The government should set up a full independent inquiry into the effects of uranium-tipped shells, including the screening of veterans, without delay. The shells have been linked to cancer in soldiers in the Balkans conflicts and the Ministry of Defence has now confirmed that they have been used on firing ranges in the UK.

The government's official position is that there is no case for a separate inquiry because there has been no evidence of any significant risk to British personnel. Officials claim that the health and safety executive has been monitoring the use of weapons on ranges for 10 years without finding any risk to troops or civilians. That may be so, but we don't know the level of monitoring nor what a more detailed survey might have found.

If there is one lesson that ought to have been learned in recent years it is that when there is a potential danger to people, the government should be proactive and go out of its way to allay suspicion. It didn't do this in response to the early worries about BSE, with disastrous consequences. It has taken a more enlightened attitude to mobile phones by publishing a report that sets out the facts (no proven worries for adults yet but children shouldn't overindulge) leaving people to make up their own minds.

The Ministry of Defence should be particularly sensitive as it dragged its feet over what has come to be known as Gulf war syndrome. John Spellar, the junior defence minister, told the Commons at the end of last year: "We are unaware of anything that shows depleted uranium has caused any ill-health or death of people who served in Kosovo or Bosnia." But how would he know unless a proper survey has been undertaken? Until recently the government could also quote the official view of Nato and the United States that there was nothing to worry about.

Now it is different. On Friday the United Nations environment programme (UNEP) admitted it had found traces of radiation at eight sites in Kosovo hit by Nato shells similar to those used by the US in Bosnia and the Gulf war. Last week, Italy started its own investigation after six deaths and 30 cases of similar illnesses. France said on Thursday that four Balkan veterans were being treated for leukaemia and Spain is reported to have sent a team to Kosovo to investigate for itself.

Kevin Rudland, a former Royal Engineer, is the first reported British case of Balkans syndrome. He claims to have suffered debilitating health problems after serving in Bosnia. Meanwhile work done by Dr Chris Busby (reported in yesterday's Observer) on Gulf war battlefields indicates that air samples taken from Iraqi battlefields - where 300,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition were used - showed levels of irradiated particles in the atmosphere 20 times greater than in Baghdad.

Britain has adopted an ostrich-like approach compared with the rest of Europe, which has now detached itself from the Nato/US common front. The European Union is expected to announce tomorrow that it will debate the matter while in Britain the Commons defence committee is to summon ministers to explain their attitudes to fears that depleted uranium shells might have caused illnesses among British soldiers.

If they have already done authoritative tests and found no evidence then they should publish the results immediately. If they haven't done proper tests they should instigate some forthwith. This is not just to solve what looks like a serious problem in itself: it is also to demonstrate that the culture of Whitehall towards similar worries now, and in the future, has also changed.