L'uranio impoverito fa male, dice l'agenzia Reuters

[Alessandro Marescotti <a.marescotti at peacelink.it>]

Soldiers Exposed to Depleted Uranium Have Increased Lung Cancer Risk

LONDON (Reuters Health) May 22 - Soldiers in tanks hit by depleted uranium 
shells could have up to twice the normal lifetime risk of dying from lung 
cancer, according to "worst-case" estimates by leading British scientists.
According to a Royal Society report, these soldiers, and any helpers 
entering the tank immediately afterwards, could have been exposed to 
between 10 and 500 times more radiation than the average amount received in 
1 year from natural sources of radiation.
However, the report stresses that the greatest exposures to depleted 
uranium will apply only to a very small number of soldiers on the 
battlefield and that the resulting excess of lung cancer deaths would 
certainly not be observable.
The independent expert working group of scientists examined the amounts of 
depleted uranium to which soldiers could be exposed and the radiological 
effects in three battlefield scenarios using internationally accepted 
knowledge of the possible health effects.
They said that the first, Level I, scenario, in which a shell penetrates a 
vehicle, would be expected to cause 12 excess lung cancer deaths by age 75 
if 10,000 soldiers were exposed to depleted uranium.
The second, Level ll, scenario, in which persons enter contaminated 
vehicles after combat, would cause 0.25 excess lung cancer deaths by age 75 
also assuming 10,000 people were exposed.
The third, Level lll, scenario, which includes exposure to soldiers 
downwind from smoke plumes, would cause only 0.0037 excess lung cancer 
deaths by age 75 among 10,000 soldiers.
The report notes that the total amount of depleted uranium in munitions 
fired during the Gulf War was about 258,000 kilos, vastly greater than the 
11,250 kilos used in the two Balkan conflicts.
"Veterans who have become ill since returning from the Gulf War naturally 
reflect on whether their disease is associated with exposure to depleted 
uranium on the battlefield," the report states. "Similarly, there have been 
reports in the press of cases of leukaemia in soldiers or peace-keepers who 
served in Bosnia and Kosovo, which are proposed to be due to exposure to 
depleted uranium."
The report does not directly address the causes of the illnesses reported 
by veterans, but it does suggest that the "risks of cancer from the 
radioactivity associated with exposures to depleted uranium on the 
battlefield are likely to be very low for the great majority of soldiers."
Peace-keepers would mostly have received very low exposures and it is "very 
unlikely" that these exposures would result in "any detectable increase in 
the incidence of leukaemia," the report continued.
The report calls for further research to improve estimates of the levels of 
depleted uranium, and the properties of depleted uranium aerosols, 
resulting from test firing into heavy-armour tanks. It says UK veterans 
with high exposures should be identified and invited to participate in an 
independent evaluation programme.
A United Nations Environmental Programme report on the use of depleted 
uranium munitions in Kosovo also concluded in March that the health hazards 
so far appear minimal.
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