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Wednesday, January 24 1:32 AM
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After depleted uranium, NATO deals with plutonium controversy
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/afp/article.html?s=asia/headlines/010124/world/afp/After_depleted_uranium__NATO_deals_with_plutonium_controversy.html

BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (AFP) - NATO'S ad hoc committee on the health hazards of depleted uranium munitions met Tuesday to discuss possible dangers from trace elements of plutonium in US weapons fired in the Balkans. Fears about possible links between depleted uranium (DU) munitions used in the Balkans and a rash of cancers among peacekeepers who served in the region were rekindled by reports in the German press that trace elements of plutonium were present in DU rounds fired by US forces in Bosnia and Kosovo.

The Pentagon has been criticized for not having provided all the information it possessed on the health and environmental consequences of DU weapons, which first made their appearance during the Gulf War in 1991.

German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, criticized in his country for not have reacted quickly enough to public concerns over the munitions, demanded that "all available information from the American side be turned over" to NATO.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, in a letter to NATO Secretary General George Robertson, demanded "a complete clarification" of the situation.

The Pentagon responded that a report on the subject had been available on the Internet since December.

That report concluded that the quantities of plutonium present in depleted uranium were "so small as to add very little to the radiation dose of the depleted uranium itself," and posed "no risk." Germany is not satisified "with pages and pages on the internet," snapped Scharping, criticizing the way Washington had chosen to inform its NATO allies of the situation.

The NATO ad hoc committee was set up after Italy and several other NATO nations reported a rash of cancer deaths among troops who served in the Balkans. Its mission is to collect and exchange information on any possible health risks associated with use of DU rounds. The committee is composed of civilian and military experts from the 19 NATO countries and of all the non-NATO nations which contributed troops to the multi-national forces in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Washington claims there is no link between DU and illnesses reported among troops that served in those operations, particularly cases of leukemia, or blood cancer. NATO claims there is no such thing as "Balkans syndrome," a basket of unexplained illnesses of which Bosnia and Kosovo veterans have complained.

The alliance has however deemed it necessary to set up the ad hoc committee to investigate the claims, and has recognized the need for each NATO country to conduct epidemiological studies among their troops. The United States, Britain and France have rejected a proposal by Italy, backed by Germany, for a moratorium on the use of DU rounds until the health risks are assessed.

The next meeting of the ad hoc committee, which was still in session late

Tuesday, is scheduled for January 30.