What can the poisoned Fallujah tell us about the toxic risks in Gaza and Lebanon? Opinions

Over the past few months, thousands of people have returned to their homes in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, where they faced threats from uninterrupted decrees and lack of access to water, food and safe shelter. Many were forced to deal with the wreckage of war, which may pose long -term health risks.

our New search From Fallujah, Iraq, which he published today, reveals the war costs at the University of Brown, the severity of this wreck. After two decades of the US -led invasion and nearly a decade after the city’s occupation by ISIS, the permanent health effects of the war are still clear.

Discover samples from the X -ray bones of our uranium team in the 29 percent bones of the study participants in Fallujah, while the bullets were discovered in 100 percent of them. Lead levels were 600 percent higher than the average population in the United States. Healthy adults should not have uranium in the bone, so any great presence.

Heavy metals such as lead and uranium can cause serious harmful effects in nervous growth, general nervous health, cardiovascular health, and birth results.

When ISIS occupied Fallujah in 2014, one of our participants in our study (not her real name) and her small family managed to flee north to the relative safety of the Kurdistan region in Iraq. While they were far away, ISIS fighters used their home to store weapons. After that, Iraqi warplanes and the United States bombed the entire neighborhood, which destroyed the family’s home.

After returning to their home two years later, during the first third of pregnancy, Rina cleansed the rubble almost alone-throughout the breathing in a toxic mixture of concrete dust, the remains of ammunition, and the burning shrapnel at home at her home.

Her son was born in 2017 with congenital anomaly. Rina and her family-among the thousands of Fallujah’s returning-returns-faced the deferred health risks resulting from cleaning activities after the war. Although she fully recovered her home, Reina still worries: “I cannot know if the house is still sick,” told us.

Her fears are on a good basis. The areas that have been highly exposed to Fallujah still have higher levels of heavy metals in the soil than other regions. But the bombing was not the only source of the toxicity threatening the Iraqis.

When the US military retreated from its presence in Iraq, it burned huge quantities of military equipment and weapons in the so -called burning digging, which produced toxic fumes spread to nearby population centers. It was well documented that this burning pits caused serious health problems between the old American warriors who only faced short -term exposure.

The story of Rina, and thousands of others like her, contains important lessons for returnees in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

One of the main observations of our modern study, led by doctors, Samira Alani and Abdel Azrawi in Fallujah, led by Kali Robai at the University of Bordeaux, is that those who were those who were returning and rebuilding in the affected areas of the war may be in a greater risk of reproductive health harm.

Children of men and women who were flooded with post -war cleaning activities may have a higher rate than anomalies and the most vulnerable birth results than the children of those who later returned or who did not participate directly in rebuilding. This is probably because their parents were exposed, through inhalation, to toxins from explosive munitions, burning materials, dioxins, and other forms of dust at a much higher rate than those who returned after restoring the buildings.

Increased abnormal cases of childbirth has been attributed to war weapons, as are the similar multiple mutations in early appearance cancers and respiratory diseases.

The second note is that in the process of displacement, return and re -establishment of families, families face food gaps that can double health risks, even for the next generation. After war cleaning brings bodies malnutrition with countless harmful substances; Low intake of the main nutrients can undermine the body’s ability to overcome toxins and intensify reproductive health risks.

For example, during the first third of the pregnancy, not taking folic acid can lead to the defects of a nervous tube in the fetus. The wreckage of war contains heavy minerals that can disrupt folate paths in pregnant women.

These patterns that we have noticed in the health of the general Fallujah will be likely to occur in other cities that have been greatly exposed, as the returnees will bear the dual burden of military violence: they have not only suffered from death, formation, displacement, and circumvention, but it is also possible that they will be exposed to multi -generations health effects yet.

Certainly, the most effective way to reduce heavy metal toxicity of war is not to bomb cities in the first place. But when this happens, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the healthy effects of toxic exposure.

First, the population in the war areas should not be deprived of adequate nutrition and safe drinking water.

Second, international NGOs, health institutions, local clinics and regional radio means should publish information about direct measures that the displaced can take to protect their health when they return to their homes.

For example, it is important for returnees to wear a mask or scarf to reduce the inhalation of fine molecules during cleaning and reconstruction activities. Burning trash can instead of burning garbage reduces widespread toxins exposure. And when pregnancy or seeking pregnancy, women should avoid participating in cleaning activities and rebuilding dust.

In addition, vitamins C and D in food or nutritional supplements can limit the absorption and release of heavy metals accumulated in the bones of the individual. Women in the first trimester of pregnancy-or seek pregnancy-a priority in their consumption of foods rich-such as spinach, broccoli, fortified rice, enriched wheat-or folic acid supplements (also known as vitamin B9) when they can be found.

These are some methods-and if they are limited-to reduce the continuous damage to exposure after the war to better protect future generations.

Meanwhile, our collective and active effort to prevent military bombing is still the most effective way to protect societies from exposure caused by war to short -term and long -term health damage.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editorial island.