Source:

=========================================================
The Express

December 24, 2001

EXCLUSIVE: RESEARCH THAT MAY PROVE LINK BETWEEN CANCERS AND
DEPLETED URANIUM; SICK GULF VETERANS' 'GENETIC DAMAGE'

By Nic Fleming

BRITISH soldiers who served in wars in which depleted uranium ammunition
was used have suffered substantial genetic damage, according to new
research.

Eight veterans of the conflicts in the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo have high
levels of deformed chromosomes, increasing the risks of cancers and
abnormalities in their children.

Initial results of the study, the first to investigate chromosome
deformation in soldiers, reveals genetic damage in the group at least 10
times greater than that found in the general population. The research is
the first scientific data to back up anecdotal evidence from veterans of
widespread deformities and other unusual illnesses in their children.
Scientists and MPs believe the work could help prove a link between high
rates of cancers and abnormalities among Iraqi children and the use of DU
in the 1991 Gulf War.

A committee advising the Ministry of Defence on the DU screening programme
for veterans is considering recommending the testing of hundreds more
former soldiers for chromosome damage.

Genetic factors are known to be at least part of the cause of medical
conditions suffered by veterans and their children including cancers and
leukaemia, diabetes, Down's syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and impotence.

Professor Albrecht Schott, a retired chemist who worked at the Free
University of Berlin until recently, is co-ordinating the research. He
said:

"This level of genetic damage doesn't occur naturally.

"Alpha radiation from DU is the likely cause of the chromosome aberrations
we found in the white blood cells of the veterans. Gene damage on this
scale makes cancer, deformed babies and other genetic conditions more
likely."

Prof Schott took blood from the veterans in March. Six of the men saw
action in the Gulf, and one of this six also served in Bosnia. Of the
remaining two, one served only in Kosovo and one only in Bosnia.

Chromosome deformation in white blood cells from the eight was compared to
that of a group of German civilians. Previous studies have shown a normal
chromosome aberration reading for a member of the public is 0.5 per 1,000
cells. Those of the former soldiers were closer to the average of 5.8 per
1,000 recorded in a group of staff at the Chernobyl power plant following
the reactor meltdown in April 1986.

Some were even higher.

Prof Schott's results will be published early next year.

There have been problems funding the study, and Prof Schott said he was
out of pocket by GBP 30,000, having used bank loans to pay a laboratory to
analyse the samples.

After consulting the MoD, the Army Benevolent Fund turned down a request
from the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA) to pay
for the tests from the Gulf Trust Fund, money raised by the public to help
veterans.

The findings come after a US government survey of 21,000 American veterans
released in October showed that those who served in the Gulf were two to
three times more likely to report birth defects in their children,
including webbed digits, heart murmurs, brain tumours and chromosome
abnormalities. DU, a nuclear industry by-product, is used in
armour-piercing shells because its high density allows it to penetrate and
destroy hard targets such as tanks and underground bunkers.

The US and Britain have admitted using some 350 tonnes of DU in the Gulf
War against Iraq while American forces fired around 10 tonnes during the
bombing of Kosovo. DU was also used in Bosnia in 1995.

DU ignites on impact and turns into dust which can be inhaled and remain
in the body for years emitting small doses of alpha radiation.

In January, after it was revealed veterans from several European countries
had died of cancer, the Government announced plans to test soldiers who
served in the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo for DU poisoning.

Some 53,000 British troops served during the Gulf war. Of these, at least
531 have died and more than 5,000 have reported a range of illnesses.

George Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, last month visited hospitals in
Basrah, Iraq, to investigate reports of increased childhood cancers and
deformed babies.

He said: "It does not surprise me that British veterans of the conflicts
in the Gulf and the Balkans would have genetic abnormalities.

"I have seen for myself the evidence of growth in childhood cancers in
Iraqi hospitals. There are hundreds of babies born with congenital
deformities. I mean babies born with no head, without eyes, or with two
heads. The Government has a duty to pay for these tests."

However an MoD spokesman said: "The results of the tests in Germany do not
support claims by veterans that they were subjected to ionising radiation
from DU-based ammunition. We consider the testing neither well thought out
nor scientifically sound. We have informed the Army Benevolent Fund that
we are not prepared to meet these costs."

Former soldiers can get help by calling the NGVFA on 01482 808730