Taking stock of Saddam's fiery legacy in Kuwait
Six months after Saddam Hussein's torching of more than 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, health officials, meteorologists, and environmental experts convened during mid-August in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to assess the impact of the fires. The soot cloud produced by the fires hasn't produced a nuclear winter, nor are the carbon dioxide and other gases released going to have an appreciable effect on global warming, although regional weather changes are possible. So far adverse health effects from the heavy pall of pollution caused by the fires have been surprisingly mild. This isn't to say that premature deaths will not occur, but many scientists had feared much worse. Nevertheless, all researchers concede that the data for this particular conclusion are still preliminary, and they expressed concerns that health problems may worsen in the coming months. Most of the health effects are expected in a region blanketed by a plume of smoke 800 to 1,000 kilometers long. The average concentrations of the primary pollutants it contains, carbon-based particles and sulfur dioxide, are similar to those in any large urban center. Still, the oil fires increase the pollution burden on Kuwait, which already had a problem with particulates in the air, and some epidemiologists expect that the extra pollutants will take their toll.
- OSTI ID:
- 5677727
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 253:5023; ISSN 0036-8075
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
KUWAIT
AIR POLLUTION
OIL WELLS
FIRES
PARTICULATES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
HEALTH HAZARDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
PLUMES
ASIA
CHALCOGENIDES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
HAZARDS
MASS TRANSFER
MIDDLE EAST
MONITORING
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
POLLUTION
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
WELLS
020900* - Petroleum- Environmental Aspects
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology