STRASBOURG, Jan 24 (AFP) -

The Council of Europe demanded on Wednesday a ban on the production, use, testing and sale of munitions containing depleted uranium or plutonium.

The council's parliamentary assembly also asked its executive body, the committee of ministers, to demand that both NATO and the United Nations set up a medical testing program for civilians, service personnel, members of aid organizations and journalists who worked in the Balkans.

US forces acting for NATO have used depleted uranium munitions in both Bosnia and Kosovo.

Critics have alleged that some of the weapons may also have contained more toxic substances, including plutonium.

Service personnel from several European countries have contracted cancer, especially leukemia, after tours of duty in the region, but the alliance has steadfastly decided any scientific link between the use of DU munitions and the development of illness, including cancer.