The risks associated with DU are both chemical and radiological. At least 18 tonnes of DU weapons have been test-fired in Britain at army ranges in Kirkcudbright and Cumbria. Most of the munitions landed in the Solway Firth, where they remain. The Military Toxics Project and Dr Hari Sharma, of the University of Waterloo, Ontario, have published the results of a study into the use of DU munitions in the Gulf. They say the result is likely to be an increase of between 20,000 and 100,000 fatal cancers in veterans and Iraqi citizens.
Concern also persists over the wider ecological consequences of the war with Serbia.
The World Wide Fund for Nature says an environmental crisis threatens Yugoslavia and its neighbours, particularly further down the Danube and in the Black Sea. It says the damage to downstream areas of the unidentified pollutants discharged into the Danube is unclear. Ten million people depend on the river for drinking water. According to Fahey's report, the Air Force fired depleted uranium ammunition in combat in Bosnia in 1994-95. Depleted uranium ammunition is made from a radioactive and toxic metal that is twice as dense as lead.