BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's Defense Minister said Friday that U.S. Army documents show there have been numerous incidents involving depleted uranium ammunition held by U.S. troops stationed in Germany.

Rudolf Scharping told parliament the documents showed incidents took place between 1981 and 1990 at U.S. Army installations at Grafenwoehr in the south, and near Schweinfurt in the center of the country, among other locations.

He said U.S. authorities were checking "to what extent there were possible accidents" involving the ammunition, which sparked a European scare over possible links to illnesses in peacekeeping troops.

Scharping had called in the top U.S. diplomat in Berlin on Wednesday to request that Germany get all possible information about depleted uranium. The United States has complied, although the ministry is still waiting to receive more files, Defense Ministry spokesman Detlef Puhl said earlier.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States has been open and clear about its use of depleted uranium ammunition and will continue extensive discussions on the issue.

It was unclear whether the incidents were already known to German authorities. U.S. Army officials previously have said the depleted uranium ammunition is not used in training, but admitted that at least one depleted uranium shell was fired by mistake.

"Standard practice is to release information when we have an incident and to notify the host nation officials," U.S. Army Europe spokesman Jim Boyle said.

Parts of the documents were released to the media by the U.S. Army Europe and include the following incidents:

-Three rounds of depleted uranium ammunition were burned when a U.S. Army tank caught fire at Conn Barracks, Schweinfurt in 1985.

-One round of the ammunition was fired at a practice range in Grafenwoehr in 1996 or 1997. Pieces of the shell and soil from the impact point were sent for safe disposal.

-At least five other "suspected DU incidents," including other possible firing of tank rounds and fires in which the ammunition may have been destroyed.

Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in anti-armor ammunition because of its high penetrating power. U.S. forces used the ammunition both in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and during NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in 1999.

NATO and many countries including Germany have insisted there is no scientific evidence linking cancer to depleted uranium. However, many countries with peacekeeping troops in the Balkans have launched testing programs to determine if their soldiers are ill.

In Geneva on Friday, the World Health Organization said it was sending a team of experts to Kosovo to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium on the local population.

Also Friday, WHO said it had received an official request from Iraq for an investigation into the effects of depleted uranium used during the Gulf War 10 years ago.

Commento: la gente si chiederà come mai, se "l'uranio non è pericoloso", tutti gli incidenti sono stati tenuti segreti DA SEMPRE, si sono inventati i prioni della mucca pazza, si è inventata una intera famiglia di "virus", i retrovirus. Retro sì, ma fino a un certo punto.