Radiation Pollution and Cancer Risks in Sulaimaniyah and Ninawa Cities, Iraq
Sadie A. Menkhi
Department of Geography, College of Arts, Baghdad University, Iraq.
Falah H. Shanoon
Department of Geography, College of Arts, Kufa University, Iraq.
B. A. Almayahi *
Department of Ecology, College of Science, Kufa University, Iraq.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Pollution is the entry of contaminants into the environment or ecosystem which causes adverse change. The severe cases of radiation contamination lead to changes in DNA leading to genetic mutation, as happened in Hiroshima and Nakzaki in Japan and Chernobyl. Radioactive contamination in Iraq was resulted in the recent wars (1991-2015), because of uranium munitions. It is led to serious environmental and health disasters such as cancer, leukemia, and birth defects. The Iraqi Ministry of Environment has indicated that more than 300 sites in Iraq were polluted by mercury pesticides, heavy metals, polyol, chlorine, and depleted uranium, because of the abandoned weapons in some parts of Iraq from the remnants of the wars that have occurred in the Iraq.
Keywords: Radioactivity, DNA, pollution, uranium