BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO insisted Wednesday there was only a minimal health risk from the alliance's use of tank-busting missiles coated with depleted uranium.

Trying to damp down a controversy that has swept through the 19-nation alliance, prompted Russian accusations of Western arrogance and aroused Iraqi vitriol over the Gulf War, NATO pledged to do all it could to reassure troops and civilians.

Alliance ambassadors earlier discussed the row which erupted after several Western peacekeepers who served in the Balkans, where depleted uranium ammunition was used, died of leukemia.

Depleted uranium (DU) is used on missiles, shells and bullets because of its heavy armor penetration but it can release a fine, mildly radioactive dust on impact.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said the alliance had ``nothing to hide and everything to share.´´ ``We are confident there is little risk from DU munitions but we refuse to be complacent,´´ he told a news conference.

Row Rekindles Iraqi Ire

The row has also resurfaced concerns over thousands of cancer deaths and deformed births in Iraq, where Western bombs used in the Gulf War 10 years ago were also tipped with depleted uranium.

The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said Wednesday that Iraq urged the United Nations and other world bodies to probe the use of DU arms and go public on their health effects.

``These reports confirm the credibility of facts presented by Iraq over previous years on the use of these weapons by American and British forces in their 1991 aggression on Iraq and their disastrous effects on people and environment,´´ INA quoted one Foreign Ministry source as saying.

The source said Iraq reserved the right to compensation for the damage caused and wanted American and British officials to be put on trial for ``war crimes and genocide.´´

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who was NATO chief during the 1999 Kosovo campaign, joined the chorus calling for an investigation into the possible health risks associated with DU munitions.

``There must be absolute transparency so that all the facts are on the table,´´ Solana told a meeting of Bavaria´s conservative Christian Social Union in Wildbad Kreuth.

Du Weapons To Stay

According to NATO diplomats, the three allies who used DU arms in the Balkans conflicts in the 1990s -- Britain, France and the United States -- rebuffed requests from Italy, Germany and Greece for DU weapons to be taken out of NATO's armory.

``We must base our analysis on facts and not be swayed by perceptions,´´ Robertson said when asked if NATO planned to decommission DU ammunition.

In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac vowed his country would deal with the so-called ``Balkans Syndrome´´ with total openness. The alliance stressed that medical and scientific opinion was on its side. It has the backing of the World Health Organization and many scientists who argue there is no link between DU weapons and cancers. ``The existing medical consensus is clear: the hazard from depleted uranium is both very limited and limited to very specific circumstances,´´ Robertson said.

Earlier, Portuguese ministers visiting Kosovo said they were satisfied that initial tests into the effects of DU ammunition at over 50 locations had shown no abnormal radiation levels.

``We are absolutely satisfied,´´ Science Minister Mariano Gago said at a Portuguese peacekeepers´ base in the town of Klina. But he stressed that results from analysis of samples taken from food, water and air were not yet available.

Nato Doctors To Meet

Robertson said NATO planned ``robust´´ action to try to calm the health concerns, which Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned late Tuesday risked turning into ``hysteria.´´

NATO is to set up a dedicated committee involving allies, non-NATO nations and both military and civilian groups to further study the effects of DU arms. NATO medical chiefs will meet Monday to discuss the issue further.

The alliance will also provide more information on DU weaponry and help international organizations, such as the U.N. Environment Program, in further field studies in Bosnia.

Amid the escalating health concerns for soldiers and civilians, the Greek journalists' federation said it would screen its members who covered the wars in Kosovo and Bosnia for health problems. Russia criticized the West for ignoring its warnings about the hazards of using DU weapons in Kosovo and warned that their legacy endangered the people and environment of Yugoslavia as much as NATO's Balkan veterans.

``We began to worry...in June 1999,´´ said Lieutenant-General Boris Alekseyev, head of environmental safety for Russian armed forces. ``But the danger we talked about did not get any reaction, either in our own country or in the West.´´