The simple and effective technique of fission track etch has been applied to determine trace concentration of uranium in human blood samples taken from two groups of male and female participants: leukemia patients and healthy subjects group. The blood samples of leukemia patients and healthy subjects were collected from three key southern governorates namely, Basrah, Muthanna and Dhi-Qar. These governorates were the centers of intensive military activities during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars, and the discarded weapons are still lying around in these regions. CR-39 track detector was used for registration of induced fission tracks. The results show that the highest recorded uranium concentration in the blood samples of leukemia patients was 4.71 ppb (female, 45 years old, from Basrah) and the minimum concentration was 1.91 ppb (male, 3 years old, from Muthanna). For healthy group, the maximum uranium concentration was 2.15 ppb (female, 55 years old, from Basrah) and the minimum concentration was 0.86 ppb (male, 5 years old, from Dhi-Qar). It has been found that the uranium concentrations in human blood samples of leukemia patients are higher than those of the healthy group. These uranium concentrations in the leukemia patients group were significantly different (P < 0.001) from those in the healthy group.

The technique of nuclear fission track analysis with solid state nuclear track detectors CR-39 has been applied to determine concentrations of uranium in cancerous samples of human tissues that excised from patients in the three key southern Iraqi governorates namely, Basrah, Dhi-Qar, and Muthanna. These provinces were the sites of intensive military events during the Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003. The investigation was based on the study of 24 abnormal samples and 12 normal samples for comparing the results. These samples include four types of soft tissues (kidney, breast, stomach and uterus). The results show that uranium concentrations in the normal tissues ranged between (1.42-4.76 lg kg -1 ), whereas in the cancerous tissues ranged between (3.37-7.22 lg kg -1 ). The uranium concentrations in the normal tissues were significantly lower than in the abnormal tissues (P \ 0.001).

The effective technique of γ-spectroscopy using high purity germanium detector (HPGe) has been applied to determine the specific activity of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in essential vegetable samples collected from farms of Al-Diwaniyah governorate in the south of Iraq. The specific activity of natural radionuclides was measured in Tomato, Cucumber, Okra, Potato, Radish, Turnip, Spinach, Lettuce, Cauliflower and Onion. The results show that the highest specific activity of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in potato product was (11.46, 9.12 and 120.54) Bq/kg, respectively. The average value of specific activity of radium, thorium and potassium in vegetable samples was (7.67, 5.75 and 98.39) Bq/kg, respectively. The results of the radiological hazards were compared with the published data and they were found to be within the safety levels.