Air incidents?
Evidence of meeting #65 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was study.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #65 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was study.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
—experience of 3,000...sorry.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
No, pardon me, Dr. McDiarmid.
These were friendly fire incidents, correct?
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Correct. We have four new members of the cohort from OIF; they were also all friendly fire.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Thank you.
Are you aware of what benefits U.S. veterans would receive for having been exposed to DU?
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
I'm not a benefits expert, but I know there is not a presumptive disability for depleted uranium.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Not presumptive, it goes through on a case-by-case basis.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
It's a separate group from us.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
The study commissioned here in Canada arrived at seven conclusions. If I were to read those seven conclusions to you, could you tell me if you agree or disagree with them?
Number one:
Depleted uranium (DU) is potentially harmful to human health by virtue of its chemical and radiological effects.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Number two:
Within a military setting, the highest risk of exposure to depleted uranium is in those who were: in, on or near vehicles hit with friendly fire; entering or near these burning vehicles; near fires involving DU munitions; salvaging damaged vehicles; or involved in clean up operations of contaminated sites.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
I think that's true, but within that large laundry list there's a hierarchy.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Number three:
It is unlikely that Canadian soldiers have been exposed to levels of depleted uranium which could be harmful to their health.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
I think that's a Canadian decision because you all know where people were and were not at the time of potential exposure. From what I've read and from what I've heard from your expert panel, I think that sounds accurate.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Number four:
There is no consistent evidence from military cohort studies of adverse health effects that could be attributed to depleted uranium.
9:35 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
True.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Number five:
There is no strong evidence of adverse health effects reported in larger civilian studies with longer follow-up periods of populations with increased exposure to uranium....
9:40 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
I think that's true, but here we get into the mixed exposures that I mentioned earlier. It wasn't just uranium, it wasn't just even depleted uranium.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Number six:
Our finding that exposure to uranium is not associated with a large or frequent health effect is in agreement with the conclusions of other expert bodies.
9:40 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
I think that's true.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Finally, number seven:
There are many Veterans suffering from persistent symptoms following deployment or military conflict which, although not linked to specific exposures such as DU, can cause considerable suffering and can be effectively treated.
9:40 a.m.
Medical Director, Depleted Uranium Program, Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
9:40 a.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Peter Stoffer
Thank you, Ms. Adams. We greatly appreciate that.
Dr. McDiarmid, on behalf of the committee and our chairperson, Mr. Kerr, thank you very much for your testimony.
I'll take the chair's prerogative and ask two quick questions myself.
As you say, and we've heard from experts up here. most of the testing is done through urine testing. To rule out the concerns of DU, has there ever been a large autopsy study done on Gulf War veterans in the United States, Canada, or Europe regarding organ samples: the kidney, the liver, the lungs, the heart, etc.?
We've had expert after expert indicate that, in their opinion, DU is mostly likely not the cause of the problems facing our veterans. I'm not an expert, but it's rather disconcerting that after 23 years, with all these experts, we still don't know the cause of their symptoms.
Is that a normal concern in this regard, or am I just whistling Dixie?