Ottawa Citizen
Saturday 20 January 2001
'I'm sure we've been exposed' to depleted uranium, soldiers say
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/010120/5031433.html

Migraines and other ailments plague Canadian 'Highway to Hell' veterans involved in Kuwait cleanup after the Gulf War, Douglas Quan reports.
Douglas Quan, with files from David Pugliese, Christopher Guly and Ryan Baker

Canadian soldiers who served in Kuwait after the Gulf War and handled spent depleted uranium ammunition weren't informed of the possible risks until after the mission ended.

The soldiers routinely handled the ammunition -- some with their bare hands -- and now fear they may have been exposed to radiation that is making them sick.

In interviews with 18 soldiers who served in the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment in 1991, 10 reported suffering from some kind of health problem. Five complained of mind-blowing and persistent headaches. Two complained of memory loss, lethargy and having troubles sleeping. One veteran recently had a thyroid gland in his neck removed due to cancer. Another was diagnosed late last year with emphysema. And another said he has had abdominal pains for the last two years, in addition to headaches.

Even many of those soldiers who didn't report any health problems said they were concerned about their health, and felt the government was not doing enough to investigate.

"I'm sure we've been exposed to it," said Harry Poile, the regimental sergeant major at the time, "but nobody seems to have bothered to worry about us."

As the Citizen reported earlier this week, at least 50 soldiers may have been exposed to DU debris and ashes after a massive explosion and fire at an American ammunition dump in Doha, Kuwait.

According to a report to the President Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses in 1996, as many as 660 DU ammunition shells may have gone up in flames. Another 14 tanks, which may have been outfitted with depleted uranium armour, were also destroyed in the blast, sending thick plumes of smoke over the U.S. base and adjacent Canadian base.

The Citizen has now also learned that many of those soldiers and others in the regiment, possibly as many as 200 in all, may have come into direct contact with the DU while they were working in the field.

For three to four months, the troops were assigned to clear routes to allow United Nations observers to set up posts in the demilitarized zone near the Kuwait-Iraq border. This included clearing parts of the infamous "Highway to Hell," which was littered with explosives, artillery rounds and the remnants of bombed-out Iraqi vehicles and tanks.

"We were climbing in and out of these tanks to pick up whatever ammunition might be left behind," recalls Mike Hartling, a troop warrant officer in charge of Explosive Ordinance Disposal.

Mr. Hartling says he remembers going to the Americans and asking them about a slug he had come across that was foreign to him. It was bullet-shaped, sharp on one end, flat on the bottom, and greyish in colour.

"It's classified information," he was told. When he asked if it was safe to handle, they told him to treat it like it was an "inert" object.

This lack of information was pervasive, according to the soldiers, and provided little comfort for troops on the ground.

"We weren't called the Lost Boys for nothing," says Joe Bisson, then a master corporal and now a sergeant with the same regiment.

It was only nearing the end of their mission, after having cleared countless numbers of these objects, that the soldiers were informed by the Americans that those objects were the cores of DU ammunition rounds, and should be avoided.

"It was a big shock -- especially when we went to look up what depleted uranium was," Mr. Hartling said.

Mr. Hartling, who says he now suffers from severe memory loss and lethargy, estimates that at least half of the 30 members of his troop alone would have had some direct contact with the DU slugs.

Mr. Bisson, who suffers from persistent headaches, wonders how much of it he and his troops came into contact with. He worries about the countless ordnances that he had to work around, and the dust that might have been picked up or carried by the wind. "How much we've ingested, I can only guess."

DU is mildly radioactive and is used in tank ammunition. When a projectile hits an armoured vehicle, it explodes and burns, producing a fine dust. Some scientists believe that inhaling these particles could be linked to cancer.

Depleted uranium ammunition has come into the spotlight recently after it was alleged that there is a link between the deaths of 20 NATO soldiers who served in the former Yugoslavia and their exposure to DU.

The Department of National Defence has started a voluntary testing program for DU, but it has not found any indication the substance has been absorbed by those tested.

Col. Ken Scott, the Defence Department's director of medical policy, said the veterans of 1 Combat Engineer Regiment have nothing to worry about as far as adverse health effects from depleted uranium.

A health survey sent in 1997 to almost 10,000 Canadian military personnel, including Gulf War veterans, showed that there were no unusual rates of illnesses such as cancer or leukemia, Col. Scott said.

"We've had these post-deployment clinics and we're not certainly being flooded by 1CER people," said Col. Scott. "We have no evidence there is a higher rate of leukemia or cancer in this group."

It is the position of the Canadian Forces that stress is probably behind the health problems among soldiers.

"But not knowing (whether DU makes you sick) causes stress," counters Fred Kaustinen, the deputy commander of the regiment at the time. "We need to get the bottom of it."

Mr. Kaustinen said he was never given any information about where or how DU was used, or what potential health risks it carried.

DU ammunition has been linked to the death of Capt. Terry Riordan, a Canadian Forces military police officer who served in the Gulf during the war. He died at his home in Yarmouth, N.S., in 1999.

His family blamed DU for his death after conducting medical tests on his body that revealed levels of depleted uranium in his bones.

Several of the soldiers contacted by the Citizen said they wanted a more systematic screening program, and rejected the government's position that the troops from the Combat Engineer Regiment could not have come into contact with DU.

"That's where we spent six months, disarming explosives. Whatever they used in the war, we've touched it. How can you not be exposed to it?" asked sapper Wayne Williams, who now suffers from constant migraines.

Some, like Tom Walton, who also served as regimental sergeant-major, even said a formal inquiry might be appropriate.

"If there's even the slightest suspicion that this depleted uranium is doing something, they should be investigating it."

Regimental Quartermaster Frank Wagner, who now suffers from impaired vision, agreed: "Look after us, that's all I ask."

Only one of the soldiers interviewed said he didn't feel the military needs to probe the matter further. Despite a recent bout with cancer, Warrant Officer Tim Nieradka dismissed the notion that his disease may have been caused by exposure to depleted uranium. And Mr. Nieradka said if it were proven that exposure to the depleted uranium in Kuwait caused his cancer, he would not blame the military.

"I've been a soldier long enough to know that stuff happens," he said. "It was part of the mission. As far as I'm concerned, I consider it part of the job."