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Iraqi
water plant with no electricity
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The
Gulf War and the subsequent economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security
Council in 1990 have had an overwhelming effect on all aspects of the
environment in Iraq. The water, soil and air have all been seriously polluted.
Basic needs for life such as potable drinking water are now so contaminated that
they pose as serious health risks. The simple act of breathing may lead to
dreadful consequences. It may therefore come as a surprise to some that Iraq had
one of the highest standards of living in the Middle East prior to the Gulf War.
According
to UNICEF's Donor Update of 31 August 2000, a UN report in 1991 described Iraq
in the early mid-1980s as a state rapidly approaching the standards of developed
countries. The country had an elaborate health care system, a modern
telecommunications network, 24 electrical power generation stations,
sophisticated water treatment plants and potable water for the large majority of
the population, including an elaborate health care system.
Drinking
Water Poses Health Risk
Water
and sewage treatment plants were targeted during “Operation Desert Storm”
and the sanctions that followed lead to the lack of spare parts necessary for
their restoration. Water and sewage treatment have become practically
non-existent; particularly since chlorine, the major disinfectant used for
treating water, was banned by the Security Council under the dual-use regulation. Since locally produced chlorine isn’t
nearly sufficient for even the drinking water, sewage treatment is in a dreadful
state. This has created a vicious circle as sewage is dumped into the river,
water from the river is not effectively treated as there is a lack of chlorine
and other disinfectants, and therefore people drink water that is highly
contaminated with raw sewage. This has lead to the spread of a wide range of
water-born illnesses such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera and polio, the latter
re-emerging after nearly being eradicated prior to the sanctions.
Professionals
in the water treatment industry, including engineers and technicians, are
leaving their positions for work with better pay. Even though few jobs are
available, it is more profitable to sell cigarettes on the street than to work
as a skilled water engineer. The population growth over the past 11 years has
been met with a lack of new projects to sustain this growth. According to
UNICEF, “access to safe water in urban areas has dropped to 94 % from 100 %,
while the drop at rural levels was more drastic from 71% to 41%. Up to 250-300
tons of solid untreated raw sewerage is discharged directly into rivers each
day. Only 25% of the population are served by piped sewerage systems. Power cuts
of up to 12 hours a day have also severely disrupted services.”
Desert
Storm Dumps Tons of Uranium
The
use of weapons coated with depleted
uranium during the Gulf war and the subsequent prevention of the necessary
equipment needed by the Iraqi government to clean up its battle fields, has lead
to a six-fold increase in cancer cases. Depleted uranium is basically
nuclear waste obtained during fuel production for nuclear reactors and atomic
bombs. The United States has a huge store of DU as a result of its 50 years of
atomic weapons and nuclear energy production. Since DU is approximately 60% more
radioactive than naturally occurring uranium and has a half-life of 4.5 thousand
million years, it must be stored safely and indefinitely, which is a highly
expensive process. As a means to reduce their store and save money, the
Department of Defense and Energy dispenses depleted uranium to national and
foreign armament companies at no cost. In a press release of 4 August 1998, the
US Department of Defense stated: “The Gulf War was the arena for the first
battlefield use of armor-piercing munitions and reinforced tank armor
incorporating depleted uranium.”
After
a DU coated projectile hits its target, DU dust becomes distributed in the air,
water and soil, where it enters into the food chain. When the dust enters the
human body after being inhaled or ingested it causes cell death and genetic
mutations that lead to cancer. According to doctors at the College of Medicine,
Basra University, there has been a 100 % rise in the incidence of various forms
of leukemia among children in 1999 compared to 1990. The corresponding rise for
all malignancies among such children in 1999 compared to 1990 was 242 %. When
the dust enters the blood stream after being inhaled or ingested, it deposits in
the bones, organs and cells where it acts as a chemical and radiological toxin
for the rest of the affected persons life. According to the World Health
Organization, the health risks of depleted uranium include: damage to kidney
functions (chemical toxicity), possible higher risk of lung cancer and bone
cancer (radiological toxicity), and the need for more information regarding the
incidence of leukemia.
Exposed
children are especially vulnerable to DU as their cells are rapidly dividing. It
can also cross the placenta and affect the fetus leading to congenital anomalies
and cancer. The DU may have already contaminated the Iraqi soil and water, which
in such a case would have toxic and radioactive effects on many generations to
come. It is estimated that there are 300 tons of depleted uranium in the area,
which might have already affected thousands of Iraqis.
