Belgian study rejects uranium, Balkan syndrome link

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

Belgian study rejects uranium, Balkan syndrome link
  
BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Belgium's Federal Nuclear Control 
Agency on Saturday discounted the likelihood of a link between the 
use of depleted uranium weapons and symptoms reported by 
Balkan peacekeepers. 

"Such a connection is at present often immediately suggested, 
although scientifically it appears to be highly unlikely," the agency 
said in a report published on its website, www.fanc.fgov.be. 

"The clinical symptoms described in connection with the Balkans 
Syndrome do not match the harmful effects of uranium that are 
presently known in the scientific world. In addition, such symptoms 
have been reported by people who did not spend time in the firing 
area." 

A crisis over the long-lasting health impact of using the armour-
piercing shells has threatened to split the NATO alliance with 
critics blaming the munitions for cancer among troops who served 
in the Balkans. 

Britain, along with NATO and the United States, insists there is no 
evidence of a link between depleted uranium weapons and cases of 
leukaemia but Italy has demanded a probe into the deaths of at 
least seven of its soldiers from leukaemia after tours of duty in 
Kosovo and Bosnia. 

Cases of cancer have also been reported among Belgian, French, 
Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese soldiers. 

The agency said tests carried out by Ghent University on 156 
samples from 52 areas where Belgian troops were stationed have 
not, to date, shown up any signs of depleted uranium. 

But, although the agency said it seemed unlikely that there was a 
causal link between depleted uranium and the Balkans Syndrome, 
it warned against discounting all risk of depleted uranium for the 
local population and in particular children. 

Belgian Defence Minister Andre Flahaut told RTBF radio that 
despite the findings of this study, he did not exclude any possible 
explanation at present. 

"One must go forward on the basis of the questionnaire we have 
sent out, and examine all the possibilities -- depleted uranium but 
also others which cause the illnesses of our soldiers." 

Belgium has received around 9,000 completed health 
questionnaires from soldiers who served in the Balkans before 
NATO's 1999 Kosovo campaign, Major Jacques De Koninck told 
Reuters. He said those soldiers that have served in Kosovo since 
1999 have been closely monitored at all times. 
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