22 March 2007
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Ban the use of DU (depleted uranium) weapons in warfare."
Details of petition:
"Military weapons made of DU (Depleted Uranium) are, inhumane, carcinogenic, mutagenic and indiscriminate. The use of DU is causing global radioactive contamination, disease and genetic abnormalities. Military use of this nuclear waste product is having a detrimental effect on soldiers, civilians and the global environment. These weapons clearly violate humanitarian law and their use must be stopped."
Read the Government’s response
The Government considers that the country’s Armed Forces deserve the very best equipment with which to protect themselves and to succeed in conflict. At present, the best anti-tank munition for the Army’s Challenger Main Battle tanks is the 120 mm anti-tank depleted uranium (DU) round. This round will remain part of our arsenal for the foreseeable future because the use of DU is legal and because its use does not present the health risks suggested by a very small minority of scientists.
DU is only weakly radioactive and this is agreed by independent expert groups. Many independent reports have been produced that consider the battlefield effects of using DU munitions. These are available on the World Wide Web and include work by the Royal Society, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). No widespread DU contamination sufficient to impact the health of the general population or deployed personnel has been found in environmental surveys and no traces of DU have been found in urine samples collected from several hundred UK veterans who have served in both Gulf conflicts and the Balkans. In short, contrary to popular belief there is no reliable scientific or medical evidence to link DU with ill-health or with birth defects.
Media reports of DU-induced cancers and birth defects in Iraq have not been substantiated with credible scientific evidence. Many other factors need to be considered as possible causes, for example, some scientists have blamed the former Iraqi Government’s use of chemical weapons on its own citizens.
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