BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi
vet said on Saturday thousands of fish that have died at fish farms near
Baghdad were poisoned by munitions used by British and U.S. forces.
"Mortality rate among fish has reached 100 percent in some of the
fish farms," said Dhahir Habib Dhahir, a veterinary surgeon at state-run
Swairah fish farm 30 miles south of the capital.
Iraqi television showed large quantities of the diseased fish being burned
by workers at one of the fish farms.
"Researchers and specialists have attributed this disease which affected
the fish to the use of banned weapons dropped by American forces against
Iraq," the vet told Reuters television.
Head of the farm Adel al-Samaraee said the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry was
due to study the fish, adding that the deaths were "clearly caused
by depleted uranium and poisonous materials dropped by American and British
forces."
Depleted uranium is used as a component of armor piercing munitions. When
a uranium-tipped weapon hits an object, it produces a vapor that is weakly
radioactive.
Iraqi authorities say the allied forces used an estimated 300 tons of depleted
uranium munitions against Iraq in the U.S.-led 1991 offensive to recapture
Kuwait.
The fish farms are within a southern no-fly zone set up by the United States,
Britain and France after the 1991 Gulf War to prevent possible attacks
by Baghdad forces on Shi'ite Muslims.
A similar no-fly zone was established in the north to protect a Kurdish
enclave. Baghdad, which does not recognize the zones, says U.S. and British
warplanes patrolling them have frequently hit Iraqi targets.
Iraq also says the number of cancer cases among Iraqis has soared since
the Gulf War because of depleted uranium.
Last year, the World Health Organization began an in-depth study into the
health impact of the shells used in Iraq.
In November, however, after lobbying from Washington, the United Nations
General Assembly voted down an Iraqi proposal for a U.N.-backed study into
the effects of depleted uranium shells in the Gulf War.
A report by Britain's Royal Society scientific organization published earlier
this month said topsoil in areas heavily contaminated with depleted uranium
should be removed and water quality should be monitored for any contamination.
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