Better late than never, perhaps. But only just. Yesterday morning, the Government was still insisting that there was no intention to test soldiers who had served in the Balkans because of the possible dangers from depleted uranium, despite the growing concern all across Europe. Ministry of Defence spokesmen continued to declare that the situation was "the same as last week and indeed last night". By yesterday afternoon, however, the U-turn was plain for all to see. John Spellar, the armed forces minister, delivered a sledgehammer speech in which he told parliament that there was no risk of this, no link with that, no evidence of the other. But then came the concession. The Government is ready to offer the screening which it has until now categorically dismissed.

The first question must be: why only now? It first became clear in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991 that the use of depleted uranium in ammunition had potentially catastrophic effects on people's health as a result of the toxic dust released into the atmosphere. The ultra-density of depleted uranium means it is especially prized by the military, because DU-tipped missiles can pierce tank armour. But, as was clear from Robert Fisk's on-the-spot reports from southern Iraq published in The Independent at that time, serious questions needed to be asked. Instead, successive governments simply buried their heads in the sand. That failure to ask serious questions is shameful.

Nato's refusal to give information about its use of DU ammunition in Kosovo last year was eloquent in this regard. The use of depleted uranium was, after all, not a military secret. It was merely politically embarrassing, because of health concerns. Nato leaders can hardly now be surprised if the previous refusal to answer simple questions about the use of DU has now led to a deep and widespread scepticism. With all respect to Mr Spellar, his assurances from the dispatch box about the safety of depleted uranium are in danger of seeming as convincing as John Selwyn Gummer's notorious photocall with his young daughter and a hamburger, intended to prove that BSE was absolutely No Risk At All.

Even now, there is no absolute proof of a connection between the use of DU and the cluster of leukemia deaths among Italian soldiers and cancers and other illnesses suffered by soldiers of different nationalities who spent time in the Gulf and in the Balkans.

That, however, is beside the point. The reason that we have no proof is because proper studies have not yet been carried out. To say "there is no evidence" when nobody has gone looking for that evidence is both insulting and absurd.

We welcome the fact that the UK is now finally ready to acknowledge the extent of public concern. Even now, however, that response has been far too grudging, as though loyalty to the US ally – which has been chief cheerleader for depleted uranium from the start – counts for more than finding out the truth. Offering tests to those who ask for them is far less satisfactory than carrying out a survey which would be able to establish the truth once and for all.

Even now, the Government seems determined not to confront the gravity of the situation. Mr Spellar yesterday himself pointed to the reason for the determination not to give up on depleted uranium – its "battle-winning capability". In other words, the generals are determined not to lose it. That is all very well. But if the price for victorious battles is that innocent people must die, then the price is far too high.