http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010105/wl/health_balkans_dc_4.html

EU Demands Truth From NATO Over Uranium Shells 

January 5, 2001
By Anna Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - European Commission President Romano Prodi demanded to 
know the truth behind claims that depleted uranium used in NATO weapons had 
caused death or illness among Balkan peacekeepers.

Several European nations including the current holders of the European 
Union presidency, Sweden, echoed Prodi's concerns, intensifying pressure 
on NATO to investigate the so-called "Balkan Syndrome."

In Bosnia, the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) dismissed the claims, 
saying ammunition with depleted uranium used during the 1992-95 war there 
posed only a "negligible hazard."

The syndrome came under the spotlight following reports that six Italian 
soldiers who served in the former Yugoslavia had developed leukemia and 
died after exposure to spent ammunition.

France became the latest country Thursday to announce that it was conducting 
its own inquiry into the syndrome, after four of its Balkan veterans contracted 
leukemia. It noted that as yet no link to spent ammunition was apparent.

Depleted uranium is used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to increase 
their ability to penetrate armor and can be pulverized on impact into a toxic 
radioactive dust, defense experts say.