Global Research, Michel Chossudovsky - BMJ, September 14, 2013
An initial
WHO study completed in 2004 had documented the impacts of depleted uranium.It
was suppressed.
The
WHO has now suppressed a second report
undertaken jointly with Iraq’s Ministry of Health. The joint WHO-MoH study pertained to the
prevalence of congenital birth defects. It was scheduled to be released in
November 2012.
In
suppressing these reports, the WHO is complicit in covering up extensive war
crimes committed against the people of Iraq.
Poor
reproductive and birth outcomes in Iraq, since the U.S. invasion, have received
much global attention (1, 2). A joint study by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) began in May-June 2012 to look at
the prevalence of congenital birth defects in several governorates of Iraq (3)
and was scheduled to be released in November 2012 (4).
In March 2013,
a BBC documentary, (“Born under a bad sign”), offered a glimpse at the results
of the WHO report. A MoH official told the BBC that “All studies done by the
Ministry of Health prove with damning evidence that there has been a rise in
birth defects and cancers”. Other MoH researchers confirmed that the situation
with birth defects constitute a “big crisis” for the “next generation” of Iraqi
children (5).
In May and
July 2013, researchers petitioned the WHO and MoH to release their report (6,
7). In response, the WHO indefinitely postponed the release of that report.
This turn
of events has bewildered many, especially in light of the WHO’s past failure to
report similar data adequately. In November 2006 the British Medical Journal
published an article entitled “WHO suppressed evidence on effects of depleted
uranium (DU), expert says”. (8).
Furthermore,
recent revelations by Hans von Sponeck, the former Assistant Secretary General
of the United Nations, suggest that WHO may be susceptible to pressure from its
member states. Mr. von Sponeck said that “The US government sought to prevent
WHO from surveying areas in southern Iraq where DU had been used and caused
serious health and environmental dangers” (9).
Serious
study design flaws, principally the WHO’s avoidance of any inquiry into
causation of Iraqi birth defects, is also alarming (10). Nevertheless, saving
Iraqi children’s lives requires the immediate release of this indefinitely
postponed WHO report.
References:
1-
Al-Sabbak M, Sadik Ali S, Savabi O, Savabi G, Dastgiri S, Savabieasfahani M.
2012, Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi
Cities. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 89(5): 937–944.
2-Human
Rights Now, 2013, “Innocent New Lives are Still Dying and Suffering Report of a
Fact Finding Mission on congenital birth defects in Fallujah, Iraq in 2013”
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/article_view.asp?id=1016#.UggHoJIsltk
3- World
Health Organization, Congenital birth defect study in Iraq: frequently asked
questions:
http://www.emro.who.int/irq/iraq-infocus/faq-congenital-birth-defect-study…
4-
Morrison, S. (2012, October 14). Iraq records huge rise in birth defects. The
Independent U.K.
5-BBC News
“Our World”, Born Under a Bad Sign. Duration 30 minutes. Produced by Yalda
Hakim and Melanie Marshall. Aired on Sunday 24 Mar, 2013. Web address:
6- A Call
to Release the WHO Report on Iraqi Birth Defects. Saturday 18 May, 2013.
Multiple authors. Web address:
7- To the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Iraqi Ministry of Health: (New
signatures added). Tuesday 30 July, 2013. Multiple authors. Web address:
8- BMJ
2006; 333:990.2 “WHO suppressed evidence on effects of depleted uranium, expert
says.”
9- Pilger,
J. (2013, May 26). We’ve moved on from the Iraq war – but Iraqis don’t have
that choice. The Guardian U.K.
10-
Chowdhury, S. (2013, Jul 17) WHO’s Iraq Birth Defect Study Omits Causation. Inter
Press Service News Agency.
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