GEOFF HOON, the Defence Secretary, was accused of being glib by a leading scientist yesterday after dismissing fears over depleted uranium as "anti-science" paranoia.

Mr Hoon said in an interview with The Telegraph that the debate over depleted uranium had gone to "the lowest common denominator of fear". There was "no evidence" of any link between the use of the DU ammunition and the illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans.

But Eric Wright, Professor of experimental haematology at Dundee University, said Mr Hoon and the Ministry of Defence were being "glib". There was no evidence because there had been no clinical research into possible connections.

MoD scientists had been right to say there was no danger from the rounds before they were fired, he said. But the explosion when they hit their target created a dust containing particles of insoluble uranium dioxide - and that was a potential problem.

Professor Wright said: "What happens is that when they [the particles] enter the body, they get gobbled up by scavenger cells and get lodged in the lymph nodes, and the situation you then have is that the uranium is emitting alpha particles." He added that a single alpha particle was not just capable of doing "enormous damage" to one cell, but to adjacent cells as well.

Shaun Rusling, chairman of the Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said Mr Hoon was not only "arrogant" in his dismissals, he was "gullible" for accepting what he was told by MoD civil servants. He added: "We have seen a series of ministers going into Parliament and saying things that have turned out not to be true." Mr Hoon said he would publish details of all advice to ministers on the issue since it was first raised.

 The Conservatives attacked Mr Hoon's claims that a woman could be appointed Chief of Defence Staff. Iain Duncan Smith, shadow defence secretary, said: "Labour wants to import a civilian-based rights culture into the Armed Forces which will render them less and less effective and could lead, eventually, to unnecessary loss of lives in action."

22 January 2001: Defence boss sticks to his guns
22 January 2001: A woman could head military, says Hoon
14 January 2001: MoD secretly tested troops for depleted uranium poisoning
12 January 2001: Hoon is urged to 'come clean' over uranium report
11 January 2001: Army warned of uranium risk four years ago
10 January 2001: Uranium ammo fears grow after U-turn over tests
9 January 2001: Soldiers will be screened for uranium exposure
8 January 2001: Britain is warned over uranium shell tests
5 January 2001: [International] Nato inquiry on cancer deaths of Balkan veterans