Health concerns in UK Armed Forces personnel.

As a result of the nature of their employment members of the UK Armed Forces may, on occasion, be exposed to physical danger. Although the nature of the occupational hazards they encounter may be predictable, such as enemy action or adverse climactic conditions, they are frequently far more uncertain. Most military professionals acknowledge that they may face danger as part of the job – that is the nature of the military contract. However it is probable that personnel view such danger as resulting from enemy action rather than being caused by their own side. Again the latter is inherent in the military contract – the former is not. In this paper we explore the occupational health concerns connected to the anthrax vaccination and depleted uranium ammunitions used by the UK Armed Forces and their coalition partners, both of which have been the cause of considerable controversy.