/1943
21) Abstract:
Comparative study of the acute lung toxicity of pure cobalt powder and
cobalt-tungsten carbide mixture in rats, Lasfargues G., et al, Toxicology
and Applied Pharmacology, 1992
22) Evaluation of the
role of reactive oxygen species in the interactive toxicity of carbide-cobalt
mixtures on macrophages in culture, D. Lison and R. Lauwerys,
SpringerLink//Archives of Toxicology, 6/1/1993
Part 1
James
Brooks serves as webmaster for Vermonters for a
Just Peace in Palestine/Israel. He can be contacted at jamiedb@wildblue.net.