Iraq's environment is devastated after decades of wars and gas emissions and fumes spewed by oil wel

[size=52]Iraq's environment is devastated after decades of wars and gas emissions and fumes spewed by oil wells[/size]

[size=45]Translation / Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]Inside Climate News, the American website concerned with environmental and pollution issues, published a lengthy report on the environmental situation in Iraq, in which it indicated that decades of wars, poverty and burning fuel from oil extraction fields have had their consequences on the destruction of the country's environment, with serious health effects. on the people as well as the pollution of environmental life in general.[/size]
[size=45]The report, which was published by the site under the title (After the wars in Iraq, every living thing is dying), stated that at one of the oil wells in northern Iraq, plumes of smoke began to spew from dozens of burning towers in the field. Those towers are only 150 feet from the house of 60-year-old Kamila Rashid, who is standing at the entrance to the house.[/size]
[size=45]These flame-emitting combustion towers are used by oil refineries all over the world to burn gas and associated fuels during the crude oil extraction process. Such fumes emit pollutants harmful to health into the air, including soot, which is also known as black carbon.[/size]
[size=45]“Soot covers our skin and our homes with a black layer,” Rasheed says. All the people of the village tend to keep the windows and doors closed as much as possible.”[/size]
[size=45]Her neighbor, Bilah Mahmoud, 29 years old, says that there are miscarriages among women because of this pollution, and she said that since the oil company started operating this field, nearly 300 women have miscarried.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicates that the United Nations stated in a report in 2005 that it estimated the presence of several thousand contaminated sites in Iraq. Five years later, an investigation by the Times of London revealed that the US military had left behind nearly 11 million pounds of toxic waste left in Iraq. Today the country is still rife with dangerous substances such as depleted uranium and dioxin, which have polluted the soil and water. On top of all these matters, Iraq is considered among the countries most affected by climate change, which has already caused the low water levels in the country and the problem of chronic drought.[/size]
[size=45]According to Iraqi doctors, many cases of disease related to environmental pollution in Iraq are limited to high rates of cancer, birth defects and many other diseases. Preliminary research by local scholars backed these claims. While the government has admitted that the cause of pollution is caused by wars and has implemented some treatment programs, few critics believe that these measures will be sufficient to address an environmental and public health problem that would be costly.[/size]
[size=45]German environmental expert, Hoim Zuenberg, says, "Historically, governments often do not give priority to the environmental dimensions of wars, yet the effects of environmentally destructive wars appear in the future." The German expert revealed the presence of pollution in Iraq and points to the need to conduct additional research for the purpose of cleaning the country of harmful toxins and providing and mitigating health risks faced by the people living in areas that witnessed battles and wars.[/size]
[size=45]Idris Farouk, 27, who lives near an oil field, says, “If you travel to any village in Iraq, you will find pollution there, radioactive emissions and cases of cancer. It is the legacy of the war waged by the United States on Iraq and the wars that preceded and followed them, and in every war, toxic residues are left.”[/size]
[size=45]Since Iraq ranks sixth as the highest oil producer in the world, the country was classified in 2020 by the World Bank as coming second after Russia in the amount of associated gas that it burns in the air from its oil fields, causing air pollution that is inhaled by the people.[/size]
[size=45]The pollution caused by oil fields is not limited to the air, but there are waste burial sites in which oil residues are dumped, surrounded by agricultural lands and farmers, all of whom complained of suffering from various health problems, including migraines, acute dermatitis, miscarriages, cancer, respiratory problems, difficulty breathing and cases of asthma. .[/size]
[size=45]Experts studying the complex environmental pollution situation in Iraq say that the problem lies in the remnants of war that have been launched in Iraq since the 1990s and pose major health challenges, including depleted uranium, burning associated gas, and leaving war remnants and their role in inciting diseases.[/size]
[size=45]Basem Hammoud, a cancer specialist at Nasiriyah Hospital, says, “We do not have the facilities and equipment to detect the causes of cancer cases.”[/size]
[size=45]Eman, a doctor at the Children's Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, says that there are cases of deformities of children's sexual organs, deformities of the spine, enlargement of the head and tumors. At the same time, there are cases of miscarriage and an increase in the number of premature births among women, especially in areas that witnessed battles and the use of depleted uranium bombs.[/size]
[size=45]According to a report published in 2010 in the American Journal of Public Health, in which it referred to the diagnosis of leukemia cases in children under 15 years of age, their number doubled in one hospital in southern Iraq from 1993 to 1999. Now, after 20 years, it is difficult to determine the factors Accurately contribute to the ongoing health problems in Iraq. Doctor Iman says that she suspects contaminated water and the lack of proper nutrition in addition to poverty, which are also influential factors in addition to other war factors, especially the depleted uranium used in military projectiles during the Gulf War and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.[/size]
[size=45]The United Nations Environmental Program estimates that nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium have been used in Iraq and much of it still needs to be cleaned up and removed. German researcher Zuenberg says that remnants of depleted uranium munitions are scattered in more than 1,100 sites in Iraq, and this is a remnant of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 only.[/size]
[size=45]To this day, remnants of tanks and other weapons are still dumped along the main road between Baghdad and Basra, where contaminated wreckage is still a part of the daily lives of nearby residents. Zuenberg points out that one of the Basra families suffers from cancer, leukemia and bone cancer.[/size]
[size=45]Fallujah, the city that witnessed violent battles after the US occupation in 2003, is witnessing a rise in cases of congenital malformations among the city's children. Based on an article published on Al-Jazeera in 2012, the pediatrician, Samira Al-Ani, estimated that 14% of the births of children in Fallujah come with birth defects, and this rate is more than twice the global average.[/size]
[size=45]Now the water channels in Iraq are facing another threat. According to researchers, 70% of industrial waste is dumped in rivers or lakes. The researcher, Harry Estebanian, from the Institute of Energy in Iraq, says that the rivers and water channels leading to the marshes in southern Iraq suffer from high levels of pollution from industrial waste, sewage, sunken ships, and the wreckage of other war equipment sunken at their bottom since the eighties of the last century.[/size]
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