DoD often doesn’t like to talk about is that depleted uranium is both radioactive and toxic ... aerosolizes into a ceramic dust that can enter soil ..

Depleted Uranium, Increased Risk | Weapons the Department of Defense claims are harmless have serious and lasting effects. | Perry O’Brien, Cornell University | September 5, 2007
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The thing the DoD often doesn’t like to talk about is that depleted uranium is both radioactive and toxic, putting its use in violation of some basic tenets of the Geneva Conventions. Defenders of DU (mainly the United States and Britain) have argued that it’s perfectly safe to hold a sabot round in your hand. That’s probably true, but when a sabot round hits its target, much of the shell aerosolizes into a ceramic dust that can enter the soil. This dust contaminates food and water supplies and can be inhaled or absorbed into the body through open wounds. A variety of critics, including veterans’ organizations, independent researchers, and the European Parliament, have charged that this dust has created serious health problems for exposed soldiers and civilians. If it’s as toxic as they say, then the use of DU violates at least three international laws.

The Hague Convention of 1907 prohibits the use of "poison or poisoned weapons," and DU could fit that description. A recent study on rats shows that exposure to depleted uranium can cause damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive systems. This latter effect has been cited by independent researchers as the cause of unusually high rates of infertility and birth defects in both Gulf War veterans and civilians in Iraq, where U.S. forces fired over 300 tons of DU ammunition. A 2005 study concluded that the risk to both groups from DU exposure was nominal, though the report admitted to "fairly large calculational uncertainties." Ultimately, not enough research has been done on DU’s effect on human populations. Despite admitting that thousands of Gulf War veterans were exposed to the substance, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has tested fewer than 100.
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Given the evidence linking DU exposure with numerous health problems, it is shameful that the United States continues to field such weapons without further research on their human impact. For the sake of our own soldiers, not to mention the citizens of countries such as Iraq, Americans should join the international community and call for an immediate moratorium on the use of all DU weapons.