The prize was awarded for the research topic of how to protect man from the ionizing radiation, which causes cancer. This is the first time that an Afghan researcher is presenting these figures to the world and showing that there is high concentration radon in some environment.

The publication of Afghan Health Ministry shows that cancer is increasing in the last few decades in Afghanistan. The statistics shows that every year more than 20000 cancer cases are reported.

During the Second World War the use of nuclear weapons and the incident of Chernobyl in 1986 clearly show that as a result of nuclear waste the cancer is an increasing problem. Nowadays it has been proved that also X-Rays are one cause of cancer.

I believe that the main cause of cancer in Afghanistan is the use of chemical and radioactive weapons, for example depleted uranium is used in these weapons. Since 1980 in Afghanistan uranium exists in both forms, from which 0.3% is the radioactive isotope U235 and the reaming part is the inert uranium U238. This radioactive uranium emits alpha radioactive ray and these are first class toxic substances. The radioactive uranium is remaining a health hazard for millions of years.

Nowadays it has been proved that radioactive uranium and alpha rays causes cancer. However, the use of chemical weapon is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols form the core of international humanitarian law in 1949, which was signed, among 194 countries. Unfortunately many forces still use such weapons. Research shows that the use of chemical weapons during the war can harm the whole new generation. Babies are born with physical deformation one of the main causes of chemical and biological weapons.

First of all it causes mutation in the chromosome of the foetus. Second the environmental contamination with these chemical and biological radioactive substances causes the physical deformation of newborn babies. Scientists suggest that both reasons correlate with each other and the cancer is also increased as a result of the above reasons.

Some background information on Uranium weapon

In October 2003 an international research conference was held about uranium-based weapons. In this conference, Dr Durakovic the director of Uranium Medical Research of Washington city, presented the fact that in the countries such as Afghanistan Iraq and Yugoslavia hundreds of tons of weapons are used which contains radioactive isotopes of Uranium and Plutonium. Dr Durakovic together with his research fellows had few visits to Afghanistan, where the uranium weapons were used, for example Kabul, Spin Ghar, Jalalabad and many other places which are not know yet. This was due to the complaint of the residents of these areas about an unknown disease.

For example the signs of this illness was chronic pain in bones, weakness, fever, mental disorder, weak vision, headaches, dementia and depression.
The symptoms of this illness are similar to the Gulf Syndrome. However, it has not been proved yet that it may relate to the depletion of uranium in the environment.

This is due to the lack of research and research data about low energy dose of radioactive rays, which is alpha radiation. (There are three types of radioactive radiation Alpha, Beta and Gama. Alpha radiation is the lowest in energy). In addition the responsible government authority of this convention are not ready to peruse a research in this field. This kind of diseases can also occur when chemical and biological weapons are used and people may breath or come in contact to such substances or radiation. The important proposal would be to continue cellular and molecular biology research on the low energy emission ( alpha rays) of radio active substances such as uranium.

Dr Durakovic and his research group found three types of radioactive uranium ( U234, U236 and U238) in blood and urine samples of the residence of above areas of Afghanistan. This work was carried out with a special instrument and standard operation procedure. The result of this finding was analysed by Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPS). This instrument is very sensitive and the accurate, which measures the blood and urine samples in nano gram (10 -9 ) scale.

Figure 1 Uranium concentration in urine sample of American, UK and Afghan resident in one-liter urine. The concentration is in nano gram per liter.

From the diagram it is obvious that the areas in which uranium based weapon are used clearly showing high concentration in urine samples of the subjects. The urine uranium concentration of the affected areas was higher than the areas where the uranium based weapons were not used. This is three times higher in urine and 6 times higher in the environment and exceeding the limit of World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation for uranium concentration in the environment.

The pride:

Every nation has pride and it is important, we have to recognise and remember our famous and hard working people. The history is keeping such people alive, as it is important for the future generation to know who served best for their country in academic and cultural aspects.

Publications:
• Fundamental of nuclear Physics
• Applied nuclear physics
Unpublished academic literature
• Radiotherapy instrument and the treatment of cancer by M.Tanha and Dr N Sulansei Zadran

Written by Prof. Dr. Nazar M. Sultansei Zadran, Lecturer of Faculty of Science Department of Physics, Kabul University, and former director of Atomic Energy Commission of Afghanistan.
10.09.2015

References:


1. A . Durakovic: Uranium Medical Research Center, Washington DC –USA

2. Dai Williams: “Mystery Metal Nightmare in Afghanistan”, 2002

3. WHO , Depleted Uranium ( Sources, Exposure and Health Effects) , 2001

4. International Atomic Energy Agency Reports Series 2003,Vienna

5. World Uranium Weapons Conference; Hamburg/Germany Oct . 2003