[ RadSafe ] Uranium killing Italian troops: Iranian Perspective

[Dan W McCarn]

Example of Iranian Press: Comments?

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/11/2007&Cat=4&Num=014

Uranium killing Italian troops 

ROME (BBC News) -- Italian soldiers are still dying following exposure to
depleted uranium in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, their relatives say.

Troops who served during the wars in the 1990s believe they have contracted
cancer and other serious illnesses from extended exposure to the munitions.

The U.S. says it fired around 40,000 depleted uranium rounds during the
Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts.

A pressure group says 50 veterans have died and another 200 are seriously
ill.

Depleted uranium is used on the tips of bullets and shells.

But when it explodes it often leaves a footprint of chemically poisonous and
radioactive dust.

The Italians who served in Bosnia and Kosovo were involved in the clear-up
of battlefields and came into close contact with exploded ammunition.
----------Children with disabilities

The association representing the soldiers, known as Anavafaf, says many of
those who have died or are ill have contracted cancer.

In 2002 the Italian defense ministry published a report compiled by
independent scientists which found a higher than average number of
servicemen were suffering from cancer.

It said there was an excessive number of Hodgkin's disease victims among
Italian Balkan peacekeepers.

A number of children fathered by the soldiers have been born with
disabilities.

There are similar reports from soldiers' associations in Belgium, Spain,
Portugal and the Netherlands.