asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to recent statements about harm to human health from alpha radiation from polonium 210, whether assurances given to sick veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War that alpha radiation from depleted uranium used in the conflict was not harmful to their health are now being reviewed; and what information they have on the extent to which depleted uranium (U238) contains traces of the more dangerous isotopes U235 and U233. [HL807]

The advice that the Government have given to 1990-91 Gulf veterans is consistent with the advice issued by the Royal Society and many other independent expert groups and there are no plans to review this. To address the health concerns of veterans, the independent Depleted Uranium Oversight Board was established to develop a retrospective testing programme for depleted uranium (DU) in the urine of veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf conflict and the Balkans operations. Tests involving several hundred UK veterans have revealed no traces of DU in their urine.

The very low levels of radioactivity of DU are not comparable with the high levels found in polonium 210. Information on the isotopes contained in DU munitions used during the 1990-91 Gulf conflict was set out in another place by the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces (John Spellar) on 7 February 2001 (Official Report, col. 521W). Further information about DU munitions is available on the Ministry of Defence website at www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Healthand Safety/Depleted +Uranium.