• Home:
    • For Veterans:
      • Health Information:
        • Fact Sheets:
          • Information on Depleted Uranium (DU

Information on Depleted Uranium (DU)

A Resource for Service Members and Their Families

Be educated about Depleted Uranium! Knowledge is power!
If exposure to Depleted Uranium is a concern for you, please read this sheet. It contains some facts about exposure to DU and may answer some questions you might have. You may also want to check out the web sites listed below and talk to your health care provider about this issue.

What is Uranium?
Uranium is a metal that occurs naturally in the earth's crust and is found in air, water, soil and food. It is a weakly radioactive substance.

What is Depleted Uranium (DU)?
Depleted Uranium (DU) is what is left over after Uranium is processed. DU has most of its radioactivity taken out during processing. DU is 40% less radioactive than natural uranium.

What are the sources of DU exposure for Service Members?
Because of its density and low cost, DU is used by the U.S. military to make armor on tanks. DU is the best metal to use in armor to protect service men and women. It is also used to harden projectiles because DU munitions penetrate targets better. The first time DU was used by the US on a large scale was during the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990's.

DU cannot cause harm as long as it stays out of the body. Just being in the area of intact tanks or supplies made with DU will not result in exposure.

How does Depleted Uranium get into the body?
In order to pose a risk to your health, "exposure" to a substance means that there must be a source and that it gets into the body. Just being near items made of DU does not pose a health risk. Even when DU munitions are fired close by, DU in the air is not a health threat as long as the metal stays out of the body.

Exposure to DU only occurs if it gets into the body via metal fragments or dust-like particles that are inhaled into the lungs, are swallowed, or become embedded under the skin (shrapnel).

Exposure to DU is the highest for service members who are near fires or explosions involving DU munitions or armor. If DU shrapnel enters the body, it could remain in the body. DU particles can also be inhaled and taken into the body through smoke from burning DU-armored vehicles or exploded DU munitions.

What happens to the DU once it's in the body?
We know that most of the DU that enters the body through the mouth exits the body in the feces without ever being taken into the bloodstream. The DU particles breathed in may settle in the lung, although much of it is cleared from the throat and bronchi and swallowed. The DU shrapnel may be taken out by surgery, or may need to stay in the body due to where it is found. DU that stays in the body is slowly absorbed into the blood stream, flows around the body, and is processed by the kidney. The DU then leaves the body through urine. The process of taking DU out of the body can occur for years. How long the DU stays in the body depends on where it is, the DU particle size, how much DU there is, and how easily it dissolves. While the DU taken into the body is moving through the body, some of the DU particles settle in other parts of the body and may remain in the bones, kidneys and other soft tissues.

Possible health effects resulting from DU exposure.
People have asked if DU in the body can cause any long term health effects. There are also specific concerns about health effects from its radioactive content. DU is not very radioactive. DU contains 40% less radioactivity than Uranium, which is already a weakly radioactive substance. The radioactivity of DU outside the body does not pose a health concern, including that of cancer. This has been studied by the World Health Organization, Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and the United Kingdom Royal Society.

Studies on uranium miners and processors (people with high exposure to uranium over a long period of time) have shown that the main health effect of high doses of uranium is on the kidneys. High doses of uranium cause kidney function to slowly become worse. The long term effect of high doses of DU is also on the kidneys. A person's kidney function can be tested easily by blood and urine tests.

The idea that a person can have harmful health effects from exposure to DU is based on the amount of DU that stays in the body. The amount of DU that stays in the body is a result of the type and length of exposure. Very few service men and women are exposed to a large enough amount of DU or have enough DU left in their body to result in any health effects.

There are ongoing studies of Veterans of Operation Desert Storm who have DU shrapnel inside their bodies (highest level of exposure) and veterans who had no exposure to DU. After 10 years of follow up, the DU shrapnel group has not had any health problems that can be linked to the DU, including cancer, birth defects and kidney problems, even though their measures of uranium on a urine test are elevated, as expected. There were a few minor differences between those with high and low DU levels, but they were not consistent from year to year. These differences were not big enough to impact the person's daily life.

When should an individual be tested?
Current research shows that most service men and women who work with DU will not have harmful health effects. However, veterans are often concerned. The reason for this may be that it is often hard to find out the amount of exposure a person may have had.

In general, most services members have not had an exposure that would make DU testing recommended.

It is still important to talk about any concerns you might have about exposure to DU with your primary care provider. He or she can discuss the type and length of your exposure to DU and the chance that you might still carry DU in your body. You can work as a team to see what steps to take next.

Your provider may order your DU levels to be checked. This would include a visit to an Environmental Health Clinician to talk further about your deployment exposures and health concerns.

What is the 'test' for DU and what does it show?
The test for DU is a 24-hour urine sample that will look at the total uranium that leaves the body in the urine. If the level is high, more tests on the same urine sample will look at how much of the total uranium is DU. This test is sent to the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Results will show the level of DU in the urine compared to the normal range of DU excretion in the general public. It is important to know that the test does not look at kidney function. If the result is high you will need to talk to your doctor about what to do next.

*The information contained in this sheet was obtained in part from the following sources. It was developed by a group of health care providers with special concern about deployment-related health concerns. For more information you can see the following websites:

For more information, see the following websites:

Additional References:

  • Squibb K & McDiarmid MA. "Depleted uranium exposure and health effects in Gulf War Veterans." Phil Trans R Soc 2006;361:639-48.
  • McDiarmid MA, Engelhardt S, Oliver M, et al. "Health effects of depleted uranium on exposed Gulf War Veterans: A 10-year follow-up." J Tox Environ Health 2004;67:277-96.
  • McDiarmid MA, Squibb K, Engelhardt, et al. "Surveillance of depleted uranium exposed Gulf War Veterans: Health effects observed in an enlarged 'friendly fire' cohort." JOEM 2001;43(12):991-1000.

This document was developed by the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC)
VA-New Jersey Health Care System in East Orange, NJ
Last Updated May 26, 2006