On November 20, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) announced publication of a new report entitled “Gender and Ionizing Radiation: Towards a New Research Agenda Addressing Disproportionate Harm.” The report is authored by Mary Olson, Founder of the Gender and Radiation Impact Project, and Amanda M. Nichols, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara. The UNIDIR summarizes the report as “an overview of recent research on the correlation between harm from exposure to ionizing radiation and biological sex,” that “proposes questions for a future research agenda covering gender, radiation impacts, and radiological protection standards.” The UNIDIR describes itself as an autonomous institution within the United Nations that conducts independent research on pressing global challenges related to disarmament, arms control, and international security. UNIDIR writes, “our work aims to provide the foundations for meaningful collective action towards a more secure world.”

Read the full report here: https://unidir.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gender_and_ionizing_radiation_web.pdf

U.S. special operations troops deployed to a former Soviet base in Uzbekistan in October 2001 are still experiencing the health effects of exposure to radioactive uranium. From 2001-2005, over 15,000 U.S. troops were sent to Karshi-Khanabad (K2), where remnants of yellow cake, or powdered enriched uranium, were found where missiles had been stored. Declassified Pentagon documents confirm the highly radioactive material was found throughout the base and in the soil. The documents suggest that radiation levels there in 2001 were 40,000 times those of naturally occurring uranium. Twenty-three years after their deployment, more than 1,500 of the 5,000 K2 veterans contacted have suffered cancers, kidney and bone conditions, reproductive issues, and other illnesses linked to radiation exposure including having children with birth defects.

However, the PACT Act, signed by President Biden in 2022 to mete out veterans’ aid, does not recognize radiation exposure at K2. Though K2 veterans can access some funding and care for at least one service-related condition, many have died seeking recognition of their radiation-based claims, according to K2 veterans group Stronghold Freedom Foundation. Though U.S. forces pulled out of the base in 2005, around a dozen U.S. troops remain deployed there, assisting Uzbekistan in joint efforts targeting the Islamic State. There appears to be no communication about the radioactive uranium between the Pentagon and Uzbek military leaders. Though Congress made Pentagon data and environmental reviews from the base public four years ago in an attempt to seek recognition and veterans’ compensation, and though there was recently new legislation introduced, U.S. agencies have not officially acknowledged the radiation exposure.

⸺ Associated Press, Sept. 10; Military.com, Aug. 13, 2024