Published Saturday, January 6, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Experts dismiss tests for health damage by uranium to troops in Balkans action
http://www.miamiherald.com/content/today/news/world/digdocs/023391.htm

 LONDON -- (AP) -- While European governments scramble to screen soldiers who may have been exposed to depleted uranium in the Balkans, many medical experts are skeptical that it caused cancer and other illnesses reported by veterans.

 A heavy metal with low levels of radioactivity, depleted uranium is used in ammunition to penetrate tanks and other armor.

 Some scientists believe the dust created when rounds hit targets may be harmful, but studies of Gulf War troops have found no proof it caused diseases.

POLITICAL STRATEGY

 Some experts say the health screenings are little more than a political strategy to head off accusations that governments are covering up ill-health effects, as is alleged by some Gulf War veterans with unexplained illnesses.

 ``Depleted uranium vaporizes instantly. You would have to be very close to a damaged tank and be there within seconds of it being hit,'' said Yan Grosse, a toxicologist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization. ``These soldiers were very unlikely to have been exposed.''

 But Roger William Coghill, a British radiation researcher, argued that depleted uranium -- first used in ammunition during the Gulf War -- could be the cause of illnesses reported by soldiers who served in the Balkans.

 Not all the depleted uranium vaporizes when the projectile strikes its target, and radioactive derivatives can linger in the air for months, he said.

 ``Just one particle in the lungs is enough,'' Coghill said, adding that a single particle could travel to the lymph nodes, where the radioactivity would lower the body's defenses against lymphomas and leukemia.

 ``There's still a lot of science to be found out, but I can't believe you can dismiss the link out of hand,'' he said.

 The controversy in Europe over NATO's use of depleted uranium in Bosnia in 1994-95 and later in Kosovo flared in December after Italy's defense minister, Sergio Mattarella, announced an investigation of 30 cases of illness involving soldiers who served in the region, 12 of whom developed cancer. Five have died of leukemia.

OTHERS PLEDGE ACTION

 Spain, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the European Union have also said they would screen troops and check radiation levels where their peacekeepers are serving.

 The Pentagon said this week that regular health checks have revealed no problems with leukemia and other illnesses among U.S. troops who served in the Balkans.

 A United Nations investigative team went to the region in November and is expected to publish its report next month.



Commento: che accordi ci sono esattamente tra la "International Agency for Research on Cancer" e la IAEA?