17/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - On behalf of the Greens/EFA group to the European Parliament, Paul Lannoye sounded the alarm on the consequences of using depleted uranium weapons: "one more argument against war in Iraq", said the Belgian MEP in a press release. In it, Mr Lannoye also points out that radioactive contamination "essentially linked to the use by the US Army of depleted uranium anti-tank weapons triggered a humanitarian disaster in southern Iraq", where, according to figures unchallenged by the WHO, the number of congenital deformities increased sevenfold between 1990 and 2001. The MEP also cites tests carried out by the independent Canadian institute Uranium Medical Research Centre on inhabitants of bombarded areas of Afghanistan, which pointed to a contamination level "100 times higher than normal". Despite official denials, even more powerful weapons have been used in Afghanistan, and it is "logical to conclude that this type of weaponry would be used in a war on Iraq, causing a civilian disaster which would also affect the military" using them, states Mr Lannoye (see also EUROPE of 15 February, p.6).