Uranium missile health fears deepen

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The political fall-out over concerns over the potential health risks to NATO troops exposed to uranium-tipped weapons looks set to intensify.

As Germany's defence minister dismissed the health concerns on Monday, it was reported that Britain was warned a decade ago about the risks to troops of using depleted uranium missiles in combat.

The developments came the day after the chief prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal said NATO's use of depleted uranium could be investigated as a possible war crime.

Carla del Ponte said "if we have sufficient elements we will be obliged to investigate" whether the use of the heavy metal in the Balkans conflicts constituted a war crime.

Depleted uranium (DU) weapons were used in the Balkans by U.S. Air Force A-10 aircraft against Serb armoured vehicles.

REFERENCE Balkans Syndrome   •  Uranium facts   •  Search for truth   •  Depleted uranium effects   •  Q&A: NATO fears   •  Cause for doubt   •  Cancer, leukaemia reports   •  What they say   •  In-depth: Kosovo   •  News search

DU, used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to boost their ability to penetrate armour can be turned on impact into a toxic radioactive dust, some defence experts say.

The Pentagon says 31,000 rounds were fired during the 1999 war over Kosovo. In U.S.-led airstrikes in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, about 10,800 rounds were fired around Sarajevo.

Several NATO member states, including Italy, are now carrying out their own health and scientific investigations into a possible link between the use of the weapons in the Balkan wars and cancer-related deaths among servicemen serving in the region.

The latest country to embark on an investigation is Switzerland. Its defence ministry said on Sunday it planned to check the health implications of DU weapons test-fired in central Switzerland 30 years ago.

Russia, meanwhile, is calling for an international conference of specialists to look at the problem within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Rudolf Scharping, the German defence minister, said he sees no link between reported leukaemia cases among German soldiers and the deployment of German peacekeepers to Kosovo.

After consultations with health experts and military staff, Scharping said he was standing by the finding of independent examinations in 1999 of German troops returning from Kosovo.

Health tests on soldiers sent to Kosovo and those not deployed there showed no differences, he said.

The Defence Ministry says the incidence of two cancers -- leukaemia and lymphoma -- among German soldiers was no higher than among the general population in 1999.

Scharping has called for a moratorium on using depleted uranium weapons so more research can be carried out, but he also has criticised media-generated "hysteria" on the issue.

A newspaper reported that a second German soldier is now blaming his leukaemia on his service in the Balkans. The soldier was stationed in Bosnia in 1996, Welt am Sonntag reported.

Meanwhile, in Britain, a newspaper says the government was warned by its nuclear safety adviser a decade ago about the risks to its own troops of using depleted uranium missiles.

A confidential report written in 1991 by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) made clear that the shells left in Kuwait after the Gulf War were a potential source of radioactive contamination. The Times said.

The Times quoted the AEA report, as saying DU could "become a long-term problem if not dealt with."

The AEA concluded, according to The Times report: "The problem will not go away and should be tackled before it becomes a political problem created by the environmental lobby."

On Sunday, British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon defended the use of depleted uranium arms, which he described as "astonishingly effective."

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Germany issues uranium 'all clear'
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U.N. plays down ammunition risk
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NATO blamed for 400 cancer deaths
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Belgrade: NATO contaminated our land
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U.N. urges more radiation tests
January 11, 2001

UN Environment Programme: Balkans
World Health Organisation
U.S. Dept of Energy: Depleted Uranium
NATO
UK Ministry of Defence
UK Atomic Energy Authority
The Times

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