Uranium is a very special element and is currently the heaviest element that can be found in nature. After purification, it can become an important part of nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons. After painstaking research and development by the United States and field tests by Japan, nuclear weapons composed of uranium are strictly restricted by international conventions.
The above is uranium-235, which will have some by-products in the process of refining, such as the less radioactive uranium-238, which is also called depleted uranium. In addition to being radioactive, depleted uranium also has metal physical properties such as high density, high hardness and high toughness, which can compete with tungsten. In this way, the use of depleted uranium as weapon material is also a good choice.
The United States began to develop depleted uranium bombs in the 1950s, and by the time of the large-scale deployment of troops in the 1970s, all the large-caliber weapons you can think of in the United States are equipped with depleted uranium bombs. The Desert Storm of 1990 was the first actual use of depleted uranium bombs in human history. Then there was the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and so on.
So the question is, no matter how easy the depleted uranium bomb is, it is also radioactive, and it will cause indelible trauma to the environment and human beings, so can it be used in actual combat? The answer is no! At present, international organizations prohibit the use of depleted uranium bombs by States in actual combat.
Ironically, however, as a member of an "international organization," the United States published several studies in 1998 that denied the harm of depleted uranium bombs to the local environment and humanity. Its fundamental purpose is not to take responsibility for the harm it has inflicted on civilians in other countries in war.
When depleted uranium bombs are burned, the resulting radioactive particles are easily absorbed by the human body, causing irreversible permanent damage to the human body, such as leukemia or cancer. If pregnant, it can also lead to miscarriage or neonatal malformations.
As the hardest hit area of the depleted uranium bomb, the Kosovo War has caused indelible suffering to the Serbian people. According to statistics, during the 78-day airstrike, NATO dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium bombs, which are explicitly prohibited by international conventions.
According to data released by the authoritative health institutions in Belgrade, in 2018, there were 41,000 malignant tumor patients in Serbia. But by 2019, that number had soared to 97,000. In a country with a population of just 7 million, what makes malignant tumor patients nearly triple in a year?
Moreover, newborns born in Serbia after 1999, aged 1 to 5, 5 to 9 years old, and 9 to 18 years old, have a rapid increase in the incidence of brain tumors in 3 stages, far exceeding other countries. And what causes Children in Serbia to suffer from diseases that shouldn't happen at that age? The answer, of course, is depleted uranium bombs. But who cares about a country that has been beaten up by NATO?
Until Italy lends a helping hand. Because Italy was also involved in the Kosovo War that year, in the decades that followed, about 366 people involved in military operations at that time died of cancer, and another 7,500 people suffered from illness.
Italy concluded that the Depleted Uranium material spread into the environment as a result of the Gatling cannon equipped with a large number of depleted uranium shells by the American A10 attack aircraft at the time. NATO soldiers who entered the war were treated equally.
Not only in Italy, but also in many American veterans, many American veterans have the same problem, known in the United States as "Gulf War Syndrome" or "Kosovo War Syndrome", whose symptoms are the same as those of patients in Serbia. Recently, two Serbs, backed by data from Italian medical institutions, commissioned lawyers to file a lawsuit against NATO's actions that year. After medical testing, they had radioactive uranium levels in their blood, hundreds of times more than normal.
So far, more than 3,000 victims of depleted uranium bombs have been prosecuted by NATO. Sadly, no effective prosecution has been successful at this time. First, this kind of litigation is a long process; Second, NATO believes that it has immunity and does not need to accept lawsuits against itself by other countries or organizations; Finally and most importantly, Serbia is a small country, and "weak countries without diplomacy" is really not a joke.
But the lawsuit represents at least one attitude, representing that the Serbs are not numb. In particular, in 1999, NATO launched a wanton attack without the authorization of the United Nations, and nearly 100 of the more than 2,500 civilians killed, as well as 1 million became war refugees. It is reported that the case will be heard in October this year.