Troops left in the Dark about DU

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'Troops Left in Dark About Depleted Uranium Risks' By Tom Whitehead, PA News

More could have been done to allay soldiers’ fears over exposure to depleted uranium during the first Gulf War, the Government admitted today.But defence officials claimed there was no reliable evidence to link such exposure to ill-health.Depleted uranium (DU) is used by British forces in anti-armour munitions and contact with dust particles has been the source of grave health concerns by some soldiers.It has also been cited as one possible cause for so-called “Gulf War Syndrome”.A report into health lessons learnt from the 1990/91 conflict, published by the Ministry of Defence today, said there could have been better communication to put troops at ease.The paper, The 1990-1991 Gulf Conflict: Health and Personnel Related Lessons Identified, said: “With hindsight, more could have been done to anticipate that their use might precipitate worries about ill-health and to communicate the minimal health risks more effectively.“Some advice was available within the US chain of command, and some was passed through the UK medical chain of command into theatre, but in both cases the information arrived late and was not widely disseminated, nor adequately communicated to the front line commands before the conflict.“This led to the situation where some UK forces potentially could have been exposed to DU dust (which is chemically toxic and weakly radioactive) during clean-up activities or unauthorised ‘sight-seeing’.”But the report goes on: “However, there is no scientific or medical evidence to link DU with ill-health.”It said several independent reports had been produced and more studies were under way, but “none of this research has found widespread DU contamination sufficient to impact on the health of the general population or deployed personnel”.The Depleted Uranium Oversight Board was set up by the MoD in September 2001 to develop voluntary DU screening for veterans.Defence officials said 350 people have been tested so far of which “only a small number” have been found to be excreting DU in their urine.They were all involved in “friendly fire” incidents or hit by shrapnel, sources said.A pilot study of general population urine uranium levels is now under way to establish what “normal” levels are.Sources said “sensible precautions” are now in place to protect soldiers who may come in to contact with DU.That includes routine training and instruction and personal dose meters for those who are in regular contact with tanks, which use DU in their shells.

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