Depleted Uranium Held Responsible for Down's Syndrome in Iraq: Study

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 29, 2002

Depleted Uranium Held Responsible for Down's Syndrome in Iraq: Study

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The depleted uranium left behind by Western allies forces, not the advanced maternal age, should be considered as the main cause of increasing cases of Down's syndrome in Iraq, said a research report published Sunday in the official Iraq Daily.

In the report titled "Depleted uranium and Down's syndrome in offspring of mothers younger than 35-year old," Iraqi doctor Tariq Al-Hilli said that among the 30 sampled patients with Down's syndrome, 17 of them, or 56.6 percent, were infants of mothers under the age of 35.

The result indicated there was no significant statistical association between advanced maternal age and birth of babies with the congenital disorder.

It has been found that there is an increasing incidence of congenital malformations among those children who live in areas exposed to environmental contamination by radioactive materials like depleted uranium, the study said.

Iraq has repeatedly condemned the United States and its Western allies for dropping hundreds of tons of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, and leading to an environmental disaster as a result.

Dr Al-Hilli said the sample was randomly selected from those patients who went to the Saddam Central Teaching Hospital during January 1 to July 31, 2000.

The study also included another 40 age-and-sex-matched children who had no Down's syndrome as control cases, he said.

Down's syndrome, also called trisomy 21, is caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome, and the affected person has mild to moderate mental retardation, short stature, and a flattenedfacial profile.

The disorder, formerly known as mongolism, was first described by John L.H. Down, a British physician about 130 years ago and considered as the first syndrome known to have a chromosomal cause.

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