Study concludes depleted uranium doesn’t cause Gulf War illness February 18 A U.S. Humvee and Saudi tank pass under a highway sign directing them to Kuwait City during Desert Storm Allied forces offensive in 1991. A recent study found that depleted uranium from armor and rounds did not cause the Gulf War Illness so many veterans of that operation have suffered. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images) In the decades since Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, veterans and researchers have strained to find a cause of the myriad symptoms known as Gulf War illness, with a strong suspicion that the depleted uranium used in armor-piercing rounds created a toxic exposure with long-term health consequences.