But some soldiers who served in the Gulf War and in the Balkans are now suffering from leukemia and blame exposure to radioactive dust from spent DU rounds which were fired there. Although the chemical toxicity is low, there may be localised radiation damage of the lung leading to cancer. Exposure to uranium dust has been shown to increase risks of developing lung, lymph and brain cancers. He said the report was written by a senior defence ministry official and had been circulated at senior levels. We have got 521 Gulf War veterans who have died since April 1991.
Someone is misleading the country.
Someone is misleading the House of Commons. I believe the current armed forces minister, along with previous armed forces ministers, has been miseld by senior civil servants at the Ministry of Defence. The Europe-wide scare over the health risk from DU rounds started in Italy, where six soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans have died from leukemia. Italy, Portugal, Norway, Germany, and Belgium have all either set up their own screening programmes or called on NATO to launch an investigation into the health risks, while Russia has also called for a probe. But Britain and the United States, along with France the only countries acknowledged to use the tank-busting munitions, resisted the calls for a probe, insisting there is no health risk.