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兒童乳牙含鉛量多50倍 戰爭空污賠上伊拉克下一代
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本報2016年8月25日綜合外電報導，姜唯編譯；蔡麗伶審校
最新研究指出，戰爭造成的空氣污染，很可能是伊拉克和其他戰區新生兒天生缺陷和癌症的主因。
炸彈、子彈和其他軍火爆炸，會產生重金屬和神經毒素。圖為伊拉克城市法魯賈（Fallujah）。圖片來源：Airman Magazine（CC BY-NC 2.0）。
爆炸產生重金屬毒素 當地兒童先天缺陷比例高
《英國衛報》報導，一篇發表於《環境監控和評估》期刊的研究顯示，炸彈、子彈和其他軍火爆炸產生的重金屬和神經毒素不只直接傷害戰場上的士兵，也影響戰區附近的居民。
研究主要作者、伊朗毒物學家薩瓦別斯法哈尼（Mozhgan Savabieasfahani）說，有天生缺陷的伊拉克兒童，其乳牙中的鉛含量顯著比黎巴嫩和伊朗兒童高。「有兩顆伊拉克兒童乳牙樣本中的鉛含量為黎巴嫩和伊朗樣本的四倍，甚至有一顆高出50倍。」
研究發現，伊拉克和其他戰區的先天缺陷、早產、流產和白血病病例數量急速增加，與醫生的臨床診斷不謀而合。
這項研究相當重要，因為少有研究探討中東多年戰火對當地居民的影響，資料也很難搜集。
軍武垃圾就地燒 退伍軍人也受害
研究結果也顯示，伊拉克戰爭期間焚燒大量軍事垃圾造成的空氣污染，是損害美國退伍軍人長期健康的主因。
8萬5000多名向政府登記的伊拉克戰爭退伍軍人，從伊拉克回國後，被診斷出呼吸道疾病、癌症、神經疾患、沮喪或肺氣腫。其中半數表示曾接觸軍事焚化坑。
美國退伍軍人事務部以及新書《焚坑》（The Burn Pits）搜集了500位退伍軍人的證詞。他們描述伊拉克戰爭期間，泡綿、電子設備、金屬罐、輪胎、軍火、炸藥、人類糞便、動物屍體、電池、絕緣石棉和重金屬等垃圾是如何被澆上飛機燃料並放火焚燒。
多年戰火 伊拉克城市空氣含戴奧辛
2008年美國國防部在巴拉德基地蒐集到的空氣樣本中，含有大量懸浮微粒、多環芳烴、揮發性有機化合物，以及落葉劑型戴奧辛和呋喃。
1970年代，數千噸含有戴奧辛的殺草劑在越南和寮國森林投下，但是這對當地居民健康的危害卻被官方忽視了27年。
「我們在生病和天生缺陷的兒童以及其父母的頭髮中，發現大量的汞、鉛、鈦和其他各種有毒金屬，顯示金屬污染從2003年就開始讓疾病和新生兒缺陷比例升高。我們也發現新生兒缺陷與轟炸開始的時間點相當接近。2010年5月，547位醫院出生的新生兒中，有15%有嚴重的天生缺陷，遠高於過去的2%至4%。2010年末，新生兒缺陷比例升高到30%。」薩瓦別斯法哈尼說。
然而，當地多年戰事造成的真正污染規模可能永遠也無法確知。
【參考資料】
Researchers identify exposure to toxic materials from explosion of munitions and burning of military waste by US army as cause of birth defects and cancers
Smoke billows from Fallujah’s southern Shuhada neighbourhood following shelling.
Smoke billows from Fallujah’s southern Shuhada neighbourhood following shelling. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
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John Vidal
Monday 22 August 2016 09.00 BST Last modified on Monday 22 August 2016 09.01 BST
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Air pollution caused by war may be a major factor in the numbers of birth defects and cancers being reported in Iraq and other war zones, a study has suggested.
Human exposure to heavy metals and neurotoxicants from the explosion of bombs, bullets, and other ammunition affects not only those directly targeted by bombardments but also troops and people living near military bases, according to research published in the scientific journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
Millions of Iraqi children repeatedly and relentlessly targeted, says UN
Read more
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an Iranian toxicologist and lead author of the report, said “alarming” levels of lead were found in the “baby” or “deciduous” teeth of Iraqi children with birth defects, compared with similar teeth donated from Lebanese and Iranian children.
