SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 01, 2001
WHO to probe depleted uranium from Gulf War in Iraq
BAGHDAD: A World Health Organisation mission left Iraq Friday after agreeing to a probe of possible links between cancer and depleted uranium (DU) dropped by US-led forces during the 1991 Gulf War, the official INA news agency reported.
The undersecretary of state at the health ministry, Zuheir Said Abdul Salem, said Iraqi and WHO had agreed that experts would analyze soil samples taken from mutually agreed areas to determine if there are any traces of uranium.
The Iraqi team will begin work immediately, while the WHO experts would begin their tests within two weeks.
The WHO delegation, led by Abdelaziz Saleh, deputy head of WHO's regional office in Cairo, arrived in Iraq on Monday.
According to Iraq, the number of cancer cases has quadrupled in the south of the country where the bombing was heaviest.
INA said earlier this week that both sides had underlined "the need to carry out research into the use of depleted uranium during the war, its effects on the environment and health in Iraq."
Baghad, which says the United States and Britain fired more than 940,000 armour-piercing DU projectiles during the 1991 conflict, had requested a WHO study.
The UN body announced in April that a delegation from Iraq and WHO experts had drawn up a framework for future collaboration and action.
The framework covers three areas -- surveillance of diseases, especially cancers and congenital malformations, as well as DU measurements in affected people, plus prevention and research.
WHO studied radiation levels caused by the use of DU weapons in the Balkans and concluded the impact on health was infinitesimal.
( AFP )
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