The Daily Telegraph
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
03/12/2002
VETERANS of the Gulf and Kosovo conflicts are to have urine tests to measure exposure to
toxic and radioactive depleted uranium (DU) used in armour-piercing shells.
The tests, part of a study of cancer, kidney damage and other potential health problems
caused by DU, will produce results at the end of this year - two years after the plans
were announced by the Government.
Professor Brian Spratt, chairman of a Royal Society working group that publishes an
independent study of DU today, also called for soldiers in future wars to be tested for
the heavy metal. Their kidney function should also be assessed and they should be warned
of the long-term risks to children who live where munitions were once used.
DU munitions were first fired in the Gulf war of 1991, releasing 339 tons of the toxic
metal into the environment. Although one survey said that around 17 per cent of UK
soldiers believed they had Gulf war syndrome, it has been difficult to disentangle the
health effects of DU from those of vaccinations, chemical warfare antidotes, insecticides,
rodenticides, solvents, lubricants and smoke from burning oil wells.
In January 2001, the Ministry of Defence said it would offer urine tests to veterans of
the Gulf and Balkan conflicts. Its DU oversight board has monitored efforts to come up
with a validated test using mass spectrometry. "We have get it right," said the
MoD.
Scientists believe that it should still be possible to tell whether a soldier who fought
in the Gulf inhaled as little as 25 milligrams of DU.
This level is linked with a small increased risk of lung cancer but no toxic effects on
organs. "Just testing positive for DU is not necessarily of any consequence,"
said Prof Spratt.
The highest intakes are thought to have been by around 100 US servicemen who cleaned up
contaminated vehicles, said Prof Spratt. Alarming but anecdotal reports of deaths and
illnesses among them should be independently investigated, says the study.