MADRID, Jan 19, 2001 -- (Reuters) Spain ordered its medical experts on Thursday to investigate the possible presence of plutonium in depleted uranium ammunition used by NATO in Kosovo to see if there was any link to so-called "Balkans syndrome".

Defense Minister Federico Trillo told a group of medical experts studying cancer cases among servicemen who served in the Balkans to widen their investigation to see whether traces of plutonium could be found, the ministry said in a statement.

NATO said earlier on Thursday that the possible presence of trace elements of radioactive uranium 236 and plutonium in some depleted uranium (DU) ammunition had been long established and presented no increased risk.

"The minister...has ordered...the team following the Balkans syndrome to investigate everything relating to the possible use of plutonium in ammunition used in Kosovo," the Spanish Defense Ministry said in a statement.

NATO is under fire for using armor-piercing DU rounds in Bosnia and Kosovo which some ailing soldiers and anti-nuclear campaigners say have caused cancer and death.

The allies [UK, USA] say there is no scientific evidence to back up such suspicions and no evidence of any group of symptoms among former peacekeepers that could describe a common "Balkans syndrome".

Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger said on Thursday Switzerland would call for a total ban on depleted uranium ammunition at a United Nations conference later this year.

"Even if the causality is not proven, even if there only exists a probability, we must act, we must not wait," he told a news conference in Geneva.

Leuenberger said the neutral Alpine country planned to make the proposal at UN talks on "inhumane weapons", expected to be held in October in Geneva.

The meeting will review the second protocol to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

If they analyze VERY well, they will end up asking themselves what exactly do mean to be part of the killing-machine "Nato".