Evaluation of the Health Risks of Embedded Depleted Uranium (DU) Shrapnel on Pregnancy and Offspring Development.
Abstract
Our laboratory is currently assessing the toxicity of embedded depleted uranium on the female rat This research is intended to answer questions that have arisen following Operation Desert Storm During this conflict a number of. U.S. military personnel were wounded by depleted uranium fragments. Many of these fragments were not removed because the removal procedure would produce excessive tissue damage. Uranium bioassays taken over a year after injury indicate that uranium was present in the urine well in excess of natural background up to 30 micro of urine. While no female soldiers currently have depleted uranium injuries, military roles are changing significantly and the female soldier flow plays a vital part in many combat scenarios and the potential exists for future DU injuries in the female soldiers. Although the toxicity of embedded depleted uranium is unknown, numerous studies have addressed the consequences of inhalation ingestion and parenteral administration of other forms of uranium. Uranium circulates in the blood as the uranylion, forming uranium-carbonate and uranium-albumin compiles. As the uranium-complexes passes through the kidney, it is filtered rapidly by the glomeruli where 6O%-8O% of absorbed uranium is excreted in the first 24 hour after acute exposure. The uranium that is not excreted is to absorbed by the proximal tubules where it produces significant toxic effects. Uranium also enters the bone, where it competes with calcium to for in complexes with phosphate ions, thus becoming part of the bone matrix. This bone matrix then serves as both a long- and short-term storage site from which uranium has been shown to be slowly released back into circulation. The liver, muscle and kidney are other major sites of uranium deposition, with a possible long-term storage mechanism in the kidney.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA356238
Entities
People
- Kimberly A. Benson
Organizations
- Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine