Ambassadors of the NATO alliance at talks in Brussels are facing sharp divisions over the possible health risks of ammunition tipped with depleted uranium. Fears have been growing that soldiers who served in the Balkans may have contracted leukaemia and other forms of cancer through the use of the munitions. Italy is leading the case for them to be withdrawn.
But the United States and Britain insist that they are crucial to NATO's operational effectiveness. In advance of the meeting, the American Defence Secretary said that NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo were given adequate warning about how to deal with such munitions. William Cohen said that there was no proof of any link between depleted uranium and cancer among former peacekeepers.
