(http://www.lineone.net/express/99/11/24/news/n2620gulfwarsick-d.html).

BRITISH soldiers were poisoned by radioactive and highly-toxic dust from shells fired by the Allies during the Gulf War, a world authority has claimed.

The expert, Professor Asaf Durakovic, says they fell victim to what could prove to be one of the largest nuclear accidents in history, with hundreds of thousands at risk.

The professor, the former chief of nuclear medicine at the Veterans' Affairs medical facility in Delaware, US, says his findings would explain many of the cases of so-called Gulf War syndrome. He claims he was forced to quit his post for refusing to end his research into depleted uranium - the radioactive material used in over 700,000 missiles and bullets during the 1991 conflict.

He confirms that sick ex-servicemen could have been helped by specialist treatment if governments had admitted years ago that they were at risk from exposure to DU while they were on the battlefield unprotected and unaware of the danger.

But, speaking on ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald, he will say that eight years on it is "too late" for them. Professor Durakovic says: "It is amazing that we see the levels of DU in the urine of veterans nine years after the war. I am not implying that all the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome are due to DU, but a large part of the sickness of the patients that I have been following is due to the contamination with radioactive isotopes."

The professor claims that hundreds of thousands were put at risk through inhaling radioactive dust from the "superior weapons" in which DU was used because of its armour-piercing capabilities. Asked why the military has not supported his previous warnings about DU, he adds: "We are talking about the embarrassment of the governments of Britain, Canada and the US, and the other reason is it's a multi-billion-dollar industry which has to be cautious about litigation and compensation claims."

He says that other doctors and scientists who have voiced concern about DU have also lost their jobs in North America. Durakovic, now clinical professor of radiology and nuclear medicine at Georgetown University in Washington DC, says that seven British veterans have tested positive for DU with Canadian and US troops. British victims include Paul Connolly, a civilian worker from Woking, Surrey, who was responsible for keeping ducts on vehicle cooling systems free from dust. Mr Connolly, 37, who is now undergoing dialysis treatment three times a week, said: "How can the government still say that DU was safe?" The Tonight investigation will highlight an admission from the US military that "mistakes were made" in allowing soldiers to wander in battle areas where Allied tanks and aircraft had fired DU rounds.

Comments:

DU plays a role in Gulf War illness, but there is also a strong signature of fluorine, which acts similarly in causing immune damage.

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