LONDON, JAN. 11.The British Government has been accused of a cover-up and knowingly exposing hundreds of its soldiers to the risk from Depleted Uranium used in the U.S. and British anti- tanks shells, first during the Gulf War and later in the Balkans.

The allegation follows revelations that a secret document had warned the British Army that exposure to dust from DU could cause lung, lymph and brain cancer.

It said that soldiers cleaning and cannibalising vehicles hit by U-tipped shells were exposed to eight times the U.K.'s accepted safety radiation levels.

The report, leaked to the media on Wednesday, has deeply embarrassed the Government which has consistently maintained that the risk is negligible.

When the story first broke last week, the Government flatly denied that UD posed any risk at all and rejected demands for a medical screening of those who may have been exposed to it, but as pressure mounted following cases of leukaemia among European soldiers who had served in the Balkans it agreed to voluntary screening.

The screening, whose details are still hazy, would be available to anyone who served in Kosovo and Bosnia and had concerns about their health.

The Gulf war `veterans' however were excluded. Nearly 50,000 men and women were deployed in peacekeeping missions in the Balkans and some are being treated for suspected cancer.

The Government's handling of the issue is being compared to the way it initially reacted to the BSE crisis which later ballooned into one of the worst man-made medical disasters and whose political fallout is still being felt. The secret document, splashed in the media today, was prepared by a medical team of the British army in 1997 and it specifically mentioned the effects that DU may have had on the personnel who served in the Gulf. Yet, it is alleged, they were not given any medical test nor were steps taken to protect the personnel in the Balkans.

The Government has dismissed the report as the work of a `trainee' and insisted that fears of risk are exaggerated.

Media reports suggested that the then Tory Government knew about the risks even at the time of the Gulf War in 1991 but the `official warnings' were not passed on to soldiers. There is widespread concern that many soldiers and other personnel may not have worn protective clothing either during the Gulf conflict or later while serving in the Balkans.

The British Legion, which represents army personnel, has demanded an inquiry into the health problems of war `veterans' many of whom have complained of persistent fatigue, loss of hair and depression.