The United States and Britain immediately rejected the call, citing World Health Organization statements that there is no medical evidence showing a clear link between depleted uranium and health problems. Both Washington and London insist that given the important role the ammunition has it must remain in NATO´s military arsenal.

At least 15 soldiers who were part of military deployments by the imperialist powers in Bosnia and Kosova have died of leukemia, including 6 in Italy, 5 in Belgium, 2 in the Netherlands, and 1 each in Portugal and Spain. Little interest has been shown in the big business media around the effects of the uranium weapons used in NATO's bombing campaigns in Bosnia and Kosova. The nationalist approach was best sounded by German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who stated he has "a healthy skepticism about the use of munitions that could lead to dangers for our own soldiers."

The United States is the biggest user of depleted uranium ammunition. Because it is 65 percent heavier than lead it can penetrate steel better than other ammunition. It ignites on impact, vaporizing steel or other materials.

The Swedish government, which took over the rotating presidency of the European Union January 1, has come under pressure to act on the dispute. Belgian defense minister André Flahaut wrote a letter to his Swedish counterpart that this "sensitive and important topic should be on the agenda" of the next European Union meeting. The Greek minister of defense, Akis Tsohatzopoulos, also asked for the topic to be on the agenda for the next meeting of the EU council of ministers.

Greek opposition leader Kostas Karamanlis stated that if the risks with depleted uranium are confirmed "we have to withdraw the troops from the area." Greece and Italy were the NATO countries most resistant to the alliance's military assault in the Balkans in 1999. The intervention increased interimperialist competition and rivalry in the Balkans to the disadvantage of these imperialist governments.

The Finnish government has decided to let the soldiers who have been in Yugoslavia go through a health test and in Denmark the authorities have established a telephone hot line to medical personnel for soldiers who served in the Balkans. Initially the Swedish government took a wait-and-see attitude but soon followed other EU governments in scheduling health tests for up to 1,000 of the 11,300 who have served in the Balkans since 1993. The defense department reports that three military personnel who served in the Balkans have cancer, one has leukemia.

Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission and former Italian prime minister, said the Kosova conflict had created "a horrible environmental problem that is for us to take care of." He continued that if it could be determined that the depleted uranium was hazardous to health then, "we have to abolish it."

Stockholm is taking part in the rapid reaction force of 60,000 troops that the European Union is creating for deployment in military operations where NATO decides not to act. Sweden has offered 1,900 troops to the force, nine fighter aircraft, four transport planes, two coastal corvettes, two minesweepers, and a submarine.

In Stockholm, as in most of the other European capitals, the topic of depleted uranium has become a hot one in connection with this rapid reaction force and its relation to NATO and Washington. Sweden has sided with Britain on foreign policy within the European Union. They both place priority on enlargement of the EU into eastern Europe and have not adopted the euro. Stockholm's policy is to Washington's liking. Although not yet itself opting for NATO membership, Stockholm is giving the green light for NATO's further enlargement into eastern and central Europe, including to the Baltic states that border Russia.

The furor over depleted uranium puts a strain on the relations between Washington and its allies in Europe, who are at the same time its rivals.

There are several looming transatlantic conflicts that could exacerbate tensions. This includes Washington's plans for a national missile defense, a reassessment of military operations in the Balkans, to what degree the military role of the European Union should be independent of Washington, and NATO's future enlargement toward Russia's borders.

As a senior European diplomat quoted in the January 10 International Herald Tribune put it, "It was already going to be very hard to maintain unity within NATO in dealing with all these matters that go to the core of the alliance's future. The depleted uranium problem could not have come at a worse time because it damages the sense of trust that has kept the alliance strong."

Top Pentagon and NATO officials have gone on the offensive with claims that depleted uranium has little or no health threats associated with it. U.S. defense secretary William Cohen said there is "no scientific study that shows any connection between depleted uranium and leukemia or other types of cancer." He likened the radioactive and highly toxic material to lead paint, which "does not pose a problem to you unless it starts to peel and then children or others ingest it." He admitted that when the shells burns on impact they produce a fine, powdery dust. "If that's inhaled, that can pose health problems. But once an operation is complete, usually rain washes the oxide away and there are no health hazards."

The Washington Post featured an article that said, "Physicists and medical experts say it is biologically impossible for depleted uranium to have caused the leukemia and they doubt that the metal caused any illnesses in Europe." The piece cites Dr. Frank von Hippel, from Princeton University, who said that although the metal is radioactive, "its half-life is 4.5 billion years, which is, by coincidence, the age of the solar system." Dr. Charles Phelps, from the University of Rochester in Minnesota, said that studies there indicate uranium 238 was leaching into the kidneys of soldiers who inhaled it. "They had very high levels of uranium salts in their urine," he said. "But there is no evidence of kidney disease."

Several NATO ambassadors have asked why if the threat was so slight did NATO military commanders send a warning before the peacekeeping mission in July 1999 citing a "possible toxic threat" and urging member states to take their own "preventive measures" in dealing with contamination risks. The U.S. government report warned that "inhaled insoluble oxides stay in the lungs longer and pose a potential cancer risk due to radiation. Ingested DU dust can also pose both a radioactive and toxicity risk."

"The time has come for us no longer to have complete confidence in anyone," said Portugal's prime minister Antonio Guterres, after sending three cabinet ministers to Kosova to conduct their own inquiry after a Portuguese soldier died of a mysterious brain disease and another contracted leukemia.

London announced January 9 that it would provide voluntary medical checks for all Balkans veterans. The dispute has brought to the surface use of the munitions at two firing ranges in Britain, one in northern England and the other in Scotland. The British defense minister acknowledged that more than 6,000 rounds of the shells had been fired into the Solway Firth.

Carl-Erik Isacsson is a member of the metal workers union in Södertälje Sweden.  
 
 
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