Health effects of depleted uranium (DU): a general overview, Bleise, Denesi and Burkart,

http://fhp.osd.mil/du/environmentalEffects.jsp -- Journal of Environmental Radioactivity; 64:93-112 (2003)

Properties, use and health effects of depleted uranium (DU): a general overview, Bleise, Denesi and Burkart,

A. Bleise et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 64 (2003) 93–112

(Boeing removed DEPLETED URANIUM COUNTERWEIGHTS from all airliners after the crash documented below.) Depleted uranium was also used as counterweights for rudders and flaps in commercial aircraft and fork lifts, and in the keels of sailing yachts. In the aircraft crash that occurred in Amsterdam on 4th October 1992, DU used as a counterweight, was released into the environment (Uijt de Haag et al. (2000).


Research Projects: Environmental & Occupational Health\Depleted Uranium
This site contains a listing of all on-going and completed research projects
from DeployMed ResearchLINK.

Medical Research Publications: Environmental & Occupational Health\Depleted Uranium
This site contains a listing of articles from peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals from DeployMed ResearchLINK. The articles are listed alphabetical by the first author's last name beginning with the current year. You can print by year or print all years.


http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/deploymed/publications.jsp?researchTopic=3&researchSubTopic=15
Medical Research Publications -- Research Topic: Environmental & Occupational Exposures \ Depleted Uranium & Other Heavy Metals. The following is a listing of articles from peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals. The articles are listed alphabetical by the first author's last name beginning with the current year.

Arfsten D P, Still K R, Wilfong E R, Johnson E W, McInturf S M, Eggers J S, Schaeffer D J, Bekkedal M Y. Two-generation reproductive toxicity study of implanted depleted uranium (DU) in CD rats. J Toxicol Environ Health A.2009;72:410-27.

McDiarmid M A, Engelhardt S M, Dorsey C D, Oliver M , Gucer P , Wilson P D, Kane R , Cernich A , Kaup B , Anderson L , Hoover D , Brown L , Albertini R , Gudi R , Squibb K S. Surveillance results of depleted uranium-exposed Gulf War I veterans: sixteen years of follow-up. J Toxicol Environ Health A.2009;72:14-29.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18979351?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum PMID: 18979351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2009;72(1):14-29

Department of Medicine,
University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
McDiarmid MA, Engelhardt SM, Dorsey CD, Oliver M, Gucer P, Wilson PD, Kane R, Cernich A, Kaup B, Anderson L, Hoover D, Brown L, Albertini R, Gudi R, Squibb KS.

As part of a longitudinal surveillance program, 35 members of a larger cohort of 77 Gulf War I veterans who were victims of depleted uranium (DU) "friendly fire" during combat underwent a 3-day clinical assessment at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC).

The assessment included a detailed medical history, exposure history, physical examination, and laboratory studies. Spot and 24-h urine collections were obtained for renal function parameters and for urine uranium (U) measures. Blood U measures were also performed. Urine U excretion was significantly associated with DU retained shrapnel burden (8.821 mug U/g creatinine [creat.] vs. 0.005 mug U/g creat., p = .04).

Blood as a U sampling matrix revealed satisfactory results for measures of total U with a high correlation with urine U results (r = .84) when urine U concentrations were >/=0.1 mug/g creatinine. However, isotopic results in blood detected DU in only half of the subcohort who had isotopic signatures for DU detectable in urine.

After stratifying the cohort based on urine U concentration, the high-U group showed a trend toward higher concentrations of urine beta(2) microglobulin compared to the low-U group (81.7 v. 69.0 mug/g creat.; p = .11 respectively) and retinol binding protein (48.1 vs. 31.0 mug/g creat.; p = .07 respectively).

Bone metabolism parameters showed only subtle differences between groups.
Sixteen years after first exposure, this cohort continues to excrete elevated concentrations of urine U as a function of DU shrapnel burden.

Although subtle trends emerge in renal proximal tubular function and bone formation, the cohort exhibits few clinically significant U-related health effects.
PMID: 18979351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]