In Portugal, Luis Paulino, the father of a veteran, has ordered the body of his son to be exhumed and examined anew. His son Hugo, a corporal, died last year, three weeks after returning from Kosovo. Kevin Rudland, a British Army engineer who left home as a healthy young man, is now thin, weak and totally bald as well as among those who criticize the British government for not taking their cases seriously. A team of British biologists conducting an inquiry into the long-term effects of depleted uranium weapons has called on the government to test British troops. Mr. Haavisto is particularly concerned about the residents of the former war zones.
Much ammunition is deep in the ground and affects the groundwater.
He is also concerned about the clearing of mines and unexploded ordnance. During their mission in November, Mr. Haavisto said, his team of 14 scientists, including a United States Army specialist, collected more than 400 samples of soil, water, vegetation and pieces of ordnance from 11 sites. The sites were chosen from 112 areas designated by NATO as places targeted with ordnance containing depleted uranium. The samples are being analyzed for both radioactivity and toxicity in five European nations. The final report is expected in early March, he said.