Veterans Affairs committee  I would have to read the actual study to determine, but in general, a case report—that's not a weakness. Part of the problem you have with a case report is that we're dealing with a distribution of people who get illnesses or don't get illnesses. The best analogy I have is that if I had a jarful of multicoloured M&M;'s, a case report is like reaching in once, pulling out a red one, and saying they're all red.

Veterans Affairs committee  Unfortunately, I can't. I haven't studied using hair for radioactive material. Anything I would say would be strictly conjecture.

Veterans Affairs committee  Excellent.

Veterans Affairs committee  None that I'm aware of, no.

Veterans Affairs committee  Other than the injuries that were caused by the fragments themselves, there have been no attributed adverse health effects due to the fact that they're DU. These soldiers were wounded and these soldiers do have health effects, but it's not due to the depleted uranium.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, there have not. Immediately after the Gulf War, as a veterans' concern was raised, a study was initiated. They studied that relationship and found no correlation.

Veterans Affairs committee  Small is a relative term. To me, it's kind of large, but from your perspective, it's probably small.

Veterans Affairs committee  The last depleted uranium symposium that occurred was sponsored by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute. That was three or four years ago. It took place along with the 50th anniversary of the founding of AFRRI. I see these results presented at professional meetings periodically, and they're published in radiobiology research and the Health Physics Society Journal.

Veterans Affairs committee  The collaboration is happening. The way we collaborate is through scientific journal articles. The communications are peer reviewed. There are articles that go back and forth in which findings are concurred with or disputed. That's the way the collaboration occurs. Periodically in the U.S. there are meetings where DU is discussed, but other than the normal communications that happen between people who are studying the same thing, the primary way is through the literature.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, sir. You must be an engineer. I'm sorry, Ma'am, go ahead.

Veterans Affairs committee  The short answer is that I really can't offer any suggestions. I'm sorry. I know how the U.S. Veterans Affairs works. The one thing in the U.S., and it sounds as if it's the same thing here in Canada, is that the policy for determining whether or not an illness is compensable is basically set by Parliament and by your DOD.

Veterans Affairs committee  At this point, I'm a health physicist, so I'm dealing primarily with the physics part of this, how DU is internalized, how it's metabolized, and the radiation health effects for that. What I think Madame Richard was referring to was the U.S. effort very early on to measure the amount of depleted uranium in urine from our combat veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  I will discuss what I know about the U.S. system for pre-deployment and post-deployment screening. This was basically developed after the Gulf War to try to mend some of the problems that we had with our returning veterans from the Gulf War. The U.S. system starts with a pre-deployment screening questionnaire where people are provided with an opportunity to assess their health and to provide an indication of the types of concerns that they have prior to their deployment.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm sorry. I'm having a little trouble with the translation.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, actually, I was born in Asmara, Eritrea. I'm an army brat. Right now I'm from Texas, and I can guarantee you one thing: it's a lot warmer there than here.