[Skip header]

Patron: Her Majesty the Queen

RSSA Arms

The Royal Scottish Society of Arts
Showcasing Scotland's Science, Technology and Innovation



2nd Meeting of the 183rd Session (2003-2004)

Depleted Uranium
Assessing the Toxic Effect of the West's Battlefield Munitions

Dr Chris Kalman
Consultant Occupational Physician, Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals Trust,
Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine, University of Glasgow

In the Wolfson Suite, Ground Floor
Edinburgh University Library
George Square, Edinburgh
On Monday 8th December 2003, at 7 pm

An overview will be given of the health considerations of the use of depleted Uranium in conflict and in trials in relation to other potential chemical and radiation exposures.

Dr Kalman is a Consultant Occupational Physician with the Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals Trust, an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine at the University of Glasgow and was formerly Chief Medical Officer of Scottish Nuclear Ltd, and Occupational Health Physician to Westinghouse UK Fuel Business Unit.

As background, Fellows should be aware that shells tipped with the super-dense heavy-metal uranium can penetrate tank armour. They have been widely used by the West, notably in the two Gulf Wars and in the Kosova conflict, although health concerns emerged in the 1990s. The metal is what is left over after the extraction of the 'enriched uranium' for nuclear processes, and although this 'depleted uranium' is still radioactive, its main danger lies in its extreme toxicity. This year a Royal Society expert committee recommended that soil should be removed from battlefields to prevent these dusts from contaminating groundwater, and it concluded that buried munitions posed a significant civilian health hazard that will need to be assessed over several decades.

Location of meeting


Society Business

The President, Dr Stuart Monro, will be in the Chair.

Nominations for Fellowship will be tabled at the meeting.

Members of the Public are welcome to attend.

Graham Rule, Secretary
0131 667 0647
secretary@rssa.org.uk


The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is Registered Scottish Charity SC015549

The Society's website is maintained by <webmaster @ rssa.org.uk>