Returning Gulf troops face tests for cancer, MoD confirms

Soldiers returning from Iraq are being offered tests for the level of depleted uranium in their bodies to assess the risks of kidney damage and lung cancer.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed last night that the urine tests are being made available after the Royal Society, Britain's foremost scientific body, warned that soldiers and civilians could have been exposed to dangerous levels.

The warning challenges assurances by the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon before the start of the conflict that depleted uranium was not a risk to the health of allied forces.

Last night a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "All personnel who take part in operations involving depleted uranium will be offered a urine test for exposure.

"The risks from depleted uranium are far lower than other hazards arising from military operations. The effects are very limited to the areas of impact."

About 45,000 British servicemen and women have been involved in the Gulf conflict, of which about 26,000 have been land forces.

The Ministry of Defence said that it would publish the test results and would release details of where depleted uranium weapons had been used.

Depleted uranium is standard in a number of anti-tank weapons and bunker-busting bombs which were used extensively throughout the war. Military experts have estimated that up to 2,000 tonnes may have been used.

Fragments of the armour-piercing munitions litter the valleys and neighbourhoods between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is the area where most of Iraq's 24 million people live.

The United Nations Environment Programme yesterday warned that there was likely to be a high risk of inhaling depleted uranium dust with large doses of potentially dangerous radiation within 150 metres of buildings hit by US and British missiles and other weapons.

The Royal Society said it is vital to know how much depleted uranium was used in the conflict so that an effective clean-up and monitoring programme of both soldiers and civilians can begin.

Professor Brian Spratt, chair of the society's working group on depleted uranium, said: "Fragments of depleted uranium penetrators are potentially hazardous, and a recent Royal Society study recommended that they should be removed, and areas of contamination around impact sites identified, and where necessary made safe.

"Impact sites in residential areas should be a particular priority. Long-term monitoring of water and milk to detect any increase in uranium levels should also be introduced in Iraq."

Some veterans of the first war against Iraq have blamed the mysterious symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome on exposure to depleted uranium.

The Royal Society's recent study on the health hazards of depleted uranium found that most soldiers and civilians are unlikely to be exposed to dangerous levels during and after its use on the battlefield.

But it concluded that some soldiers might suffer kidney damage and an increased risk of lung cancer if they breathe in substantial amounts.

The study also concluded that soil around impact sites of depleted uranium could be heavily contaminated, and may be harmful if swallowed.

In addition, large numbers of depleted uranium penetrators embedded in the ground might pose a long-term threat to civilians if the uranium leaches into water supplies.

"It is only by measuring the levels of depleted uranium in the urine of soldiers that we can understand the intakes that occur on the battlefield," said Mr Spratt.