Cancer is a widespread significant health problem in Iraq and contributes 11% to total deaths. Throughout the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, about 1200 tons of ammunition were dropped around Iraq. After the wars, cancer incidence in Iraq is about 7,000 to 8,000 cancers cases per year, and the overall incidence of lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer, and lung cancer has increased twofold and even tripled, as compared to the time before the wars. This increase could result from environmental pollution with radioactive materials including uranium, as cancer can be caused by ionizing radiation. To investigate this hypothesis, uranium concentration in the blood of 64 Iraqi females has been measured by means of CR-39 track etch detectors (42 blood samples collected from females diagnosed with breast cancer and 22 blood samples from females without breast cancer). The results show that the uranium concentrations ranged from 19.1 ± 0.3 to 238.4 ± 0.4 with an average value of 94.9 ± 5.0 ng L⁻¹ in the blood of women with breast cancer and from 5.2 ± 0.2 to 18.7 ± 0.04 with an average value of 10.5 ± 0.1 ng L⁻¹ in the blood of women without breast cancer. In comparison with the literature data, elevated levels of uranium concentration were recorded in both groups, and significantly higher average uranium concentrations were found in the blood of women with breast cancer as compared to those in the blood samples of women without breast cancer. It is concluded that there is a correlation between the incidence of breast cancer in Iraqi women and elevated levels of uranium concentrations in their blood. Whether this is a casual relationship is unclear, because cancer can be caused by various carcinogens, including environmental pollution in the region.

癌症是伊拉克普遍存在的重大健康问题，占总死亡人数的11％。在1991年和2003年的海湾战争中，大约有1200吨弹药在伊拉克周围投下。战后，伊拉克每年的癌症发病率约为7,000至8,000例癌症，与战前相比，淋巴瘤，白血病，乳腺癌和肺癌的总发病率增加了两倍甚至三倍。这种增加可能是由于放射性物质（包括铀）造成的环境污染而造成的，因为癌症可能是由电离辐射引起的。为了研究这个假设，已通过CR-39轨迹蚀刻检测器（从确诊为乳腺癌的女性中采集了42个血液样本，并从没有乳腺癌的女性中采集了22个血液样本）测量了64名伊拉克女性血液中的铀浓度。结果表明，铀浓度范围为19.1±0.3至238.4±0.4，平均值为94.9±5.0 ng L患有乳腺癌的女性血液中的^-1，从5.2±0.2到18.7±0.04，无乳腺癌女性血液中的平均值为10.5±0.1 ng L ^-1。与文献数据相比，两组均记录到铀浓度升高，与没有乳腺癌的女性血液样本相比，乳腺癌女性血液中的平均铀浓度明显更高。结论是，伊拉克妇女的乳腺癌发病率与其血液中铀浓度升高之间存在相关性。目前尚不清楚这是否是偶然的关系，因为癌症可能是由多种致癌物引起的，包括该地区的环境污染。