German troops "show no signs of uranium exposure"

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

German troops "show no signs of uranium exposure"
  
BERLIN (Reuters) - German peacekeepers serving in Kosovo have shown 
no signs of exposure to debris from depleted uranium ammunition fired 
during NATO's air war against Yugoslavia, an official study said 
Friday. 

Urine tests carried out by a medical research body at the request of 
the Defense Ministry found no unusual traces of depleted uranium 
(DU), a radioactive heavy metal used by U.S. ground-attack aircraft 
in tank-busting munitions. 

"All measurements of uranium were around levels we would expect from 
groups which have not been exposed," said Paul Roth, a radiation 
expert at the research body that carried out the tests. 

Responding to claims in Italy that several deaths of former 
peacekeepers from leukemia resulted from a so-called Balkans Syndrome 
caused by exposure to DU munitions, Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping 
has called the risk to German soldiers "negligible." 

But Roth said there were some risks to the population in areas where 
depleted uranium weapons had been fired, in particular to children. 

DU munitions pulverize on impact, creating radioactive dust that can 
enter the human body via the lungs. Children who clamber onto burned-
out tanks could be at particular risk, for example. 

Roth's institute tested a sample of 121 German troops before, during 
and after their Kosovo deployments. Some had been involved in 
clearing the wrecks of vehicles destroyed by DU munitions. 

A control sample of a further 200 volunteers from Germany also took 
part. 

"Our results showed that none of the soldiers we tested had ingested 
depleted uranium," said Roth. "And where there is no uranium, there 
cannot be any illnesses caused by uranium." 

Scharping has ruled out comprehensive testing on all of the 60,000 
German group troops who have seen peacekeeping action in the Balkans. 


That position contrasts with the line taken by the British 
government, which has extended screening to include not only troops 
who served in the Balkans but also veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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