When a DU-tipped shell smashes at Mach II into a tank or armored personnel carrier it ignites and instantly burns its way through the heaviest armor. Then it burns alive the men inside. The impact and ignition also vaporizes the depleted uranium, creating an aerosol of radioactive heavy-metal particles. These particles soar upwards with the heat column of the flaming tank. When inhaled or ingested, the depleted uranium particles cause chemical and radioactive damage to the bronchial tree, kidneys, liver and bones.
Cancer often results, and the effects can even include genetic damage.
The use of depleted uranium in the Desert Storm terror campaign has caused thousands of cancer cases among the civilian people of Iraq. The Gulf War Syndrome suffered by Gulf War veterans is due to their exposure to depleted uranium radiation, as well as other nasty chemical weapons and drugs of the U.S. military. Dante's Inferno Depleted uranium is a low-level radioactive waste left over from the making of nuclear bombs and reactor fuel. When a DU round slams into armor and burns, it actually self-sharpens. Thus it can penetrate through inches of heavy armor in a flash.