The Evening Standard (London)
February 20, 2001
Health row as uranium weapons tests resume
Colin Adamson

THE Ministry of Defence is facing a barrage of political and environmental protests over its decision to resume new tests of depleted uranium weapons at a military range in Scotland today.

As people living close to the Dundrennan range, near Kirkcudbright, voiced their anger and a leading scientist warned of health risks, the Scottish National Party called for the exercises to be stopped.

The MoD, however, dismissed so-called Balkan Syndrome fears as "groundless", despite mounting concern following allegations of a possible link between exposure to depleted uranium and cases of cancer among British troops who served in the peacekeeping force in the Balkans.

Nato warplanes dropped 10,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995. Soldiers from several countries, including Britain, Italy, Portugal and France, have fallen ill.

Since 1982, more than 6,000 rounds of depleted uranium have been fired from the Dundrennan range into the Solway Firth.

Because the shells disappear into seabed silt, the MoD says retrieval is virtually impossible.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, an emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Sunderland, has warned that unless the shells are removed, there is a high risk that uranium will enter the food chain. "It is far, far too simple for the MoD to say the shells pose no environmental or health hazard," he said. "As soon as they hit the mud, there is no immediate threat.

But, gradually, the shells lying on the seabed will degrade and release uranium and other metals into what is already the most highly polluted sea in the world. Sea life and fish will ingest the materials and there is a very high probability that uranium will enter the food chain.

However, the MoD continues to insist that the environmental contamination caused by the shells is negligible.

An MoD spokeswoman said that today's renewed testing, which is dependent on weather conditions, poses no health hazard. "This is a routine testing programme which was planned before any of the recent scares. We are testing the accuracy of the shells by firing them against soft targets and the alleged health risks occur when the shells are fired at hard targets, like tanks."

Eight local authorities in the Firth of Forth area want a public inquiry into the safety risks of plans to dismantle a nuclear submarine in the Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife.