快猫短视频

THE Ministry of Defence in Whitehall is an imposing edifice, a bastion of the
British establishment. But its solid exterior hides something rotten鈥攖he
way defence ministers treat servicemen and women. At the merest hint that the
MoD might inadvertently have caused its employees harm, ministers issue bland
reassurances, refuse to do the research that might help, and clam up.

It happened to veterans who were exposed to radiation from atom bomb tests
half a century ago. And it happened again to soldiers returning from the Gulf
and Kosovo with mysterious diseases. Their concern is the health risk of the
depleted uranium (DU) in armour-piercing shells. Sure enough, earlier this year,
the government announced that these fears are groundless.

So ministers will have mixed feelings about another report from the Royal
Society published this week. They might be reassured by the finding that the
risks of fatal cancers for most soldiers are low
(see 鈥淒ust won鈥檛 settle on depleted uranium鈥�).
But they should be embarrassed that the society鈥檚 panel
could not find enough data to pin down DU鈥檚
radiological effects and had to resort to mathematical modelling. Worse, the MoD
has not started screening soldiers exposed to DU, as it promised.

This is a shabby affair. Many of these people have put their lives on the
line for their country. Ministers have a duty to help shed light on their
problems.