BODY: A NATO committee considering the risks of depleted uranium (DU) munitions will meet less frequently after finding that available evidence did not establish a link with health problems among Balkans veterans, a diplomat said Tuesday.
The panel, which has met four times since being created in mid-January amid an uproar in countries that provided troops for NATO-led operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, did not set a date for its next gathering, the diplomat said.
He added that it had studied information available on the effects of DU munitions, and was now waiting for certain countries to publish the results of epidermal studies.
A representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) repeated his group's call for an international emergency fund to study the effects of DU projectiles fired in the Balkans and during the Gulf War.
"Although specialists currently believe the risks from exposure to DU are small, our information does not allow for definitive conclusions," the WHO delegate said.
The Council of Europe, the continents' rights watchdog, last month called for a total ban on the production and use of DU arms.
Around 50 countries, including the 19 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and others who contributed forces to the NATO-led Balkans operations, took part in the meeting.
Yugoslavia, which was invited to all four sessions, declined to send a representative.