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CONTENTS:
ISSUE IN DEPTH
NATO pledges
openness amid fears that DU use in 1999 is
causing 'Balkan syndrome'
OTHER NEWS
Czech coalition votes to
reduce public participation in EIA
Romania braces for worst
drought in 50 years
Austrian environmentalists
call for more tests at Temelin
Proposed sixth EAP for Europe
emerges
ISSUE IN DEPTH
NATO PLEDGES OPENNESS AMID FEARS THAT DU USE IN 1999
IS CAUSING 'BALKAN SYNDROME'
NATO medical chiefs will meet in Brussels Jan. 15 to
discuss the
potential risks of depleted uranium and NATO will make public all
information about the use of the controversial ammunition in the Balkans,
Joseph W. Ralston, NATO supreme allied commander for Europe told a
press conference in Prague on Jan. 10, according to Radio Prague.
International concern about the lingering effects of depleted uranium
(DU) weapons has mushroomed with the announcement that
six Italian soldiers who served in the Balkans have died from leukaemia
and soldiers from several other countries have died or contracted
illnesses that could be linked to radiation exposure, according
to reports. Officials have said it is possible that these soldiers
were exposed to radiation from DU weapons, which were used
by NATO in the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, and before that in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reports have also sparked renewed concern
about whether the DU might have left deadly pollution in the
soil or water of certain parts of the Balkans.
NATO officials, and others, have countered that there is no proof
of that DU shells, which are used for their ability to pierce tanks
and other armour, leave dangerous debris. Some of these sources
have suggested that DU opponents are engaging in scare mongering,
or have fallen victim to propaganda.
A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) mission has just
returned from Kosovo after inspecting 11 out of 112 sites where NATO
says DU weapons were used, according
to a Jan. 5 UNEP press release. The team
brought back samples of debris from the sites it studied and these are
currently being analysed at different laboratories around Europe, the
press release said. Although they
cautioned that their full conclusions will
only be r eleased in March, the team said they did find slightly raised
radioactivity levels in the holes left by DU ammunition or in the scraps
of ammunition left behind.
"It was surprising to find remnants of DU ammunition just lying on
the ground, one-and-a-half years
after the conflict," said Pekka Haavisto,
chairman of the UNEP DU Assessment Team and former environment
minister of Finland
"Also, the ground directly beneath the DU ammunition was slightly
contaminated. For this reason, we
paid special attention to the risks that
uranium toxicity might pose to the ground waters around the sites."
Unt il tests are complete
and their full report is ready, the UNEP team urged caution
around potentially contaminated areas. The
deaths of soldiers, and fear of further "Balkan syndrome" cases,
led EU Commission President Romano
Prodi and other leaders to demand
an investigation. European Union
chair Sweden on Jan. 5 announced that
it was considering forming a
special investigative committee to look into the issue,
according to FreeB92 News. "The moment has come for us to stop
trusting entirely in others, as we
had been doing quite legitimately up to now,"
said Portuguese Prime Minister
Antonio Guterres, in reference to NATOs assurances
that DU poses no risks to troops, according to a Jan. 6
Reuters report.
Several other European countries have begun screening soldiers who served
in the Balkans, and many civilian aid agencies are doing the same,
according to reports. Concerns about DU are not new. Scientists and
environmental activists were expressing their objections to the use
of DU weapons in Yugoslavia in 1999, while the bombing was still taking
place, and Iraqis and US veter ans
of the Gulf War have long maintained that radiation poisoning from DU
weapons was responsible for the
"Gulf War syndrome" that affected soldiers and
the populace in Iraq.
Just last month, NATO admitted that it had used DU weapons for a
short period in Bosnia during the
1992-95 war there, according to Reuters.
The health ministry of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
issued a sta- tement
after a meeting on Jan. 4 complaining that NATO had not cooperated over
the issue, Reuters said. The health ministry also said on Jan. 4 that
the number of cancer cases increased
in 1999, but could not confirm if t hey
were caused by radioactive contamination due to depleted uranium shells
used by NATO, according to Agence-France Presse.
Although circumstantial evidence is mounting, there has not yet been
conclusive proof that DU has
dangerous after-effects. NATO sources have
said that there is unnecessary "hysteria" about the issue, and
Kosovo moder ate
leader Ibrahim Rugova said he feared irresponsible claims and scare-mongering
could lead to a mass exodus of peacekeeping and international
agency staff from the region, the Reuters report said.
But DU has not yet been proven safe to the satisfaction of many.
According to Reuters, Italy's
defence minister said his country would ask
NATO to introduce a moratorium on the use of DU ammunition until the
alliance was certain it was
not linked to leukaemia among soldiers.
DU is primarily used by the American and British militaries. The reason
DU is used as a weapon is that it penetrates tank armour and other
protective surfaces better than standard lead bullets. NATO forces
fired some 10,000 rounds of
armour-piercing DU ammunition in Bosnia and some 31,500 during
the NATO air campaign to push Serb forces out of Kosovo in 1999, according
to Reuters.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
In other recent developments on this story:
- According to a Jan. 8 report from the Associated Press, four French
veterans of the Balkans are being
treated for leukaemia, one Portuguese soldier
has been diagnosed with cancer since returning from Kosovo and
several other European countries have begun
screening soldiers who served in
the Balkans, with many civilian aid agencies doing the same.
