The debate over the use of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition - fired during the Gulf War and during the conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo - is likely to become increasingly bitter now it has emerged that the potential health risks have been known by at least one government for years.
Britain's Ministry of Defence admitted it knew of the risks only after it was revealed that regulations issued to German soldiers operating in Kosovo carried explicit warnings about contamination.
The instructions told troops not to approach any area or equipment hit by depleted uranium ammunition 'except for life-saving purposes and/or measures indispensable to the mission's accomplishment'.
Both Nato and the European Union have now begun investigations into the effects of the use of this ammunition following claims that a number of suspicious deaths and illnesses among troops who served in the Balkans were caused by exposure to DU.
Up to now, both the United States' Pentagon and the UK's Ministry of Defence have denied any proven link between exposure to the ammunition and serious illness. Although both admit that dust from DU ammunition can be dangerous if it is inhaled, the danger, they claim, is localised and short-lived. So far, evidence that soldiers have been adversely affected has been, for the most part, anecdotal and described in such vague terms as Gulf War or Balkans syndrome.
But, as an increasing number of cases of the syndrome are reported by veterans of these conflicts, the question arises of what ongoing risk is posed to civilians in these areas.
