[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH, URANIUM, GLOBAL: Fallujah, Iraq war returnees

[Lenny Siegel <Lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

LESSONS FROM FALLUJAH: WAR RETURNEES FACE LONG-TERM HEALTH RISKS FROM HEAVY METAL EXPOSURE

Kalli Rubaii et al
Thomas J. Watson Jr. School of International and Public Affairs,  Brown University,
March 24, 2025

Based on interdisciplinary biological, environmental, and anthropological research in Fallujah, Iraq, this report finds that people who have returned to bombarded homes and neighborhoods may face increased risk of negative health impacts from heavy metal exposure, both for themselves and for future generations. The findings support prior research which has demonstrated that those who are first at the scenes of war-damaged areas may be at a higher risk of reproductive health harms, and that Fallujah’s population faced a 17-fold increase in birth anomalies and myriad other health problems linked with bombardments from the 2003 U.S. invasion and later occupation by ISIS. This study found that exposure to remnants of war, amplified by vitamin deficiencies, may play a role in these health outcomes.

The authors' bone sampling research detected uranium in the bones of 29% of study participants in Fallujah and lead was detected in 100% of participants’ bone samples. The amount of lead detected in participants’ bones was 600% higher than averages from similarly aged populations in the U.S. The authors' environmental sampling detected higher levels of heavy metals in the soils of more heavily bombarded neighborhoods, indicating the enduring distribution of heavy metals linked with military activity.

…

For the entire announcement and a link to the full paper, go to
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2025/FallujahHealthRisks

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)




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