Veterans Affairs committee  It's on that basis that we say it was level three. There was some exposure likely, sure. There was fire there, there were particles, they were more or less downwind. They may have had some.

Veterans Affairs committee  You should track away from DU for sure. I'll answer as a doctor. If I had a patient who had come to see me and he had the symptoms that we're describing as chronic multi-symptoms and so on, and said, “Doctor, I'm convinced that it's depleted uranium”, and I would have read this report and I knew what I know now, my obligation to that soldier would be to say, “It's not that.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, presumptive. The effect—okay, those are linked, and I have to point it out. The level at which they may have been exposed would not have led to adverse health effects. This is what we're saying.

Veterans Affairs committee  You're entirely correct, and as long as a veteran has these symptoms and feels this is a cause, you'll never be able to treat the person properly. That's basically what you said.

Veterans Affairs committee  Canada does not have the same system as the U.S., which is their extensive network of veterans hospitals, essentially treatment centres, and so on. When a soldier leaves the forces and is officially known as a veteran, then he's treated in the civilian health sector. We do not have that kind of comprehensive health care system that looks after the veterans in the same way as the Americans have.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certain facilities exist, and I don't know what is offered. The one thing is they do not have access to the health care system of the Canadian Forces, so they seek service from civilian physicians.

Veterans Affairs committee  The doctor in me will respond. I agree with you completely. Canada has a good health care system. We all say that and we pat ourselves on the back. But I think one of the problems is that when it comes to veterans who have problems that are unique to veterans, not necessarily unique, and I correct myself because some of those symptoms, these illnesses, PTSD and so on, are not unique to the military.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think he might get nervous about eating the food, so to allay your anxieties about being intoxicated by uranium in the food, it's present. You can detect it in the blood, but it's not at very high levels, so it does not affect the health.

Veterans Affairs committee  The comments about the consistency with other studies in the conclusion were about the larger studies. When we talk about the larger studies, these were done by the Institute of Medicine, the National Research Council in the United States, and the Royal Society in Britain. Those were the three biggies, if you wish, the most authoritative, the most comprehensive.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. But that is not to say every study. We're talking about maybe 1,000 peer-reviewed studies on uranium. There are very few on depleted uranium because it's been fairly recent...well, very few. There are some, but mostly they're American studies. The models I was talking about, the live-fire models, those were very good studies.

Veterans Affairs committee  A slight correction: there may have been exposure.

Veterans Affairs committee  It does not say there has been. In fact, from the scenarios I've outlined, it's unlikely that they've had significant exposure, if any, and I repeat, if any.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're saying that the levels at which they might have been exposed, based on the likelihood—

Veterans Affairs committee  —whether we believe it?

Veterans Affairs committee  You're inventing that conclusion, because that's not what was said.