“Deciduous teeth from Iraqi children with birth defects had remarkably higher levels of Pb [lead],” she said during a recent visit to London. “Two Iraqi teeth had four times more Pb, and one tooth had as much as 50 times more Pb than samples from Lebanon and Iran.”
The study is important, because there has been scant research on how years of warfare across the Middle East have impacted local civilian populations, and data is hard to collect.
However, the few investigations that have been conducted suggest sharp increases in congenital birth defects, premature births, miscarriages and leukaemia cases in Iraq and other war zones, a finding supported by interviews with doctors.
The study supports claims that the long-term health of many thousands of former US soldiers was devastated by air pollution caused by the unregulated burning of huge volumes of military waste in hundreds of open air “burn pits” during the Iraq war.
More than 85,000 US Iraq war veterans who have signed a government register have been diagnosed with respiratory and breathing problems, cancers, neurological diseases, depression and emphysema since returning from Iraq. About half have stated that they were exposed to the burn pits.
The toll among soldiers has been documented in testimonies given to the US Department of Veterans Affairs and in a new book, The Burn Pits, based on interviews with 500 veterans exposed to pollution. They record how foam, electronics, metal cans, rubber tyres, ammunition, explosives, human faeces, animal carcasses, batteries, asbestos insulation and heavy metal waste were doused in jet fuel and set on fire during the Iraq war.
US marines in Fallujah search a house for insurgents bathed in the haze of their own grenades
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US marines in Fallujah search a house for insurgents bathed in the haze of their own grenades. Photograph: Scott Peterson/Getty Images
“There were 270 of these pits burning 24/7, sometimes for years. Some are still burning today. These materials converged in a toxic plume that hovered over bases, and seeped into soldiers’ sleeping and working quarters, which were often a mile or less away,” said former US Marine and Army sergeant Joseph Hickman, author of the book.
“The vets told me that they were told the smoke was a nuisance but not a hazard. Some of the pits were worse than others. One, at Balad air base, covered 10 acres and burned 50 tonnes of trash a day. There were no regulations on what could be burned, anything that was considered trash went in there.”
An air sampling study by the US Department of Defense at Balad base in 2008 detected high levels of particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, as well as Agent Orange-type dioxins and furans.
Thousands of tonnes of herbicides containing deadly dioxins were dropped on Vietnamese and Laotian forests in the 1970s, but the health effects on veterans and local communties were not officially admitted for 27 years.
We could see that when the bombing started, so did the birth defects
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
“The open-air bonfires [in Iraq] – which violated not only Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards, but the Pentagon’s own regulations – were supposed to be used only as a temporary measure, until incinerators could be put in place. But they continued to operate throughout most of these wars, with a number still running as late as 2015,” said Hickman.
Evidence of the pollution effects on Iraqi communities is barely known because little research has been done. But Savabieasfahani said the toxicological effects of the air pollution would inevitably have been damaging.
“We know that they burned pesticides, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, solvents, medical waste and toxic heavy metals. All are extremely polluting to the environment. Thick black clouds of pollution were common, day and night,” she said.
“I was alerted to the pollution when living close to Basra when the invasion started and several women at the university where I was teaching spontaneously aborted.
“But getting tissue samples out of Iraq has proved nearly impossible and little research into the pollution’s effect on people living close to the burn pits has been conducted.”
“We found very high levels of mercury, lead, titanium and various toxic metals in hair of children and parents of children with disorders or severe birth defects, showing metal contamination has happened since 2003 – with increased disorders and defects.”
She added: “We could see that when the bombing started so did the birth defects. In May 2010, 15% of 547 babies born at the [Basra] hospital had severe birth defects. This is in contrast to 2% to 4% that is normal,” she said.
Later in 2010, rates of babies being born with birth defects were as high as 30%, said Savabieasfahani. “Pollution all ends up in the body. People were breathing in high levels. Major damage was being done to people,” she said.
The full scale of the pollution from years of war in the region may never be known.
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