THOUSANDS of soldiers who may have been exposed to depleted uranium are finally to be offered health screening as fears grow about possible links with cancer.

The Government announced the climbdown last night - saying it was to designed to reassure servicemen and women.

Tens of thousands of rounds of DU ammunition - dubbed "silver bullets" by the Pentagon because of their effectiveness - were used in the Gulf and Kosovo, and since early 1999 more than 2,000 soldiers from Catterick, Topcliffe and Ripon have seen service as peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia.

None have so far reported any symptoms but, with others still in Kosovo and others scheduled to go in the summer, concerns are still rising.

In Norway yesterday, elite troops mutineered and refused to serve in the Balkans until the risk from the controversial weapon is clarified.

But Armed Forces Minister John Spellar insisted in the Commons there was no evidence of a link between DU-tipped weapons and cancer, and said such shells would remain in the British arsenal.

"We do recognise that some of the recent coverage would have caused some concerns among our people and we recognise a need to reassure them."

Health screening will be voluntary.

Durham City MP Gerry Steinberg raised in the Commons the plight of Gulf War veteran Dave Robertson, who lives in his constituency.

"He went to the Gulf War a fit, healthy, active career soldier and he came back and developed into an absolute wreck.

"His skin bleeds for no reason at all, he bleeds internally. He has developed epilepsy. He has regular seizures. He's had a number of strokes," said Mr Steinberg.

"If depleted uranium was not the cause of that, then what was?" he asked.

DU-tipped shells have been fired in the Eskmeals ranges in Cumbria, but none has been used on the Catterick training area in North Yorkshire or the Otterburn ranges in Northumbria - although their future use on the latter has not been ruled out