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Italy blames army deaths on US shells

by Richard Norton-Taylor.

Concern about the use of depleted uranium shells by US forces intensified yesterday when Italy asked NATO to investigate claims that six of its soldiers who died after serving in the Balkans were killed by exposure to the munitions.

The request came after an offical investigation by France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and finland  into the effect of DU weapons.

The Italian prime minister, Guiliano Amato, told  the newspaper, La Republica that  alarm about the "Balkan syndrome" was "more than legitimate".

"We've always known that [depleted  uranium] was used in Kosovo, but not in Bosnia.  We've always known that it was danger only in absolutely exceptional circumstances like, for example, picking up a fragment with a hand on which there was an open wound,  while in normal circumstances it isn't dangerous at all.  But  now we're starting to have a justified fear that things aren't that simple."

His defence minister, Sergio Mattarella, said NATO had told Rome only last month that DU had also been used in Bosnia.  US A10 aircraft  fired more than 31,000  rounds of DU ammunition in Kosovo.  More  than 14,000 rounds fell in the area of Kosovo now controlled by Italian troops, according to Italian deputy ecology minister, Valerio Calzolaio.

DU is a by-product of converting natural uranium into enriched form used in nuclear weapons and reactors.  It is about 40% less radioactive than natural uranium.  The US fired more than 850,000 rounds during the  1991 Gulf war.  This has been linked to birth defects in  Iraq.   The six Italians who  have died  since returning from the  Balkans all  had leukaemia.  The latest was Salvatore Carbonaro, 24 from Sicily, who died in November after serving twice in Bosnia but never in Kosovo.

Doctors have said there is insufficient evidence to link the deaths to exposure to DU shells but the Italian media say the number of deaths is too high to be  coincidental.

A group representing their families  has released a copy of a document in English which it said was a list of NATO guidelines for dealing with DU.  It said the document, dated November 22 1999, was not distributed to troops before that date, although  soldiers had by then spent months peacekeeping in Kosovo.

Last month, the British armed  forces minister, John Spellar, admitted that advice on the potential danger of DU shells failed to reach British troops in the Gulf war.  The Ministry of Defence said  yesterday it was not planning to review  the effect of DU weapons in the Balkans.  It said the radioactivity from the shells was no  higher  than from household appliances.

The US agency for toxic substances and disease registry had said that no human cancer of any type "has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium".  

Nato sources said yesterday that the North Atlantic Council  would discuss the issue at its regular meeting next week.