deplete (exact matches only)

The short-beaked dolphin of the Mediterranean was added to the endangered list after it declined more than 50% over the last 30 to 40 years because the fish it eats have been depleted by pollution and overfishing.

“They all went out the door before Christmas.” U.S. veterans who were exposed to depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War have continued to excrete the potentially harmful chemical in their urine for years after their exposure, according to a new study published in the journal Health Physics.

These 30mm munitions (jackets and penetrators) are made with depleted uranium.

Photo courtesy of the United Nations Environment Program The study indicates that soldiers may absorb depleted uranium particles through inhalation, ingestion, or wound contamination, said Roberto Gwiazda, an environmental toxicologist at UCSC and lead author of the study.

Fine particles of depleted uranium are created when munitions made with the material strike a target.

The new study did not address the health effects of exposure to depleted uranium, a subject of ongoing debate, but focused on a technique for detecting past exposure.

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the enrichment process used to make nuclear fuel, in which one isotope of uranium (235U) is extracted, leaving behind material depleted in that isotope.

Gwiazda and Donald Smith, professor of environmental toxicology, developed a sensitive analytical technique to detect depleted uranium in urine samples.

By measuring the relative abundances of different isotopes of uranium in the urine samples, the researchers were able to distinguish between natural and depleted uranium.

"This is the only unambiguous way to determine past exposure and uptake of depleted uranium," Gwiazda said.

The analysis of samples from Gulf War veterans was performed in collaboration with the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Depleted Uranium Follow-up Program, which is assessing, treating, and monitoring veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium during the war.

The first group of soldiers had shrapnel in their bodies as a result of "friendly fire" incidents in which their tanks or armored vehicles were hit by munitions containing depleted uranium.

As expected, the soldiers with embedded shrapnel had high concentrations of uranium in their urine, and the isotope analysis showed that it was depleted uranium, presumably being released into their bodies from the shrapnel.

A more striking finding was the presence of depleted uranium in the urine of a significant number of soldiers in the second group, without embedded shrapnel but with potential exposure through inhalation, ingestion, or wound contamination.

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