Anyone else experience Chronic Depleted Uranium Exposure?

SGT George Young — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:00:19 -0400

Many many years ago (84-87 and 13M after that).I was in a Special Weapons Section as a 13B. We handled and were exposed to DU sometimes daily. Now, I have been diagnosed with some neurological issues that maybe/could be linked to the exposure I believe ( it’s neurotoxin related). I was tested for DU exposure couple years ago but of course, due to passage of time, it showed nothing ( test was a 1 time piss test). VA said it wasn’t GWI either. Anyone else experience anything like this or just me thinking it could be related?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 21 at 2023 10:49 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 22:49:53 -0400

First off uranium is a toxic metal and radioactive. DU has a biological half life of 15 days but if you constantly worked around on a regular basis it never had a chance to leave your system. It does have neurological effects. Now a piss test after you left service and were no longer in constant contact means zilch. It not showing up is not grounds to say it dd not damage your health due to its short biological half-life. You would need to do some research and look for any studies of populations where the US used DU.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Sep 22 at 2023 5:11 AM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 05:11:37 -0400

Please educate me. I have never heard of DU being used in the development of Special Weapons for FA. I thought DU was used to strengthen armor, and artillery shells to allow them to pierce Armor.

If you served in the Gulf you may have fired a ton of armor piercing rounds.

Anyway I am by no means an expert, but am curious.

Response by COL Randall C. made Sep 23 at 2023 11:56 AM

COL Randall C. — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 11:56:03 -0400

The DU exposure the VA has been focused on is when DU rounds were turned into particulate matter and inhaled (either being hit by friendly fire of DU or doing vehicle exploitation and an enemy vehicle that was destroyed by DU rounds), entered through open wounds, or possibly having DU fragments embedded in the body.

DU emits very low levels of radiation, and the majority of the radiation that it does emit is alpha radiation which is stopped by your skin*. This is why you either have to be exposed to a LOT of DU or have it enter your body through a wound or breathing particulates.

If you do have DU particulates enter the body, it can take years for them to fully clear the lungs (if inhaled) or even longer (or not at all) if you have an embedded fragment. Elevated levels in the bloodstream would show up on the uranalysis test.

While DU exposure is unlikely to have had a proximate or contributory cause of your neurological issues (again, unless you have had DU enter your body somehow), there might be other environmental factors that could have* that you might want to explore.
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* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222850/
* https://www.iaea.org/topics/spent-fuel-management/depleted-uranium
* https://www.warrelatedillness.va.gov/education/factsheets/du-for-providers.pdf
* https://www.publichealth.va.gov/PUBLICHEALTH/exposures/index.asp

Depleted Uranium

Uranium is a naturally occurring element that is present in soil (with an average concentration of 3 parts per million), rocks, surface and underground water, air, plants, and animals (ATSDR, 1999b). As a result, it occurs in trace amounts in many foods and in drinking water. An individual's daily intake of uranium is estimated to be 1–2 micrograms (μg) in food and 1.5 μg in each liter of water consumed (ATSDR, 1999b). The International...

Response by Lt Col Roger Helbig made Sep 28 at 2023 8:50 AM

Lt Col Roger Helbig — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 08:50:10 -0400

Rather strongly think that DU is not the cause. GWI was caused by combination of genetics and low level of exposure to Sarin nerve gas.