Baghdad oil fires 'serious health hazard'

Baghdad oil fires 'serious health hazard'

By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

Two British scientists say the oil fires burning round Baghdad are a serious threat to the health of many people living there.

Being in Baghdad just now must be like living in a bus garage, with all the engines running at full throttle

Professor Ian Colbeck

One estimate says the pollution from the fires could cause several thousand deaths.

Those likely to be at particular risk are people with breathing problems. But the fires are thought to be of very little military help to Iraq at the moment.

The scientists were speaking at a briefing at the Royal Institution in London on the effects of oil spills and fires in the war.

Huge plumes of black smoke from burning oil pits, lit by Iraqi forces to try to hamper US and British pilots, has clouded skies over the city for several days.

Accepted levels

Professor Ian Colbeck, of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex, said he was concerned about the levels of cancer-causing particles given off by the fires, called PM10s.

These are particles smaller than 10 micrometers which can penetrate deep into the lungs, and have been linked to increases in illness and death rates.

He said: "I think the levels in Baghdad at the moment are way above European Union and World Health Organisation limits.

"They'd certainly exacerbate the problems of anyone susceptible to respiratory conditions. I think there will be between a thousand and 5,000 extra deaths over time from the effects of the fires."

He told BBC News Online: "Being in Baghdad just now must be like living in a bus garage, with all the engines running at full throttle. But in military terms the smoke won't help the Iraqis much, though perhaps it could if it came to urban warfare with the coalition forces."

Incomplete burning

James Readman, professor of biogeochemistry at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said the smoke could make it harder for laser-guided bombs to find their targets.

But there were very few of those, and most of the coalition's weapons would be unaffected by the smoke.

He believed the health effects would be much more significant. Professor Readman said: "We should be worried about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the fires, which are linked to cancer."

The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says PAHs "are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances like tobacco".

DU concern

As well as being thought to be carcinogenic, they have been found to cause reproductive problems and birth defects in laboratory animals.

Many people in Iraq say that cancer rates in the south of the country have risen sharply since the 1991 Gulf war.

Professor Readman said it was impossible to say whether PAHs were to blame, or depleted uranium as many Iraqis and allied veterans believe.

There could be explanations independent of both. In that war PM10 levels were also a worry.

One US report said concentrations of pollutants from the burning oil wells in Kuwait were below levels likely to cause either short- or long-term health effects, except for PM10s.

They were found at 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre in Saudi Arabia. The limit in London is 50 micrograms.