 | Quite rightly you point out in cconeotinn with air pollution and specific to the condition of air in many Chinese cities that particles less than 2.5 microns when inhaled get into the alveoli and can cause a variety of lung disorders and diseases. However, much more serious are the even finer sized nano-particles that are 1000 times smaller. These arise from uranium munitions used by NATO (especially the U.S.) in wars that began with the first Gulf War in 1990. The enemy in every case was no threat to us, and yet our countries have dumped hundreds of tons of this horrible type of munition, the particles of which are so small, that when absorbed into the body and the blood stream are able to broach the blood-brain barrier to cause havoc with the DNA of neurons and other types of brain cells. Since they arise from principally U-238, a radioactive isotope that has a half life of more than 4 billion years, brain cancers, ALS, Alzheimers disease and an array of abnormal brain function may occur in the victims so exposed. Such was the case even for veterans who now number in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. No wonder President Obama was opposed to boots on the ground in Libya. So, I wouldn’t be so quick to use China as a whipping boy . We in the West have nothing to be proud of with respect to our foreign and military policies. |
