White Phosphorus, how does it affect me now?

The bombs have stopped for now but I live in Jordan very close to Gaza and we are wondering what do we do to exist after the bombs. If it is in the water, the soil and the earth, do we avoid food and water or can someone give us some ideals? We need your help.


“When exposed to a certain area, white phosphorus contaminates various environmental elements, including water, air, soil and living creatures… the air becomes polluted with toxic hazardous chemicals,” JES Executive Director Ahmad Kofahi told The Jordan Times.

“Breathing white phosphorus causes respiratory and nervous diseases, while exposure to the substance causes skin burns which only leave bones…,” Kofahi said.

People can also be harmed from the substance after swimming in or consuming fish from water contaminated with white phosphorus, or from soil as the white phosphorus sticks to particles, he added.

Web sources indicate that breathing white phosphorus for long periods causes a condition known as "phossy jaw" which involves poor wound healing of the mouth and breakdown of the jaw bone, while eating or drinking small amounts of white phosphorus may cause liver, heart or kidney damage, vomiting, stomach cramps, drowsiness and death.

“This is what Palestinians in Gaza are being exposed to, children are being burned with this lethal chemical and no one is doing anything to stop that. Pictures and TV broadcast show Israel using white phosphorus bombs,” he added.




http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=13428
Tweet