Uranium Found in Bones of Fallujah Survivors – U.S. Depleted Uranium Munitions Blamed

A new study reports that among people who returned to bombarded homes and neighborhoods in Fallujah, Iraq, following the 2003 U.S. bombardment and invasion, bone sampling detected uranium in the bones of 29% of study participants. Researchers from Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs report that investigators “have never before detected uranium in bones in vivo: in vivo bone XRF [X-ray fluorescence] sampling is groundbreaking in identifying uranium exposure among living populations.”

The May 25, 2025 study, “Lessons from Fallujah,” also notes that, “Our findings support prior research which has demonstrated that those who are first at the scenes of war-damaged areas may be at a higher risk of reproductive health harms, and that Fallujah’s population faced a 17-fold increase in birth anomalies and myriad other health problems linked with the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.”

The United States used tons of so-called “depleted uranium” munitions in its March 2003 bombardment and invasion of Iraq and also during the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq and Kuwait. The shells are made of uranium-238, a toxic and radioactive heavy metal waste left from the production of nuclear weapons and uranium fuel for reactors.

The report found in part: “The presence of uranium in residents’ bone sampling may be consistent with the well-documented widespread use of depleted uranium weapons in the 1990s during the U.S.-led Gulf War on Iraq, and in the 2000s: investigations have found that 116,000 kilograms [116 tonnes] of depleted uranium were used by U.S. and allied forces during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.”