Some Gulf War veterans are glad for the recent attention depleted uranium is receiving in Europe. Many of the veterans have been saying for years that the radioactive material made them sick after they came home from the 1991 war.

Other veterans of the war in the Persian Gulf, frustrated by ailments that the U.S. government maintained for years did not exist, resent the attention European soldiers are getting in comparison to the neglect they feel.

"Some veterans are saying, 'It's about time. They're waking up with what happened in Europe,' " said Pat Eddington, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "That's helped to renew interest to what happened here.

"But other veterans are saying, 'We have all this press about what happened in Europe, but the amount of depleted uranium used in Europe was a tiny fraction of what was used in the gulf. We're not getting the attention and focus that the European situation is receiving.' "

The latest controversy concerning depleted uranium surfaced after reports that nearly two dozen soldiers who served in the Balkans, including seven Italians, have died from leukemia, lymphoma or skin cancer.

NATO forces used about 7,000 pounds of DU ammunition in Bosnia from 1994-95 and another 20,000 pounds in Kosovo in 1999, according to Dan Fahey, who has written two extensive reports on depleted uranium.

In contrast, Allied forces used 640,000 pounds of DU ammunition in the 1991 Gulf War.

Depleted uranium, which is the byproduct of the uranium used to fuel nuclear reactors and to make nuclear weapons, is used in armor-piercing shells and bullets because it is more than twice as dense as lead.

According to Pentagon maps, about half of the nearly 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the Gulf War passed through areas contaminated with DU.

But the Pentagon, which now admits that at least 100,000 veterans suffer from Gulf War-related illnesses, maintains that the assortment of ailments was not caused by depleted uranium.

"Research does continue, but we have all but ruled it out," said Pentagon spokesman Austin Camacho.

Even in the most extreme cases, Camacho said, exposure to DU has caused kidney problems, not the fatigue, headaches, joint and muscle pain, diarrhea, memory loss and rashes associated with Gulf War illness.

But Camacho said the Pentagon is at a loss to explain what made the veterans sick.

"We do not know and that, of course, is the problem," he said.

The Pentagon also contends DU is not to blame in the Balkans.

"Based on our studies," Camacho said, "we have pretty much ruled it out as the cause of illness to our military members and to our allies."

Fahey, a critic of the Pentagon's use of DU, said he is skeptical that the radioactive material is linked to the leukemia and cancer reported by NATO troops.

But after having Pentagon officials discount his concerns about the radioactive weapons for years, Fahey said he is glad to see the issue finally become worldwide news.

"This is a debate that should have happened years ago, on the use of this weapon," he said. "I'm happy to see it get the attention it deserves."

> ON THE WEB: National Gulf War Resource Center: www.ngwrc.org/

Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses: www.gulflink.osd.mil