Letter: Uranium weapons

Sir: Dave Andrews' sanguine view of the nuclear industry in general and depleted uranium ammunition in particular (letter, 29 November) is not shared by the US Army Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI), whose manuals devoted to the subject include warnings such as: "If DU enters the body it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU in the body are both chemical and radiological." It adds: "Replacing the DU in weapons systems with a non-toxic material would mitigate the health risks associated with DU."

The US General Accounting Office studies on the subject conclude: "Inhaled insoluble oxides stay in the lungs longer and pose a potential cancer risk due to radiation. Ingested DU dust can also pose a radioactive and toxicity risk." The AEPI concludes that "DU is a low-level radioactive waste and therefore must be deposited in a licensed repository." It does not say "on a school, hospital or radio station near you," as was the case in Iraq and the Balkans.

Should the syndrome of birth deformities, cancers and other health deficits which have manifested in Iraq and amongst Gulf war veterans, since 1991, appear in the Balkan region, the human toll and compensation cost will be unimaginable. It surely could not be that the latter is why there is a reluctance to address the matter at most relevant governmental levels?

FELICITY ARBUTHNOT

London E9