HC Deb 24 April 2002 vol 384 cc265-6W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the UK and its allies in Northern Iraq have used depleted uranium weapons. [51638]

Dr. Moonie

United Kingdom forces did not use depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Northern Iraq during the Gulf War. They were deployed as part of a humanitarian relief operation and were therefore not equipped with Challenger battle tanks. The United Kingdom's allies are also not believed to have used DU in Northern Iraq during the war.

Allied forces are not using DU munitions in the policing of the Northern No Fly Zone.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of British Armed Forces' Personnel who have been exposed to depleted uranium. [50540]

Dr. Moonie

The Royal Society reports on "The Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions" consider three levels of exposure to depleted uranium (DU):

Level I—exposures to personnel in a vehicle that is struck by a DU penetrator, or to personnel entering a struck vehicle immediately, typically to assist injured comrades.

Level II—exposures following combat, typically to personnel working in or on contaminated vehicles to carry out repairs.

Level III—all other exposures, for example, being downwind of an impact or fire involving DU, or brief entry into contaminated vehicle.

No British troops who served in the Gulf or Balkans would have featured in the Level I scenario, or the worst case estimate for the Level II scenario, that is, personnel exposed to DU for about 100 hours.

Some duties undertaken by British troops in the Gulf could potentially have put them in scenarios representative of the Royal Society's Level II average estimate of 10 hours exposure to DU. However, the Royal Society's prediction of excess deaths from lung cancer and leukaemia, resulting from such Level II exposures, is very low (0.25 and 0.0007 per 10,000 respectively by the age of 75). This would not be detectable above the general risk of dying from cancer over a normal lifetime.

It is possible that some veterans might have experienced Level III exposures during the Gulf and Balkans conflicts and aftermaths.