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http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/HealthandSafety/DepletedUranium/DepletedUraniumAndHealth.htm
Depleted Uranium and Health
There is no reliable scientific or medical evidence to link DU with the ill health of either Gulf or Balkans veterans or people living in these regions.
Many independent reports have been produced and researchers continue to consider the battlefield effects of using DU munitions. The most important reports include work by the Royal Society, the European Commission, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although these reports were produced some time ago, more recent work shows their conclusions are still valid.
None of these organisations has found a connection between DU exposure and illness, and none has found widespread DU contamination sufficient to impact the health of the general population or deployed personnel. There are only some very limited and localised areas, such as in armoured vehicles hit by DU munitions, where precautions to prevent DU inhalation would be prudent if long-term exposures were likely.
Serving Personnel
The MoD believes that DU presents a minimal health risk and to ensure that information is communicated effectively we issue specific safety instructions to all personnel who may come into contact with DU in operational situations. Safety instructions issued during both Gulf conflicts are publicly available. Radiation dose meters are issued to those who spend time in tanks loaded with DU munitions.
To provide reassurance in the adequacy of the safety instructions, MoD’s policy is that all military personnel and civilians on recent operations, such as Op Telic, and any future operations involving use of DU are offered a test for total uranium in the urine. A test for uranium isotopes, which determines whether the uranium is depleted, is offered if the initial test for the total uranium gives anomalous results. If personnel are known to have been exposed to DU or there is high probability that they have been so exposed, the isotope test is offered straight away. So far over 390 individuals have been tested, and of those only a small number have been found to be excreting DU in their urine. These are personnel who were injured in blue-on-blue incidents.
Veterans
An independent committee called the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB) was established by the MoD in 2001 to develop a screening programme for Gulf 1990/1991 and Balkans veterans concerned about possible exposure to DU. Urine testing was made available from September 2004 to January 2006 and a total of 496 people took part. None was found to be excreting DU. The DUOB has since been disbanded but its final report to the Minister for Veterans can be accessed from the link on the right.
Local Civilians
There is no reliable scientific or medical evidence to link DU with the ill health of people living in regions were DU has been used. Media reports of DU-induced cancers and birth defects in Iraq have not been substantiated with credible scientific evidence. Many other factors need to be considered as possible causes, for example, some scientists have blamed the former Iraqi Government's use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. Furthermore, there is no evidence that illnesses of the type reported are uniquely associated with or indeed consistent with exposure to DU. Of course, the Government would consider carefully any reliable medical or scientific data that may emerge concerning the incidence of ill health in Iraq.
