The Pentagon (CNSNews.com) - A recent resolution passed by the European Parliament calling for a ban on the use of depleted uranium could pressure the United States and its NATO partners to support a moratorium on the deployment of DU munitions.

 The non-binding resolution also could give credence to claims, widely believed but as yet not substantiated scientifically, that incidences of cancer and other illnesses among soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans may have been caused by exposure to DU, which is mainly used in armor-piercing shells.

 "This is a very big issue now in Europe," said Peter Weiss, president of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, a legal group based in New York that promotes nuclear disarmament. "And it's being pursued by the governments themselves and not just a few individuals who might be called crackpots," he added.

 Seven Italian veterans of Bosnia, five Belgians and six other European nationals died from illnesses that were not combat-related after serving in the Balkans. Some of the deaths resulted from leukemia, which is widely believed to have been caused by exposure to DU munitions in NATO arsenals.

 The Pentagon has said U.S. forces fired 10,000 rounds of DU-tipped shells at Serb targets in Bosnia in 1995 and 30,000 rounds were used in the 1999 Kosovo campaign. Most of the ammunition was fired at Serb tank positions by A-10 "Warthog" jets. Citing studies, the Pentagon has maintained there is no evidence to suggest that exposure to DU munitions causes cancer.

 But the growing criticism of DU munitions could eventually have serious political repercussions for NATO, and particularly for the United States.

 "Because of the massive amounts of new information that is coming out in the last couple of months, and the interest that European governments are showing in the case, I think it's more than likely that our government - and the European governments that have been using DU - will have to render some kind of reliable account to the public, which I assume will include eventual compensation for the identified victims," Weiss said.

 Depleted uranium gets its name from a manufacturing process that separates various grades of uranium ore. The nuclear industry extracts high-yield uranium from uranium ore to make enriched raw material for nuclear fuel. What is left behind is called "depleted uranium," and possesses 60 percent of the radioactivity of natural uranium, which is itself not very radioactive.

 But critics say that comparing one grade of uranium with another is like comparing the toxic content of different brands of cigarettes. "It's inherently difficult to accept the notion that depleted uranium is wholly devoid of the radioactive effects of uranium. If it's totally depleted, why would it be called uranium?" Weiss said.

 Glenn Bell, a machinist for 30 years at the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn. suffers from chronic beryllium disease, which he believes he contacted from exposure to depleted uranium at his job.

 A link eventually will be made between depleted uranium and the symptoms suffered by troops and civilians who were exposed to these materials, he said in a phone interview.

 "We work on the assumption that no level of exposure to uranium is safe," Bell said.

 Bell distrusts studies that were conducted on DU over the years, reflecting a suspicion of official agencies held by thousands of workers involved in the mining, processing and milling of uranium ore.

 "They sit on information a lot, and by 'they' I mean the government and the contractors. We as workers are saying there is no safe level of exposure," Bell said.

 One problem is that the government and contractors conduct studies on DU "that are designed to be inconclusive. They'll put a lot of effort into a study that's designed not to go anywhere. We've seen that quite a bit," Bell said.

 But an ongoing study into 60 U.S. soldiers who were victims of friendly fire involving DU munitions also has failed to identify a cancer risk. Particular attention is being paid to 15 soldiers who still have fragments of depleted uranium in their bodies. So far, none has developed cancer, and after 10 years of study, virtually all experts on Gulf War syndrome have ruled out depleted uranium as a cause.

 The Defense Department also has found no link between DU munitions and cancer. In response to reporters' questions at a press briefing Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley reiterated that studies conducted by the Pentagon and others "do not show a correlation between depleted uranium and elevated or adverse effects on an individual's health, or significant adverse effects on the environment."

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