GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Some soldiers who fought in the gulf may have been exposed to a battlefield risk that won't show itself for years. M1A1 Abrams tanks and A-10 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers fired thousands of high-velocity shells that are made with depleted uranium, an extremely heavy metal that enables the weapons to penetrate the armor of enemy tanks. On impact, radioactive oxidized uranium is released into the air, which may have exposed anyone downwind to a lung-cancer risk. The Army and Air Force have judged the use of these shells to be safe. Yet concern over the hazards of depleted uranium goes back to at least 1980, when a New York plant that fabricated the shells from uranium metal chips was shut down. State health officials were concerned because radioactive emissions in the area around the building were as much as 25 times as high as levels that were deemed safe under local law.

With reporting by DANIEL S. LEVY