Australian servicemen and women who served in the recent
Iraq war were reporting symptoms of uranium sickness, a United States nuclear
weapons expert said today.
Dr Douglas Rokke is a former US Army nuclear health physicist and was formerly
the Pentagon's expert on the health effects of depleted uranium ammunition.
Speaking in Melbourne today, Dr Rokke said Iraqi women and children and
American and Iraqi military personnel had reported respiratory illnesses
and rashes after the recent conflict, and he had also been told of Australian
servicemen and women with similar symptoms.
"That's the reports I received from the US Army medical department.
That's something that needs to be verified and looked into," he said.
"When American soldiers are sick and the Iraqis are sick there's nothing
that says an Australian soldier is going to be isolated when he goes through
those areas and he is not going to become ill.
Copyright © 2003. The Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/23/1056220529069.html
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