NATO probe on soldiers' cancer deaths

BRUSSELS, JAN. 6. The NATO chief, Mr. George Robertson has ordered a detailed investigation of Bosnian sites attacked by NATO planes using depleted uranium weapons, the alliance said amid deepening concerns of member-States about possible health effects on its ground forces.

The move was outlined in a letter yesterday to Italy's Ambassador to NATO in which Mr. Robertson addressed Rome's concerns over the use of such munitions following the deaths of seven Italian peacekeepers since returning from Bosnia. ``I fully understand your deep concern,'' Mr. Robertson said in a letter to the Italian Ambassador, Mr. Amedeo De Franchis.

``I have accordingly asked the NATO military authorities to report as soon as possible on where the targets were attacked with munitions using depleted uranium (in Bosnia) and on the quantity of munitions involved,'' Mr. Robertson wrote. ``As you pointed out in your letter, there is no evidence to support any correlation between exposure to depleted uranium in Bosnia or elsewhere and subsequent radiation-linked ill-health,'' the letter added.

The sites being examined for possible radioactive residue were all targeted in 1995, NATO said. Seven Italian peacekeepers and a Red Cross worker have died of leukemia contracted since they worked in Bosnia. Mr. De Franchis had written to Mr. Roberston on December 22 expressing Rome's deep concern and demanding an investigation.

- AFP

Telegraph reports from Paris:

The French Defence Ministry said four of its soldiers who were in the Balkans were being treated for leukaemia in military hospitals. The affair has also caused concern in Belgium, where five have died in mysterious circumstances; in Holland, where two have died of leukaemia; and in Portugal, where the death of a young army corporal made headlines over Christmas.

The European Commission President, Mr. Romano Prodi, expressed his disquiet, saying light needed to be shed on possible links between sickness and the use of depleted uranium. ``I want the truth to be ascertained, not only concerning the soldiers, but also for the people who lived near them,'' he told Italian radio. ``If there is even a minimal risk, these arms must be abolished. Even if this risk was not there, I don't like the idea of using these particular weapons.''

Italian concern rose to new levels this week when it was reported that a 24-year-old Sicilian, Salvatore Carbonaro, was the sixth Italian Bosnia veteran to die of leukaemia. Thirty others were said to be seriously ill. Carbonaro's family said he first showed symptoms three months after returning from his second tour of duty, in 1999. They were convinced that he was contaminated by uranium or liquid benzene after being assigned to an armoury in Bosnia.

Mr. Giuliano Amato, the Prime Minister, suggested that Italy might have been kept in the dark over the dangers of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia. The President, Mr. Carlo Ciampi called on NATO to provide more information. Mr. Marco Minniti, an Italian Defence Minister, said: ``NATO should discuss our proposal for a moratorium on uranium-based munitions. But he added: ``At the moment, there does not seem to be any connection between the deaths or evidence that they are linked to the use of depleted uranium.''

Mr. Alain Richard, French Defence Minister, ordered an investigation into the condition of the four French soldiers ``to see how badly they have been affected and the risks to which they were exposed,'' his spokesman said. ``He wants to establish if there could be an eventual link between the appearance of this leukaemia and the time that the affected personnel did in the Balkans.''

In London, the Ministry of Defence said no British soldier was known to have died in suspicious circumstances in the wake of service in the Balkans and there was no evidence of any ill- effects caused by depleted uranium. U.S. bombers were said to have fired 10,800 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition in Bosnia in 1995. There were about 31,000 depleted uranium rounds fired during the Kosovo conflict. More than a million were used during the Gulf war and veterans have cited them as one possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome.

But the Pentagon said its studies had produced no evidence that depleted uranium had caused any illnesses in the Gulf War or Balkan veterans.

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