Iraqi
Oil: Blessing or Curse?
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Oil
refineries were targeted during the Gulf War
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Oil
refineries were also targeted during the Gulf War. They have all been restored
using local materials, however as a result of the lack of equipment and essential spare parts needed for the processing of the resulting
industrial waste, it is thus polluting the environment. The production units
produce 600 cubic meters of industrial waste every hour. This hazardous waste is
now dumped into depleted wells or canals dug for such a purpose. Poisonous gases
as H2S pollute the air and pose as a risk for the workers at the refineries.
The
Persian Gulf (which is already prone to contamination due to its relatively
shallow average depth of 97 feet) has been greatly polluted during the Iraqi
wars in the past 20 years. Oil spillages during the Iraq-Iran war from 1980 to
1988 occurred when oil tankers in the Gulf where attacked leading to spillage of
thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf. During the Gulf War, Iraq
intentionally pumped approximately 5.7 million barrels of crude oil into the
Gulf from the Sea Island supertanker terminal 10 miles off the Kuwaiti coast,
which constitutes a huge threat to the Gulf’s marine life.
Agriculture
Deteriorates
Aside
from the pollution, the Iraqi people are also suffering from food shortage. The
lack of necessary equipment, fertilizers and herbicides needed for farming has
led to a decrease in crop yield and to a poorer quality of produce, despite the
increase in the area of land that is being cultivated as a means for food
self-sufficiency.
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The
number of livestock in Iraq has declined since 1990
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The
number of livestock has also decreased since 1990. According to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the number of cows declined
between 1990 and 1995 by 34 per cent, the number of buffaloes by 46 per cent,
the number of sheep by 42 per cent, and the number of goats by 81 per cent. The
main causes of this decline are the shortage of the required equipment, feed,
veterinary services, and vaccinations. Diseases such as foot and mouth disease,
screw worm, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and brucellosis have spread in previous years to epidemic proportions in the absence of the vaccines
needed to contain them. The lack of equipment, feed, laboratory chemicals and
hormone supplies has seriously affected the fish industry as well.
The
negative impact of the 1999 drought that hit Iraq was exacerbated by the lack of
irrigation projects and of the essential resources and equipment needed to
dampen the effects of the drought. According to FAO, water levels of the Tigris
and Euphrates have dropped to 40 percent of their normal flow. As a result,
wheat production stands at 63 percent of normal production, and barley output
fell by 37 percent.
The
Gulf War and the subsequent sanctions imposed have had serious effects on the
environment in Iraq and on the environment of the region in general. The Iraqi
people have been suffering from the sanctions for more than 11 years now, with
grave consequences to their life and health. More than 1.5 million Iraqi people
have died as a direct result of these sanctions, most of them children. Five to
six thousand children die each month. The implementation of these sanctions by
the Security Council has prevented the Iraqi people from their basic human
rights as set out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; these include
the right to life and health. The innocent Iraqi people and not the Iraqi
government have been the victims of these extreme and brutal sanctions that are
the most comprehensive in modern history.
Sources:
- Issues on the Use and
Effects of Depleted Uranium Weapons. What
is Depleted Uranium? 2002.
- UNICEF. UNICEF
Emergency Programmes: Iraq Donor Update. 31 August 2000.
- Energy information
administration. Saudi
Arabia: Environmental Issues. July 2000.
- Dr.Yacoup, Alim; Dr.Al-Sa’
doun, Imad; Dr.Hassan, Genan. Further
Evidence on Relation between Depleted Uranium, Incidence of Malignancies
among Children in Basra, Southern Iraq. The International Action Center.
1999.
- Dr. Hardan, Ahmad; Dr. Al-Khazraji,
Abdul-Hafidh. Epidemiological
Trend of Cancer in South of Iraq, for the Period 1976-1999. The
International Action Center. 1999.
- Haddadin, Haitham. Iraqi
refiners say pollution cost of U.N. sanctions is 'astronomical'.
Reuters.1998.
- Matawil, Abdullah. UN
sanctions on Iraq lead to deaths of 500,000 children. One World. 1996.
- ENS. Animal
Diseases in Iraq Threaten Regional Food Security. February 1999.
- FAO. Evaluation
of food & nutrition situation in Iraq. iacenter. 1995.
- RFE/RL. FAQ
Official On Drought In Iraq. Iraq Report October 1999.
Dr.
Aisha El-Awady is an Instructor of Parasitology, Faculty of
Medicine, Cairo University.
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