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Journal Article  06/2016

Asaf Duraković

The Specter of Plutonium in Modern Warfare

2016; 3: e1359                                                                                             

Journal: Stem Cell and Translational Investigation                              

Abstract

The current global reality of re-emerging of the Cold War, migration of the large segments of the global population, depletion of natural resources, and the ever-increasing need for alternate energy presents existential challenges to geopolitical unresolved crisis, and ultimately, stability of the biosphere. While the strategic nuclear confrontation is an unlikely scenario because of its irreversible consequences, tactical warfare is a realistic probability of the outcomes of regional and geopolitical differences around the globe. The fragile and limited scope of the stratosphere, including the airspace and waters, provides ever-decreasing probabilities of expansion, limited options for sustainable life, and increasing risk to the survival of the environment. The industrial pollution is enhanced by the nuclear age radioactive environment, which is irreversible in light of man-made insults to the biosphere by the nuclear-era civilian and military release of man-made imbalance. Non-proliferation nuclear treaties, to which not all countries are signatories, do not provide a prospect of security for mankind in the current polarized geopolitical realities, enhanced by clandestine use of nuclear-era destructive powers and by settling regional differences in the confrontational rather than compromising manor. Current realities of the instabilities of the Middle and Far East, large segments of Euro-Asia, shifting of the military priorities, and unceasing production of the nuclear arsenals appear a challenge not only to the well-being, but to sustainable homeostasis. Radiation dispersal devices, nuclear terrorism, renewable energy challenges, chemical and radioactive pollution, melting of the polar caps, and global warming present existential challenges to this fragile segment of the galaxy. The advent of transuranic elements, exemplified by plutonium, adds a recent relatively new dimension to the challenges facing the biosphere. This article attempts to objectively assess the role of radioactive pollution by actinides in the current global reality.                                                                                       

DOI  10.14800/scti.1359.

Journal Article  03/2016

Asaf Duraković

Medical effects of internal contamination with actinides: further controversy on depleted uranium and radioactive warfare

Journal: Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 1-7

Abstract

The Nuclear Age began in 1945 with testing in New Mexico, USA, and the subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Regardless of attempts to limit the development of nuclear weapons, the current world arsenal has reached the staggering dimensions and presents a significant concern for the biosphere and mankind. In an explosion of a nuclear weapon, over 400 radioactive isotopes are released into the biosphere, 40 of which pose potential dangers including iodine, cesium, alkaline earths, and actinides. The immediate health effects of nuclear explosions include thermal, mechanical, and acute radiation syndrome. Long-term effects include radioactive fallout, internal contamination, and long-term genotoxicity. The current controversial concern over depleted uranium’s somatic and genetic toxicity is still a subject of worldwide sustained research. The host of data generated in the past decades has demonstrated conflicting findings, with the most recent evidence showing that its genotoxicity is greater than previously considered. Of particular concern are the osteotropic properties of uranium isotopes due to their final retention in the crystals of exchangeable and nonexchangeable bone as well as their proximity to pluripotent stem cells. Depleted uranium remains an unresolved issue in both warfare and the search for alternative energy sources.

DOI  10.1007/s12199-016-0524-4

Genetic Aberration Studies in Veterans and Family Members after Exposure to Radioactive Dust from Uranium Containing Weapons used during Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Iraq and Enduring Freedom (EF), Afghanistan
Duraković, Asaf; Klimaschewski, Frank
21st Nuclear Medical Defence Conference, ConRad, Munich, Germany, May 2015.

Radioactive Warfare  - New Illnesses and Genetic Aberrations after the Dispersion of Uranium and Transuranice Isotopes during Gulf War I, Gulf War II, Afganistan, Gaza, the Balkan and current Wars
Duraković, Asaf; CSCM Conference, Zagreb, Croatia 04 2015.

Quantitative Measurements of Uranium Isotope 236U in War Zones of Afghanistan,
Duraković, Asaf; Klimaschewski, Frank; Weyman, Tedd; Zimmerman, Isaac
European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), Gothenburg, Sweden, October 18.-22., 2014.

Uranium Isotopes Induced Alterations in the Human Genetic Pool as the First Indicator of Contamination after Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Gulf War II and Enduring Freedom (OEF)
Duraković, Asaf; Klimaschewski, Frank; Weyman, Tedd; Zimmerman, Isaac,
European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), Gothenburg, Sweden, October 18.-22., 2014.