Sunday, January 7 12:24 AM SGT
US troops in Kosovo still use depleted uranium

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Jan 6 (AFP) -  Amid European fears depleted uranium could pose a health risk, the US army said Saturday that its troops deployed as peacekeepers in Kosovo were equipped with weapons containing it.

"US forces in Kosovo use depleted uranium (DU), both in the armour of the M1A1 Abrams tank and in anti-tank rounds," an army statement released from the headquarters of the US contingent in the KFOR peacekeeping force said.

"This is no secret because we have used depleted uranium for these applications for years. For operational security reasons we do not discuss the types or quantities of ammunition located at specific bases or intallations," it added.

The US has admitted firing more than 30,000 30 mm anti-tank rounds containing DU from A-10 Thunderbolt "tankbuster" planes over Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1998.

The families of European peacekeepers who contracted leukemia and other cancers after serving in the Balkans have blamed the illnesses on DU munitions. But the US military has always insisted the material, used to make shells denser and more capable of piercing armour, is safe.

While it is relatively low in radiation, the fine dust thrown up when it hits its target is thought to be potentially toxic if ingested or absorbed through an open wound.

The US statement said it was believed that this danger would only apply to someone who inspected a vehicle recently hit by the ammunition.

The A-10 was flown out of Italian airbases during the Kosovo conflict and is not based permanently in the province, but a number of M1A1 tanks protected by DU-enhanced armour plating and capable of firing DU shells are deployed with KFOR.

So far, eight Italians -- seven soldiers and an aid worker -- have died of leukemia after serving in the Balkans and a further ten are being closely examined for symptoms of the so-called "Balkans Syndrome." The Belgian army has reported five cases of fatal cancers and the Dutch two, France said it had detected four cases of leukemia and Denmark one among their Balkans veterans.

The Spanish daily El Mundo said that at least seven cases of cancer -- two of them fatal -- had emerged in recent months among Spanish soldiers and aid workers who had served in Bosnia or Kosovo.

The Pentagon has said no adverse effects had been found in US personnel who handled the ammunition and rejected calls to stop using it.

"We don't see any health reason to consider a moratorium now," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said in Washington Thursday.