Depleted Uranium

The Misconceptions

DU is dangerously radioactive.

• DU is not "dangerously radioactive" and this is not just the MOD's opinion. The World Health Organisation and the Royal Society have described DU as being only "weakly radioactive" and an editorial in the British Medical Journal states that "Uranium is not very radioactive".

• DU is used widely for a range of civilian applications. For example, it is often used as shielding in hospitals to protect radiographers and patients from radiation during X-rays and in aircraft as counterweights.

DU is causing widespread ill health amongst troops and civilians in those conflicts where it has been used.

• Over 3,400 veterans from the 1990/91 Gulf Conflict have now been seen by the Gulf Veterans’ Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP). Physicians at the GVMAP assess all those attending for signs of ill-health that could be attributed to DU exposure, but no such evidence have been found to date.

• Any exposures to DU that UK Forces may have received in the 1990/91 Gulf Conflict will have been low level and must be seen in the context of the risk to health. The Royal Society reports on "The Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions", state that "except in extreme circumstances any extra risks of developing fatal cancers as a result of radiation from internal exposure to DU arising from battlefield conditions are likely to be undetectable above the general risk of dying from cancer over a normal lifetime".

• DU particulate remains highly localised to the points of impact where DU munitions have struck hard targets: only in these small areas would DU levels be significant enough to necessitate precautions to prevent or reduce possible intakes. Increasing amounts of independent research by eminent scientists within groups such as the Royal Society DU Working Group and the United Nations Environment Programme support this view.

• A survey of sites struck by DU in Kuwait during the first Gulf Conflict concludes that based on measurements carried out for the sites investigated DU does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of Kuwait. Estimated annual does that could arise from exposure to DU residues are very low and of little radiological concern. Estimated annual radiation doses that could arise in areas where residues do exist are of the order of a few microsieverst. This is well below the annual doses received by the population of Kuwait from natural sources of radiation in the environment; and far below the 10 millisieverts suggested by the ICRP as a criterion to establish whether remedial actions are necessary.
  

• With regard to civilians, the Royal Society states that “For those returning to live in areas where DU munitions were deployed, including peace-keepers, the inhalation intakes from resuspended DU are considered to be unlikely to cause any substantial increase in lung cancer or any other cancers”. The claim, that DU is the cause of an excessive rise in cancers and birth defects amongst children in Iraq, is not substantiated with credible scientific evidence.
  

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Last Updated: 20 May 04