"I am sure that you are aware that the coalition forces used DU extensively in the southerly part of Iraq. The cancer statistics, in Iraq show a mark increase in all types of cancers all over the country. This increase cannot be explained as being due to DU used in the south alone. The US also extensively used cruise missiles to attack installations all over Iraq. Reports coming out of former Yugoslavia, which was also hit by cruse missiles, show similar pattern of disease.

  I was told that the cruise missiles carry DU as part of the stability mechanism (ballast weight). Is this true "what happens to this DU when the cruise missiles hit the target?" Unlike the A-10 bullets the cruise missiles carry explosives in the warhead. On impact with the target or the ground , when it misses the target, an explosion and a fire will start. This fire will invariably burns the DU and converts it into DU oxide and it is released into the environment. Most of the cruise missiles were targeted at installations near heavily populated areas of cities and most hit a target or exploded on the ground. A lot more people would have been affected by the DU oxides during the bombing than in the south of Iraq. Additionally more people would have been effected later during clearing of the wreckage and the rebuilding of the installations.

  To estimate the DU oxide load released into the environment one needs to know exactly how much DU in each cruise missile and the number of cruise missiles targeted on Iraq. It is a very safe bet to assume that more than 90% of this DU would have been converted into DU oxide. The figures would far exceed the figures cited by Dr. H. D. Sharma for the southern part of Iraq caused by the A-10 bullets."

(from: undisclosed)