But upon impact, an intense heat reaction pulverises the munitions into a toxic radioactive dust that is at the crux of a controversy over the weapons' long-term health ramifications. Last week, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said research conducted on U.S. service personnel after the Gulf War failed to produce evidence of a link between the use of the weapons and reports of ill health from former servicemen. The department has also denied that the weapons posed a health risk to former Balkan peacekeepers. Britain's defence ministry has echoed the U.S. position. At the same time, it has promised to investigate the case of a former army engineer who attributed the weapons to a range of health problems from hair loss and fatigue to severe bowel problems.
Nuclear experts are cautious about rushing to judgement based on what they consider patchy evidence.
He was referring to a fact-finding mission to the Serbian province in November by a team of investigators from the U.N. Environment Programme that included two officials from his agency. In their preliminary report, issued last week, the team said it found slightly higher levels of radiation at eight of 11 sites culled from a NATO-provided list of 112 targets. Those targets were hit by weapons containing depleted uranium in NATO's 1999 bombing campaign to repel Yugoslav forces from Kosovo. Kyd says he believes the Americans and British acted in good faith when they first used depleted uranium weapons in the Gulf War. At the time, the military prized the weapons as a cheap and convenient substitute for metals such as titanium and tungsten.