HL Deb 27 October 1997 vol 582 cc226-7WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:.

Whether any British service personnel in the Gulf War were affected by the use of uranium as a weapon; and

Whether any children born to participants in the Gulf War have been affected by the use of uranium as a weapon; and

Whether they are aware of any casualties due to the use of uranium as a weapon in the Gulf War, given that the Channel 4 television programme "Films of Flame" appeared to show that the United States had used uranium as a weapon in that conflict.

Lord Gilbert

Depleted uranium (DU) ammunition rounds were used by both British and US troops during the Gulf War. Two types of hazard are posed by DU: a radiation hazard, although DU has a very low level of radioactivity, and a hazard due to chemical toxicity which is similar to that posed by other heavy metals, such as lead.

The Government are not aware of any UK Service personnel who sustained shrapnel injuries from depleted uranium (DU) ammunition. A small number of British troops, who believed they might have been exposed to DU during the Gulf War, were subject to monitoring in the period immediately after the conflict. They showed no detectable DU contamination. A report published in 1993 by the Defence Radiological Protection Service concluded that there was no indication that any British troops had been subjected to harmful over-exposure to DU during the Gulf conflict.

The research teams conducting MoD-funded epidemiological research into the health of UK Gulf veterans and their families are, however, aware that exposure to DU is one of a range of factors which has been put forward as a potential cause of Gulf related illnesses. They will be taking this into account in their studies. I should stress that there is currently no evidence to suggest that any of the illnesses reported by Gulf veterans can be passed to other members of their families. Indeed, a study undertaken in the US which reported earlier this year found that the risk of birth defects among Gulf veterans was no higher than that in a control population.