RAY BRISTOW, a former Territorial Army warrant officer who volunteered to serve in the Gulf War in 1991, is one of 40 veterans whose urine was tested last year by experts in Canada and found to contain high levels of uranium.

After 20 years in the TA his life has changed. He is suffering from the symptoms associated with what was dubbed Gulf War syndrome, such as chronic fatigue, painful joints, memory loss, and liver and kidney problems. Since the uranium test he is also being regularly screened for leukaemia and bowel cancer.

Former WO Bristow, now 42 and out of work, has become convinced he is a victim of depleted uranium (DU) poisoning, even though as an operating theatre technician. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps’ 32 Field Hospital in Saudi Arabia during the conflict. “I never set foot in Iraq or Kuwait,” he said.

His reason for blaming DU, apart from the tests carried out at two centres in Canada on a urine sample he was asked to send, is that at least five of his comrades also serving with the unit have suffered serious health problems, and one of them, a sergeant, died of leukaemia in 1992.

Mr Bristow, who lives in Hull with his wife, Deborah, and three teenage daughters, and the 39 other Gulf War veterans whose urine was tested in Canada, were offered the chance of being screened by the MoD’s medical assessment programme. But he said he was not satisfied with the checks being offered. One of the 40 veterans who was tested was told that there was no sign of uranium poisoning, he said.

Mr Bristow believes that his unit may have become contaminated through coming into contact with DU particles on the clothing of casualties.

He is now surviving on a small war pension after being medically discharged. Mr Bristow said: “I feel very angry and have sympathy for those who served in Bosnia and Kosovo and may be suffering the same problems.

“I was very proud of what I did in the Gulf. I knew I could become a casualty of war but I didn’t expect to be a casualty from my own side.”

He added: “The Iraqi prisoners of war were treated with more compassion than the MoD has shown towards us since our return from the Gulf.”

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