INVASION OF IRAQ CAUSED EPIDEMIC OF BIRTH DEFECTS

FROM CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM     ECOSOCIALIST NOTEBOOK

Invasion of Iraq causes epidemic of birth defects

You’ve thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children into the world
For threatening my baby unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins.
      —Bob Dylan, “Masters of War” 

21st Century Barbarism

From “Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities,” a study published this week in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (subscription required):

“Between October 1994 and October 1995, the number of birth defects per 1,000 live births in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital was 1.37. In 2003, the number of birth defects in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital was 23 per 1,000 live births. Within less than a decade, the occurrence of congenital birth defects increased by an astonishing 17-fold in the same hospital.”

The scientists who conducted the study found that the hair, toenails and teeth of people in areas subjected to heavy bombardment by U.S. and other invading forces show high levels of  lead, mercury and other poisonous metals that are known to cause birth defects and other developmental problems.

“Intermittent bombing of populated cities in Iraq has occurred since 1991. Most significant was the bombardment of Fallujah, a city in central Iraq, and Al Basrah, a city in southern Iraq. Fallujah was heavily bombed in 2004. Subsequently, unusual numbers of birth defects have been surfacing in that city. Al Basrah was also a target of heavy bombing (December 1998, March and April 2003). Similar to Fallujah, after the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, the medical staff in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital has been witnessing a pattern of increase in congenital birth defects.”

Many of the monsters responsible for these crimes also oppose abortion on the grounds that foetal life is sacred. Someday they will pay for their evil actions and their gross  hypocrisy.

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