More on DU
After the massive media scare about depeted uranium following the Kosovo war, parliamentaries were forced to promise a panicking public and nervous soldiers to spare no effort in investigating the risks. The World Health Organisation became involved, and finally released a report outlining everything we know about the health risks associated with low-radiation sources.
You can read an executive summary of the WHO report on DU here, or download the whole report from this page. The important part of the conclusion is as follows:
"For the general population, neither civilian nor military use of DU is likely to produce exposures to DU significantly above normal background levels of uranium. Therefore, individual exposure assessments for DU will normally not be required. Exposure assessments based on environmental measurements may, however, be needed for public information and reassurance."
The scientists of course knew that this media scare had nothing to do with the actual dangers of DU, but everything to do with the public's low knowledge level about scientific issues. By this time, of course, the media had moved along to more pressing imagined health scares, like radiation from mobile phones or cancer risk in fried food.
Rayne started the debate by posting a summary of an ill-informed Wired article on DU. I replied to it, and Rayne posted what she quite accurately describes as a rant.
1:10:34 AM 
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