[E-rundbrief] Info 905 - Kontaminiertes Metall in Gaza

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 905 - New Weapons Research Group/ NWRG (I): Metals 
detected in Palestinian children’s hair suggest environmental 
contamination (in Gaza).

Bad Ischl, 21.3.2010

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

================================================

Metals detected in Palestinian children’s hair suggest environmental 
contamination

PRESS RELEASE: Many Palestinian children still living in precarious 
situations at ground level in Gaza after Israeli bombing during "Cast 
lead" have unusually high concentrations of metals in the hair, 
indicating environmental contamination, which can cause health and 
growth damages due to chronic exposure. This is the result of a pilot 
study conducted by the New Weapons Research Group (Nwrg), an independent 
committee of scientists and experts based in Italy, who is studying the 
use of unconventional weapons and their mid-term effects on the 
population of after-war areas.

This research follows the previous one, published by Nwrg on December 17 
last year, in which the group reported the presence of toxic metals in 
the areas surrounding the craters left by the bombing. Those tests had 
found abnormal concentrations of toxic metals in the craters, suggesting 
the possible contamination of the soil which, combined with precarious 
living conditions, particularly in refugee camps, might cause exposure, 
dermal, via inhalation and through food.

With the new study, the group set itself the objective of verifying 
whether people were actually contaminated. The result is alarming: even 
if the quantity of metals in excess, in fact, are only 2-3 times higher 
than those found in hair of controls, these levels may still be 
pathogenic in situations of chronic exposure.

The study, which lasted several months, analyzed the hair for 33 metals 
by ICP/MS (a type of highly sensitive mass spectrometry). The hair is a 
good indicator of contamination and investigation of environmental 
contamination based on its analysis are recommended by the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Nwrg examined hair samples from 95 people resident in heavily bombed 
areas (as reported by UNEP on the basis of satellite maps), for the vast 
majority children. Among them also seven pregnant women and 4 wounded 
people. The results have established that the distribution of metal 
contaminants in the three locations where the tests were performed, Beit 
Hanun, Gaza-Zeitun and Laly Beith, is higher than the average, and  more 
than double in about 60 of these individuals.

In several samples were identified carcinogenic or toxic metals such as 
chromium, cadmium, cobalt, tungsten and uranium, while in one of the 
wounded individuals was measured unusually high levels of lead. For 39 
of the examinees the simultaneous presence of more metals and/or the 
presence of carcinogenic metals have prompted researchers to recommend 
them for further checks.

The problem, says Professor Paola Manduca, now is to eliminate sources 
of contamination: "The identification of subjects with confirmed, 
persistent high load of metals would require the removal of the subject 
from exposure. This last is the most favorite therapeutic approach, in 
view of lack of evidence on the efficacy and safety of chelation 
treatment, especially in children. This measure presents serious 
problems in the current situation in Gaza, where the construction and 
removal of damaged structures is difficult or impossible, and certainly 
represents the major responsibility of those who should remedy the 
damage to the civilian population under international law."

The study is by Mario Barbieri, CNR, and Maurizio Barbieri, Professor of 
Environmental geochemistry at the University La Sapienza of Rome and 
head of the ICP/MS laboratory, where the analysis were carried out, and 
Paola Manduca, Geneticist. The study was possible thanks to the 
cooperation in the field of the association Gazella, onlus.

http://www.newweapons.org/?q=node/112

-- 

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
Spenden-Konto Nr. 0600-970305 (Blz. 20314) Sparkasse Bad Ischl,
Geschäftsstelle Pfandl
IBAN: AT922031400600970305 BIC: SKBIAT21XXX