International DU Conference Held in Baghdad

A two day conference was held in Iraq, on the 26th and 27th of March, to examine the effects on health of depleted uranium munitions used by U.S.-led forces during the Gulf War, which it says have caused a rise in cancer in Iraq.
"The conference is to meet the urgent need for researchers and specialists in Iraq and other countries to define negative impacts of DU weapons on humans and the environment," Education Minister Fahad Salim al-Shaqra said in his opening speech. Experts at the two-day conference, organised by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, include researchers from Egypt, Thailand and Yemen.
Cancer rates among children have almost trebled from four cases per 100,000 in 1990 to 11 in 1999. Congenital deformities in Basra, southern Iraq, increased four-fold from 1990 to 1999. "The cancer rate increased among children 242% in 1999, whereas leukaemia cases increased by 100% in the same year compared with 1990's figures," Shaqra added. Shaqra said incidence of cancers of the breast, thyroid gland and lymphatic system also rose.
An Iraqi vet said on Saturday thousands of fish that have died at fish farms near Baghdad were poisoned by munitions used by British and U.S. forces.
In November, after lobbying from Washington, the U.N. General Assembly voted against an Iraqi proposal for a U.N.-backed study into the effects of depleted uranium used in the Gulf War.