A former Canadian trooper, named Pascal Lacoste, has gone on hunger strike to protest his exposure to depleted uranium while serving in Bosnia in the 1990s. On Saturday, Lacoste said that the Canadian Forces had not informed him that medical tests showed he was exhibiting an unusually high level of uranium, The Canadian Press reported.
He eventually filed a request under the Access to Information Act to see his medical files, which revealed that his hair samples contained 'abnormally elevated' amounts of the metal.
The veteran blames his declining health, including chronic pain and a degenerative neurological disorder, on depleted-uranium poisoning he believes he was afflicted during active duty in Bosnia.
He says, since 2001, the government has been in possession of two separate reports pointing to his high uranium levels. The authorities have, however, ignored the multiple requests he has made for treatment over the last decade.
"Because of the hypocrisy of the system, today my life is hell," Lacoste noted.
HSH/HN/MA