Depleted uranium: possible health effects and experimental issues

In 2000, cases of cancer have been reported among Italian troops involved in the peace-keeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and a Committee of Enquiry was set-up to study all these cases of tumour pathology and to verify the existence of a correlation, if any, with depleted uranium (DU) weapons used in the area. This paper reviews the results of epidemiological finding, indicating that the only type of cancer for which a statistically significant excess was observed was Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Referring to these data, a critical review of the current knowledge and postulates on uranium exposure is also presented to clarify why, up to this time, several problems have prevented from ascertaining whether or not lymphatic cancers are correlated with DU exposure. Moreover, the paper analyses and discusses up-to-date monitoring results in the contaminated countries and reviews advanced techniques to detect DU in biological and environmental samples, including gamma spectroscopy, a relatively manageable technique.