Health risks of exposure to depleted uranium. An overview

Not surprisingly, the use of ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans has provoked disquiet in Europe. In the Netherlands, concern over the release of this material had already been aroused previously following the crash of the El-Al airliner in the Bijlmermeer district of Amsterdam in 1992. It was against this background that the President of the Health Council decided to set up a Committee charged with the task of reviewing the health risks of exposure to DU and the preventive measures required for individuals present in areas where DU has been released into the environment. The present advisory report provides this review.

Committee

• dr WF Passchier, Dep. Executive Director, Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague/Professor of Risk Analysis, Department of Health Risk Analysis and Toxicology, Universiteit Maastricht, the Netherlands, chair
• dr ME de Broe, Professor of Nephrology, University of Antwerp,Wilrijk, Belgium
• dr C Hurtgen, Radiochemist; Study centre of Nuclear Energie, Mol, Belgium
• dr AS Keverling Buisman, Radiation Protection Supervisor; Netherlands Energy Research Foundation, Petten, The Netherlands
• dr J Noordhoek, Professor of Toxicology; University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• dr MM Verberk, Epidemiologist, toxicologist, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• dr NPE Vermeulen, Professor Molecula r toxicology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• ir JWN Tuyn, Health physicist, The Hague,The Netherlands, secretary