December 07, 2007

What are we doing to our own loved ones?

Bud Deraps, an 82 year old WWII Navy veteran, speaks out against Depleted Uranium - Warning! Graphic Content


(Roger Helbig is an Air Force "committee" for disinfo, info you should know when reading the comments.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One can't help but sympathize with this man's loss and his resulting bitterness is understandable. But it's very questionable that DU should be at the root of his discontent.

Any reports out of Iraq must be viewed with massive skepticism, especially those made while the country was under the control of Saddam Hussein. His goal was to gain sympathy from the world, and probably to try and get DU weapons banned as well, since they were pretty hard on his tanks. His deceptive propaganda techniques are well documented, such as when he would save up bodies of dead children until he had enough to stage a big parade with them.

The birth defect study he cites only found a possibility that four specific defects might be due to service in the Gulf, and so what he concludes about the study is very misleading. The methodology used was admittedly (by the researchers) inadequate to come to firm conclusions:

"We did not have the ability to determine if the excess was caused by inherited or environmental factors, or was due to chance because of myriad reasons, including multiple comparisons. Although the statistical power was sufficient to compare the combined birth defects prevalence, larger sample sizes were needed for less frequent individual component defects."

A larger, and I would judge more reliable study was done that found no increase in birth defect incidence due to service in the gulf:

"Conclusions: This analysis found no evidence of an increase in the risk of birth defects among the children of Gulf War veterans."

In addition, a more recent summary of all the study done through the years on the subject concluded this in regard to birth defects:

"Many veterans are understandably concerned about the possibility of birth defects in their offspring. Two primary studies yielded some evidence of increased risk of birth defects among offspring of Gulf War veterans. However, the specific defects with increased prevalence (cardiac, kidney, urinary tract, and musculoskeletal abnormalities) in the two studies were not consistent. Overall, the studies are difficult to interpret because of the relative rarity of specific birth defects, use of small sample, timing of exposure (before or after conception), and whether the mother or the father was exposed. There was no consistent pattern of one of more birth defects with a higher prevalence in the offspring of male or female Gulf War veterans."

I guess one could conclude that there might be a higher risk for certain rare defects as a result of serving in the Gulf, but there certainly is no major story in this regard. And of course, there is no actual proof that DU has anything whatsoever to do with any of the defects. There were several much more likely culprits behind health problems reported by GWI veterans.

ladybroadoak said...

The man is NOT bitter. He is DOING soemthing - advocating health screening for vets and their spounses. Taht is not bitterness.

As for the Gulf War, I myself contracted fibromyalgia immediately after it and the specialist I saw told me that I had been deeply traumatized wathing that 23-day genocide and said that exactly the smae things occured after WWI (chemical weapons introducted) and WWII (nuclear bomb explosion) to MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

As for Saddam Hussein - who are you kidding - the US ARMED that man and he was trained by the British in the first instance. You are definitely posting to the WRONG BLOG.

I don't know what cointel outfit YOU belong to, but minimizing any of the GENOCIDAL acts committed by this administration or previous ones do not get denied, minimized, rationalized here. There is no delusion or coverup going on HERE.

I really think you should take your sideshow elsewhere. You friends with Roger Helbig? OR just get your paycheck cut in the same office?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps bitter was an inaccurate label. But I didn't mean it in a critical way -- whatever his current outlook on war and veterans health, he's certainly entitled to it and it's certainly understandable that he's not exactly happy.

I'm just saying that in trying to improve or shine light on veteran's health issues, his focus is on the wrong thing.

That's why I pointed out that there doesn't seem to really be any increased rates of birth defects by GWI vets, and that he has misinterpreted the study he highlighted.

I don't question his sincerity, but wouldn't it be a shame if he was using all his time traveling down the wrong path in a fruitless pursuit of an unlikely cause of veteran's health problems?

I'm sorry to hear about your illness, but how can you use that, or anecdotal comments by a doctor, to presumably provide evidence of the negative health effects of DU? Or are you?, I guess I'm not really sure. Isn't fibromyalgia more of a stress-induced illness?

I'm sorry -- I don't see what point you're trying to make in saying that we armed Saddam. However Saddam came to be and whoever used him from time to time for this end or that hardly changes the fact that he was a professional propagandist, to his own people and the world, and that DU was one of his propaganda targets. This was, after all, long after any U.S.- Iraqi bridges remained unburned.

I have no idea why you want to label me "cointel", or as a "sideshow", or a "friend of Roger Helbig's", or as "getting paid", when I'm only trying to point out that this no doubt well meaning man could much beter help his cause by focusing on more realistic sources of, and remedies for, veteran's health problems.

I do however agree that the more health screening and followup the better, as I'm confident that increased scrutiny will only reveal DU to be an even less likely culprit, and that maybe the more likely causes of illnesses can be isolated.

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