BERNE, Jan 8, 2001 -- (Reuters) The Swiss Defense Ministry will re-examine the death of an officer who served in Bosnia in 1998 amid concerns over the use of depleted uranium, Army Surgeon General Peter Eichenberger told Reuters on Monday.

The 35-year-old, a member of a NATO peacekeeping force, died of leukemia, but Eichenberger said it would be practically impossible now to establish that radiation from depleted uranium in NATO ammunition had caused or contributed to the illness.

The government has also ordered checks of all 900 Swiss soldiers and aid workers who helped in peacekeeping efforts in the Balkans during the Yugoslav crisis and is closely tied to Europe-wide worries about "Balkan Syndrome" illnesses.

The potential problem came to light after reports that six Italian soldiers who served in the former Yugoslavia had developed leukemia. NATO and the Swiss say the ammunition posed a negligible hazard,

Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and Russia have called for NATO to examine a possible link between the ammunition and deaths from leukemia and Portugal has begun testing 10,000 military and civilian personnel who served in the Balkans.

On Friday Eichenberger had played down health risks, saying Swiss peacekeepers had not been stationed in areas where the ammunition was used and any illnesses could have developed only after a longer exposure than had been the case.

Eichenberger stressed on Monday that any health checks presented only a momentary picture. "Somebody can be perfectly healthy at an examination and get ill some time later," he said, adding cause and effect might hard to establish.

Depleted uranium used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to boost their ability to penetrate armor can be turned on impact into a toxic radioactive dust, defense experts say.