On the tenth anniversary of the Gulf War, one of the main controversies to which it gave rise - the dangers of artillery shells coated with depleted uranium for civilians and troops - continues apace. These weapons were used again in Bosnia and Kosovo and have been in the news because of complaints that NATO troops and civilians there have developed leukaemia and other radiation diseases as a result. Whatever the truth of the matter, the affair has been marked by a chronicle of bad faith and deception by military and security establishments loath to admit responsibility or culpability and anxious to maintain the use of effective and relatively cheap weapons. Shells coated with depleted uranium are capable of piercing armour plating on tanks and other vehicles with greater effect than other materials, the military claim. After firing, radiation does escape and is a risk to those exposed to it, including troops and civilians who might breathe in dust particles. In Britain, the Ministry of Defence tried to shrug off or discredit press disclosures that a 1997 internal army medical report warned that exposure to depleted uranium increased the risk of developing lymph, lung and brain cancers. This was in flat contradiction of assurances that there is no evidence that exposure poses any threat to military personnel.
Not surprisingly, soldiers who have developed such symptoms have paid close attention to such contortions of communication. Evidently, the military authorities are fearful that to admit such a link would open up a flood of compensation claims. The same dissembling techniques have been used in other NATO countries as troops in Italy, Portugal and Spain have reported similar symptoms.
It is hard to maintain an even-handed belief in scientific proof concerning the effects of radiation when public relations have been manipulated in such a fashion. This is even more the case concerning the possible effect on civilian populations of exposure to dust from depleted radiation shells. There is very disturbing evidence from Iraq that pockets of cancer disease have emerged in many areas where these weapons were used in the Gulf War. In the same way, their use in Bosnia, and most recently during the Kosovo war, has opened up suspicions that many more people could suffer than has so far been officially admitted.
It takes time, possible many years, for such symptoms to manifest themselves. They must be monitored very closely by the relevant United Nations organisations, as well as by independent authorities in NATO countries and in states like Ireland whose troops are part of the post-war peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, was commendably quick to order health screening and tests for harmful radiation for some 100 Irish transport troops in Kosovo. It is noteworthy that depleted uranium shells are to be phased out by some sections of the United States military. Using the precautionary principle, it would be better to ban their use altogether to allow proper scientific tests to be completed.