Environment Minister Narmin Othman Hasan said that only a fraction of the contaminated tanks and other wartime vehicles have been successfully treated and disposed of.

Ms Hasan estimated that "we have only found 80 per cent of the contaminated sites. There are still some areas we can't reach because of the lack of security."

And she said that her budget of around £57.5 million was woefully inadequate to get to grips with the issue.

Depleted uranium, a radioactive metal present in armour-piercing bullets, has been blamed for health problems including cancer, brain damage, respiratory problems, kidney failure and blood-curdling birth defects.

During the first Gulf war, US warplanes and tanks fired munitions containing at least 320 tons of the metal.

Britain has admitted to firing around 100 depleted uranium shells in the 1991 conflict.

The US and British governments are understandably cagey about the amount dropped on Iraq since 2003.

But while the munitions were restricted to anti-tank weapons in the first Gulf war, it was apparently extended to the guided missiles and "bunker busters" that played a key role in Washington's "shock and awe" campaign.

And birth defects reported by doctors in Fallujah suggest that depleted uranium may have been used by US troops and their Kurdish peshmerga allies in the 2004 siege of the city.

Over 140,000 cases of cancer associated with the weaponry have been reported, but research on the link between depleted uranium and the rise in cancer remains inconclusive.

Ms Hasan observed that while "all radiation is dangerous, how much depleted uranium radiation is affecting our health is still under study."

She added that media reports on the impact of depleted uranium on public health had contributed to a "panic" among the Iraqi people.

Ms Hasan said that dealing with the 25 million landmines that continue to maim and kill innocent Iraqis was her most pressing concern.