By Ramzi Kysia

Baghdad, Iraq - Dr. Alim Abdul-Hamid’s office at Al-Mustanseriya Medical College in Baghdad is decorated in bright, cheerful colors, but what he has to say is anything but cheerful. Formerly Dean of Basra Medical College, Dr. Abdul-Hamid has had plenty of first hand experience with Iraq’s unprecedented plague of cancers and birth defects.

“We have seen cases of breast cancer among women in their 20s. In their 20s!,” says Dr. Abdul-Hamid. “This is really tragic, because, you know, in America, probably when you come across a case of breast cancer in a woman in her late 30s you would consider that this is a young age for cancer, while we see cases of breast cancer in the 20s. There are increased incidences of colon cancer, thyroid cancer, in addition to, of course, leukemias and lymphomas.”