Proposal to establish a comprehensive toxicology program in Iraq

Dr. Mohammed A. Al-Bayati

BVMS, MVSc, Ph.D., DABT, DABVT
Toxicologist & Pathologist
Toxi-Health International
150 Bloom Drive
Dixon, CA 95620
Phone: (707) 678-4484
Email: maalbayati@toxi-health.com
(http://www.toxi-health.com)

February 11, 2011

Summary:

Iraq needs a comprehensive toxicology program that includes: 1) Establishing a

toxicology-teaching program in colleges (medical, veterinary, environmental science, and

agriculture); 2) testing and monitoring the environment (air, water, and soil) for chemical

pollutants and setting regulatory requirements; 3) estimating the health risks associated

with the exposure of people to chemical pollutants in the environment; 4) setting

regulatory requirements for exposure of workers to chemicals at the work place; and 5)

establishing environmental education program involving the public and media to increase

awareness about environmental pollutions.

Section I. Brief descriptions of the proposed programs:

1) Starting a comprehensive toxicology-teaching program in the Iraqi universities that

covers the toxicology of herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals and metalloids, organic and

chlorinated solvents, toxic gases, depleted uranium, and radioactive isotopes. Toxicology
should be taught in the medical and veterinary colleges, college of environmental science,

and the college of agriculture.

2) Designing an effective program to monitor the exposure of people in general and

children in particular to lead resulted from the use of tetraethyl lead in gasoline, lead-

based paint, and unsafe disposal of lead containing industrial products in the

environment. The chronic exposures of children to lead have been linked to

developmental delay, neurological damages, and behavioral problems. The goal is to

achieve a blood level less than 10 µg/dL in children.

Laboratories capable of measuring lead in blood, tissues, hair and other biological

samples, water, fish, soil, and plant samples should be established in Baghdad and other

major cities of Iraq. Lead in air, water, and soil should be measured in all cities of Iraq to

assess the level of exposure to people and the associated health risk in each segment of

the population (pregnant women, children, and adults). The addition of lead to gasoline

must be phased out.

3) Designing an effective program to measure the levels of toxicants such as heavy

metals, pesticides, herbicides, organic and organochlorine solvents in air, water, soils,
and biological samples taken from animals and human in all cities of Iraq. The collected

data will help the toxicologists to assess the level of exposure of people to these toxicants

and the associated health risk.

4) Designing an effective program to measure the levels of depleted uranium (DU) in air,

water, soils, and biological samples taken from humans, animals, and plants.

Measurements should be made in many regions of Iraq, especially in the south and the

middle of Iraq. DU weaponry was used against Iraq in 1991 and 2003 in Gulf WAR I &

II. Hundreds of tons of DU were used in each war. DU is primarily composed of the

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uranium-238 (more than 99%). It also contains U-235 and U-234. DU is a toxic metal

and causes kidney, liver, and heart problems and affects the functions of other system. U-

238 is also weakly radioactive and remains in the environment for long time. It has a

physical half-life of 4.468 billion years. The collected data will help the toxicologists,

health care practitioners, and the government to asses the health risk associated with

exposure of each segment of the population (pregnant women, children, and adults) to

DU.

5) Establishing occupational programs to monitor the exposure of workers to chemicals at

the workplace and setting safe exposure limits.

6) Establishing program for safe disposal of chemicals generated in factories such as

organic and organochlorine solvents, heavy metals, and other toxic chemicals.

7) Establishing safe standard levels for chemicals in air, water, and soils similar to the

levels adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States of

America.

8) Establishing regional centers (South, Middle, and North of Iraq) to gather information

on the incidence and types of cancer in Iraq. Toxicology should be included in the

evaluation of the rate, occurrence, and types of cancer. Reaching valid scientific

conclusions in identifying and eliminating the carcinogenic agents will help in reducing

the risk of future exposure of people to these agents and reducing the incidence of cancer.

These measures will save lives and vital resources.

9) Establishing regional centers (South, Middle, and North of Iraq) to gather information

on the incidence and types of the acute and chronic systemic illnesses (kidney disease,

respiratory problems, a plastic anemia, neurological and others) in children and adults.

Toxicology should be included in the evaluation to identify the toxicological agents

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causing some of the health problems. Reaching valid scientific conclusions in identifying

and eliminating the toxic agents will help in reducing the risk of exposure of people to

toxic agents and reducing the incidence of illnesses. These measures will save lives and

vital resources.

10) Establishing environmental educational and outreach programs in the major cities of

Iraq that involve the media, school children, and the general public to increase the

awareness of people about environmental pollutions.

Section II. Implementations:

The above-proposed programs are some of the issues concerning toxicology that need to

be addressed by the government of Iraq. The implementations of these ideas require the

involvements of many toxicologists, health care providers, agencies (ministries of the

environment, health, agriculture, and higher education), and adequate resources.

I believe that the first phase of this project should be evaluating the existing toxicology

program in Iraq, establishing a toxicology-teaching program in a major university, and

evaluating existing toxicological data. I believe that the north of Iraq is a good place to

start implementing these ideas and establishing a toxicology program because of the

security issue. I can work with the universities and the government of Iraq to accomplish

these tasks if the government provides the necessary tools and the resources to implement

these programs.

I am a pathologist and a dual board certified toxicologist (Ph.D. DABT, DABVT). I

obtained my Ph.D. in comparative pathology in 1989 from the University of California,

Davis. I have also been certified by two national American boards of toxicology dealing

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with the fields of human, veterinary, environmental, experimental, and analytical

toxicology.

I have over 25 years experience in conducting biomedical research, teaching, diagnostic,

consulting, and testifying in US courts as an expert witness in medical-legal cases

involving children and adults. I also evaluated medical-legal cases in Canada, Australia,

Sweden, and Ireland. Furthermore, I contributed to more than 50 published articles in

scientific and medical journals, which I served as an author or a co-author. I speak and

write Arabic and English fluently. I look forward to discussing this proposal with the
Iraqi government officials and helping Iraq.