Pentagon Document Scores Risks of DU Used in Gulf War and Bosnia 
By Dennis Bernstein 
January 1, 1996 - Jinn Magazine 

A Pentagon report on the dangers of depleted uranium (DU) used in the Gulf War has yet to be released, despite pressures from a Presidential Advisory Committee investigating the Gulf War Syndrome. The use of DU is a potential hot button issue because it is currently being deployed by U.S.-led NATO forces in the former Yugoslavia. PNS associate editor Dennis Bernstein is an investigative reporter who has reported widely on the Gulf War Syndrome controversy.  

A Presidential Advisory Committee investigating the Gulf War Syndrome is pressuring the Pentagon to release a U.S. military report documenting the dangers of depleted uranium.  

 DU, an extremely heavy metal ideal for penetrating tanks and armored personnel carriers, was first used by the military to coat NATO missiles and tank armor during the war against Iraq.  

 DU is currently being deployed by U.S.-led NATO forces in the former Yugoslavia.  

 The 193-page report, titled "Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in the U.S. Army: Technical Report," was prepared by the Army Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI) in response to a request by Congress to evaluate the health and environmental consequences of using DU on the battlefield. The report apparently contradicts an earlier summary distributed to Congress which downplayed DU's possible role in some two dozen undiagnosed illnesses known collectively as Gulf War Syndrome, according to a senior policy analyst for the Committee.  

 "We're very interested in seeing the (longer) report," says Mark Brown, a senior policy analyst for the Committee. According to Brown, the Advisory Committee "reached a compromise where they (Deputy Undersecretary for Defense Sherri Goodman) will allow us to sit in on a briefing based on the material (but) they didn't want to give us the report. We were told it hasn't been vetted and reviewed." Goodman could not be reached for comment.  

 The Pentagon denies there is any such thing as GWS, and claims that most of the illnesses cited by some 60,000 Gulf vets who have requested assistance in dealing with GWS are either psychological in nature or existed before the soldiers went over. "There has been no data that establishes a gulf war illness," said Army Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Alcide Lanoue on January 4.  

 To date the only part of the AEPI report made available to Congress or the Presidential Advisory Committee is a 16-page "Summary Report to Congress," dated June 1994. The summary report states "It is highly unlikely that DU is a contributing factor to the unexplained illnesses currently being reported" by Gulf vets because "there was little or no exposure."  

 By contrast, the 193-page report, a copy of which was obtained by Pacific News Service, states that "as much as 70 percent of a DU penetrator (anti-tank missile) can be aerosolized when it strikes a tank. Aerosols containing DU oxides may contaminate the area downwind. DU fragments may contaminate the soil around the struck vehicle ... If DU enters the body it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU in the body are both chemical and radiological."  

 The report goes on to note that members of the 144th Service and Supply  

 Company, which was "responsible for establishing a central receiving and storage point for all damaged and destroyed combat vehicles ... were not familiar with current procedures for handling DU tank armor and ammunition to minimize contamination."  

 Last May, the Iraqi government filed a formal complaint with the UN about the problems its medical officials had documented related to DU contamination. Dozens of foreign and U.S. medical experts have voiced similar concerns. Dr. Siegwart Gunther, president of the Austria-based International Yellow Cross and a professor of epidemiology andÊinfectious disease, discovered in May 1991 cigar-shaped projectiles from leftover DU explosives on the highway between Baghdad and Amman, Jordan. "I happened to see children playing with these projectiles ... A little girl who possessed 12 of them later died of leukemia," Gunther reports. In subsequent visits in 1992 Dr. Gunther noted an increase in leukemia, aplastic anemia and tumor developments among children who had found similar projectiles and used them as toys.  

 In the United States, environmental groups have clashed with DU-producing military contractors over the long-term danger of contamination from radioactive leftovers of DU manufacturing and testing. Internal AEPI documents reveal that the army opened a probe into the Depleted Uranium Citizen's Network and other vet groups investigating the use of DU to "provide the army with suggestions on how to interact with these environmental groups ... to soften the effect they might have" on the future use of DU.  

 DU is now used for battlefield purposes by the United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, France, Israel. Nuclear Regulatory Commission export licenses reveal the U.S. to be a major supplier of DU for military systems.  

 According to David Bentley, an aid to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican requested specific information in early December about whether U.S. soldiers in Bosnia are trained properly in the use and dangers of DU. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the inquiry.