http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1122000/1122566.stm

Thursday, 18 January, 2001, 00:14 GMT
Depleted uranium: The next generation

Most UK tanks in the Gulf War carried depleted uranium rounds

By Alex Kirby, BBC News Online environment correspondent and presenter of
Costing the Earth
Some UK Gulf War veterans fear their children are suffering because of their
own exposure to depleted uranium (DU) weapons.
Several veterans have told BBC Radio 4's environment programme, Costing the
Earth, why they are worried.
The Ministry of Defence continues to insist that DU poses no particular risk
to parents, let alone their children.
But the programme hears concerns that there may be a higher rate of birth
defects among the children of those who served in the Gulf.
One of those interviewed is Kenny Duncan, an Army driver who removed
destroyed Iraqi tanks from the battlefield.

No warnings

He tells the programme: "Nobody ever mentioned anything about uranium or
depleted uranium when we were there.
"Nobody remembers being told about it at all. It certainly wasn't given in a
warning to us."
Kenny and his wife Mandy have three children, all born since the 1991 war.
All were born with health problems, which have persisted.
 
 

Iraq reports many birth defects

"The problems the kids have are the same as the soldiers'", says Mandy.
"They've got bowel problems, chronic fatigue, and a persistent cough, and
nothing helps with that."
She believes her husband is now showing early signs of cancer, with a lump
on his knee and a nine-month wait to find out what it is.
"I think the kids are going to grow up without a dad", she says. "I don't
think the government actually realises how many lives they are ruining, and
they need to.
"They're just killing the veterans, and killing their families along with
them, with all the worry - and it's not fair."
Tim Purbrick was a tank commander in the Gulf War. He did not use the DU
rounds his tank had been issued with. Instead he stored bread and other
rations on top of them.
"We were given no warning as to any danger of storing the rounds or firing
them", he says.

'A bit dodgy'

"But after the war, we were unloading our DU rounds at a Royal Army Ordnance
Corps de-ammunition point in Saudi Arabia.
"All the soldiers there were wearing NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical
warfare) protective clothing. We said: 'What's going on here?'
"And their answer was: 'Didn't you know? This ammunition is a bit dodgy'".
Mr Purbrick remains healthy. But his son was born last year with no fingers
on his left hand, and a joint missing from his thumb.
 
 

DU was also fired in the Balkans

"When the time comes, if he asks why he has no fingers on one hand, I think
perhaps there may be the nagging doubt that he could be paying the price for
my service in the Gulf", says Tim Purbrick.
"Anecdotally, in a discussion with a military doctor, he told me that early
indications from official surveys are that there's a higher incidence of
Thalidomide-type abnormalities in the children of Gulf veterans."

'No massive effect'

The Ministry of Defence still maintains that there is no evidence that DU
poses a significant risk to the veterans themselves.
And it says that while it cannot guarantee that DU will not produce birth
defects in their children, the evidence suggests there is no massive effect.
Kenny Duncan has a jaundiced view of the ministry. "They're sitting around
watching veterans die", he says.
"They're waiting for us to die off, so they don't need to pay out money.
They'll just tell us nothing and deny everything.
"They don't care about the veterans' health, even though some from the
Balkans are starting to get ill. And still they say it's not an issue."

Costing the Earth is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2100 BST on 18 January.