The Atlanta Journal- Constitution
Did NATO's bombs poison Balkans vets?
Bert Roughton Jr. - Cox Washington Bureau
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/sunday/news_a31646bca41402650034.html
Sunday, January 14, 2001

London --- Within a few months of his return in 1996 from an army tour in Bosnia, Kevin Rudland began to experience gradual but alarming changes in his health.

At first, it seemed to be a case of the flu that wouldn't go away. Then his hair fell out. His teeth began to decay badly. He had severe bowel problems, and he felt the pain in his bones of arthritis. These days the East Yorkshire man feels so tired most of the time that he is unable to work or even enjoy the simple pleasure of a walk.

''I'm very ill now, but all I want is answers,'' said Rudland, 41, a father of three who was in the British military for 18 years. Now he believes the cause of his illness is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Rudland believes he was poisoned by the dust from depleted-uranium, or DU, shells fired by NATO forces in Bosnia during the war there in 1994-95.

Concerns about the health risks of DU shells have swept Europe since the start of the year, placing tremendous pressure on NATO member governments to respond to a deeply skeptical public and hostile news media.

While some scientists believe the risk from the material is too great to justify its use, NATO's biggest players --- particularly the United States and Britain --- have dismissed the concerns as unfounded.

Military leaders love DU shells because they are cheap and 1.7 times denser than lead, making them capable of piercing tank armor with lethal effect.

Yet, the deaths last year from leukemia of seven Italian soldiers who served in Kosovo raised alarms across the continent and forced governments to begin to take seriously the complaints of veterans such as Rudland.

Across Europe, the deaths of 17 other Balkans veterans have been linked in news reports to depleted uranium. Dozens more European veterans have complained of health problems they suspect are related to exposure to the material.

After initially dismissing his complaints, the British government has agreed to look at Rudland's case to see if he is indeed sick with what has come to be called the ''Balkans syndrome.''

''I may be the first in this country at the moment, but I believe there are more that have not come forward or do not know,'' Rudland told the British Broadcasting Corp. While feeling some vindication he is finally being taken seriously, Rudland also feels betrayed. ''I should have been told there was depleted uranium around in Bosnia, and I should have been screened properly when I came back.''

Nearly 11,000 DU rounds were fired by NATO-led forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the 11-week Kosovo air campaign in 1999, NATO pilots fired about 31,000 DU missiles at Serbian tanks, leaving an estimated 10 tons of the substance scattered across the landscape.

For a decade, governments have been aware that depleted uranium poses certain health risks if not handled cautiously, not because it is radioactive but because it is toxic.

Veterans groups began complaining about its medical effects after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when U.S. forces fired about 944,000 cigar-sized DU rounds in Iraq and Kuwait. The groups blame the weapons for a vast range of health problems among thousands of veterans.

Additionally, Iraqi authorities blame thousands of civilian cancer deaths and deformities in babies on contamination by Western DU weapons.

The Pentagon says such a link is unlikely. Depleted uranium is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium ore, military officials say. While the dust left after an explosion can be toxic, its dangerous properties wash away in the first rain, they argue.

Additionally, the Pentagon says regular health checks have revealed no symptoms of leukemia or other illnesses in the tens of thousands of U.S. troops who served in the Balkans, among them several units from Georgia.

Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said sufficient warnings about possible risks had been issued within NATO. He stressed again that no link between DU and leukemia had been proved but said he wouldn't rule out further screening of exposed veterans. ''We have, I think, taken the kind of precautions that are necessary or warranted for depleted uranium, but certainly we can look at that if there is any concern,'' he said.

These reassurances have done little to calm European jitters.

European scientists have expressed considerable skepticism about the U.S. and British position. Malcolm Hooper, a professor of medicinal chemistry and a member of the independent panel assessing the research of the British Ministry of Defense, thinks the DU left behind in Bosnia and Kosovo remains toxic.

''The Ministry of Defense said it did not believe there was a health risk, but there is a big difference between what it believes and providing us with the evidence to show it is safe,'' Hooper said. ''Not doing the tests is criminal negligence, horrendous and unacceptable.''

The health scare follows recent tempests over health issues such as fears of beef infected with mad cow disease, dioxin in pork and poultry, genetically modified crops and even worries about contaminated Coca-Cola.

As with these other rapidly brewing controversies, the public and press have moved with stunning speed to bring pressure on their slow-moving governments for action. Within just a few weeks, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Turkey announced they would employ screening programs for their Balkans veterans. Even Britain, which began the week in harmony with its U.S. cousins, made a policy U-turn after a few days of noisy public outcry. While insisting that no medical risk has been established, the British military agreed grudgingly to offer medical tests to Balkans and Gulf War veterans.

As reports of afflicted veterans multiply in the European press, the United States and Britain find themselves parting ways with other European powers --- including the United Nations. The level of European hostility toward the two allies has been heightened by this new controversy.

French newspapers have been particularly surly. A front page accounnt of the controvery in Liberation was headlined ''Ten years of lies.''

An editorial inside, titled ''Arrogance,'' accused U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright of lying when she said the material wasn't harmful. It accused the United States of lying to its NATO allies about the risks and said America is in a precarious situation as other alliances seek the truth on their own.

For the incoming Bush administration, the dispute has become an urgent issue at a delicate time for the 19-nation alliance. The Europeans have growing ambitions in the area of defense and foreign policy, and a number of real or potential differences --- including over U.S. plans for a national missile defense system --- threaten a rift.

Military leaders at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, have expressed some concern about the unity of the alliance while the dispute lingers. Rafael Estrella, a Spanish legislator who serves as president of NATO's parliamentary assembly, described it as a political issue in need of immediate resolution.

''European governments will think twice about sending troops on NATO military missions next time if they know the Americans and the British will be using depleted-uranium weapons,'' Estrella said.