NATO will keep uranium arms, help research

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

NATO will keep uranium arms, help research

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - NATO insisted on Wednesday there was 
only a minimal health risk from the alliance's use of tank-busting 
missiles coated with depleted uranium. 

Trying to damp down a controversy that has swept through the 19-
nation alliance, prompted Russian accusations of Western arrogance 
and aroused Iraqi vitriol over the Gulf War, NATO pledged to do all 
it could to reassure troops and civilians. 

Alliance ambassadors earlier discussed the row which erupted after 
several Western peacekeepers who served in the Balkans, where 
depleted uranium ammunition was used, died of leukaemia. 

Depleted uranium (DU) is used on missiles, shells and bullets because 
of its heavy armour penetration but it can release a fine, mildly 
radioactive dust on impact. 

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said the alliance had 
"nothing to hide and everything to share." 

"We are confident there is little risk from DU munitions but we 
refuse to be complacent," he told a news conference. 

ROW REKINDLES IRAQI IRE 

The row has also resurfaced concerns over thousands of cancer deaths 
and deformed births in Iraq, where Western bombs used in the Gulf War 
10 years ago were also tipped with depleted uranium. 

The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said on Wednesday that Iraq 
urged the United Nations and other world bodies to probe the use of 
DU arms and go public on their health effects. 

"These reports confirm the credibility of facts presented by Iraq 
over previous years on the use of these weapons by American and 
British forces in their 1991 aggression on Iraq and their disastrous 
effects on people and environment," INA quoted one Foreign Ministry 
source as saying. 

The source said Iraq reserved the right to compensation for the 
damage caused and wanted American and British officials to be put on 
trial for "war crimes and genocide." 

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who was NATO chief 
during the 1999 Kosovo campaign, joined the chorus calling for an 
investigation into the possible health risks associated with DU 
munitions. 

"There must be absolute transparency so that all the facts are on the 
table," Solana told a meeting of Bavaria's conservative Christian 
Social Union in Wildbad Kreuth. 

DU WEAPONS TO STAY 

According to NATO diplomats, the three allies who used DU arms in the 
Balkans conflicts in the 1990s -- Britain, France and the United 
States -- rebuffed requests from Italy, Germany and Greece for DU 
weapons to be taken out of NATO's armoury. 

"We must base our analysis on facts and not be swayed by 
perceptions," Robertson said when asked if NATO planned to 
decommission DU ammunition. 

In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac vowed his country would 
deal with the so-called "Balkans Syndrome" with total openness. 

The alliance stressed that medical and scientific opinion was on its 
side. It has the backing of the World Health Organisation and many 
scientists who argue there is no link between DU weapons and cancers. 


"The existing medical consensus is clear: the hazard from depleted 
uranium is both very limited and limited to very specific 
circumstances," Robertson said. 

Earlier, Portuguese ministers visiting Kosovo said they were 
satisfied that initial tests into the effects of DU ammunition at 
over 50 locations had shown no abnormal radiation levels. 

"We are absolutely satisfied," Science Minister Mariano Gago said at 
a Portuguese peacekeepers' base in the town of Klina. 

But he stressed that results from analysis of samples taken from 
food, water and air were not yet available. 

NATO DOCTORS TO MEET 

Robertson said NATO planned "robust" action to try to calm the health 
concerns, which U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned 
late on Tuesday risked turning into "hysteria." 

NATO is to set up a dedicated committee involving allies, non-NATO 
nations and both military and civilian groups to further study the 
effects of DU arms. NATO medical chiefs will meet on Monday to 
discuss the issue further. 

The alliance will also provide more information on DU weaponry and 
help international organisations, such as the U.N. Environment 
Programme, in further field studies in Bosnia. 

Amid the escalating health concerns for soldiers and civilians, the 
Greek journalists' federation said it would screen its members who 
covered the wars in Kosovo and Bosnia for health problems. 

Russia criticised the West for ignoring its warnings about the 
hazards of using DU weapons in Kosovo and warned that their legacy 
endangered the people and environment of Yugoslavia as much as NATO's 
Balkan veterans. 

"We began to worry...in June 1999," said Lieutenant-General Boris 
Alekseyev, head of environmental safety for Russian armed forces. 
"But the danger we talked about did not get any reaction, either in 
our own country or in the West." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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