http://www.sundayherald.com/news/newsi.hts?section=News&story_id=13592

Sunday Herald (Scotland)
7 January 2001 

Allies 'told in 1991 of uranium cancer risks'
Leaked documents back cover-up claim. Exclusive, by
Felicity Arbuthnott and Neil Mackay. 
Publication Date: Jan 7 2001
THE Pentagon scientist who briefed Britain and America
on the lethal health risks to Western troops of using
depleted-uranium (DU) shells claims he warned the
allied powers as far back as 1991 that the explosives
could cause cancer, mental illness and birth defects.
Professor Doug Rokke, ex- director of the Pentagon's
Depleted-Uranium Project, says the USA and UK have
covered up the hazards , despite the rising death toll
among allied troops who fought in the Gulf from
illnesses linked to DU exposure, including Gulf War
syndrome. The UN Environment Programme has also found
traces of radiation at eight sites in Kosovo hit by
Nato DU shells. 
The Sunday Herald has been passed a restricted MoD
document dated February 25, 1991 - four days before
the Gulf War ceasefire. It states that full protective
clothing and respirators should be worn when close to
DU shells and that human remains exposed to DU should
be hosed down before disposal.
The document - coded 25/22/40/2 - says inhalation or
ingestion of particles from shells is a health risk
and exposure should be treated as "exposure to lead
oxide". DU dust on food would result in contamination.

Rokke , a former professor of environmental science at
Jacksonville University, was tasked by the US
department of defence with organising the DU clean-up
of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after the Gulf War.
Rokke, a former US army colonel , also briefed the
Commons Defence Select Committee on the risks of DU in
1999.
"Since 1991, numerous US department of defence reports
have stated that the consequences of DU were unknown,"
he said. "That is a lie. They were told. They were
warned."
Rokke gave military personnel briefings on the hazards
of DU shells . "I can confirm that medical and
tactical commanders knew all the hazards," he said.
In Saudi Arabia, Rokke and his men buried vehicles and
contaminated body parts and shipped other equipment
back to a nuclear decontamination facility in the US.
At least 10 men died. The only man in the 50-strong
team not to fall ill wore full radioactive protective
clothing.
Rokke suffers reactive airway disease, neurological
damage and kidney problems. "DU is the stuff of
nightmares," he said. "It is toxic, radioactive and
pollutes for 4500 million years. It causes lymphoma ,
neuro-psychotic disorders and short-term memory
damage. In semen, it causes birth defects and trashes
the immune system.
"The United States and British military personnel, as
part of Nato, wilfully disregarded health and safety
and the environment by their use of DU, resulting in
severe health effects, including death. I and my
colleagues warned the US and British officials that
this would occur. They disregarded our warnings
because to admit any correlation between exposure and
health effects would make them liable for their
actions wherever these weapons have been used ."
The Sunday Herald has seen a memo from the Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico , dated March 1,
1991. It is from a Lieutenant-Colonel M V Ziehman to a
Major Larson. Headed "The Effectiveness of Depleted
Uranium Penetrators", it reads: "There has been, and
continues to be, a concern regarding the impact of DU
on the environment. If no-one makes the case for the
effectiveness of DU on the battlefields, DU rounds may
become politically unacceptable and be deleted from
the arsenal."
A document from the US defence nuclear agency from
1992 described DU particles as a "serious health
threat". 
Rokke says field measurements of DU in Iraq were
around 200 millirads an hour. The US has designated a
year's safety limit of just 100 millirads. 
Shaun Rusling of the Gulf War Veterans' and Families'
Association said 521 British servicemen have died of
Gulf War syndrome to date. Bruce George, Labour
chairman of the Commons defence committee, said
yesterday that an MoD investigation was a matter of
urgency. The committee meets on January 10, and is
expected to call on defence secretary Geoff Hoon to
give evidence . However, an MoD spokesman said last
night: "We are unaware of anything that shows depleted
uranium has caused any ill health or death."