- Bulgarian, Polish and
Romanian peacekeepers have been tested and show no
signs of "Balkan syndrome,"
according to reports by Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE), but Romania's defence ministry announced Jan. 10
that new tests will be
conducted.
- Hungary's defence ministry has denied reports that a Hungarian soldier
serving in Bosnia, Istvan Kormendi,
died of leukaemia in September 1999, but
"Magyar Hirlap" reported on Jan. 8 that leukaemia was one of
several diagnoses in
Kormendi's final autopsy, according to RFE.
- Croatian mine clearers who worked in Kosovo in 1999 will be screened
for "Balkan syndrome," according to
a report from the Croatian Foreign Press
Bureau.
- World Health Organization (WHO) officials said they had found
no increase in leukaemia cases in Kosovo after talking to doctors about
possible "Balkan syndrome," a UN spokeswoman said on Jan. 6,
according to Reuters. But
WHO stressed the findings were not part of a scientific survey, and that
officials had simply asked doctors to provide information about leukaemia
cases from 1997 to 2000, Reuters said.
- According to FreeB92 News, no radiation illnesses have been detected
among Yugoslav soldiers serving during
NATO's bomb attacks on Yugoslavia last
year, an army representative said on Jan. 8. He added that their health
would continue to be monitored regularly.
- FreeB92 reported that, though
there are sites in southern Serbia known to be contaminated with DU,
a military analyst said on Jan. 4 that there is no evidence to back up
rumours that Belgrade was bombed with depleted uranium
missiles. Although experts said on Jan. 11 that tests on soil, air, rain
and foodstuffs in northern Serbia have not shown any indication of increased
radiation, Belgrade oncologists said that radioactivity was not the
only cause for concern, and they warned that chemical contamination
was probably a greater risk, FreeB92
reported. z
- Malign illnesses in the Kosovska Mitrovica region have leapt 200 percent
since 1998, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia's Kosovo branch said on
Jan. 10, according to FreeB92 News. Vice-president Marko Jaksic suggested
that depleted uranium was a possible cause and demanded an urgent investigation
by Serbian governmental experts, FreeB92 said.
Contacts:
- UNEP Balkan Task Force:
UNEP Spokesperson Tore Brevik,
tel: (254-2)
623-292;
e-mail: tore.brevik@unep.org;
the Chairman of the UNEP Depleted
Uranium Assessment Team,
Pekka Haavisto,
tel: (358-40) 588-4720;
e-mail:pekka.haavisto@upi-fiia.fi;
web page: http://balkans.unep.ch
- An NGO specialising in DU:
Damacio Lopez, International Depleted
Uranium Study Team,
tel: (1-505)
867-0141;
e-mail: IDUST@swcp.com;
or
Maria
Santelli,
tel: (1-505) 247-9694.
- U.S. Defense Department: Tel: (1-703)
697-5737;
web: http://www.defenselink.mil.
- U.S. Veterans of Foreign
Wars: Tel: (1-816) 756-3390;
web: http://www.vfw.org
- Useful links:
A web site with many informational links about DU is located at: http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/ud_main.html
- REC Yugoslavia: Dr Radoje Lausevic
Country Representative
Regional Environmental Center, Country Office
Yugoslavia
tel: (381-11) 620-633
e-mail: recyu@EUnet.yu.
- Yugoslav
Government:
Dr Dragan Veselinovic
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment
of Republic of Serbia
tel: (381-11) 3616-368.
- Yugoslav scientists:
Dr.
Snezana Pavlovic
tel: (381-11) 458-222
or Dr Miroslav Simic
Public Health Institute Vranje
tel: (381-11) 721-310
or Prof. Dr.
Gordana Vitorovic
Faculty of Veterinary, University of Belgrade
tel (381-11) 685-291
e-mail: vitor@afrodita.rcub.bg.ac.yu.
OTHER NEWS
CZECH COALITION VOTES TO REDUCE PUBLIC ACCESS TO EIA
DECISION-MAKING
The Czech lower house voted to significantly reduce public
access to the environmental
impact assessment (EIA) process in a new bill passed in December,
according to a press release from the Friends of the Earth, Czech
Re public. Czech legislators voted in favour of amendments to the government's
bill that would allow the cabinet to suspend EIA in any project
without explanation or justification, the release said. The amendments
are conce ssions made by the Social Democratic minority government
to the Civic Democratic Party, known for its pro-business, anti-environmental
and anti-civic society positions, according to Friends of
the Earth, Czech Republic. These amendments also specified the need for
merely one voluntary public hearing throughout the entire assessment process,
drastically restricting potential public involvement, according to
the release.
The release said that a new law on the EIA process was drafted
with the intention of remedying flaws in the current act, because loopholes
left room for the assessment process to be manipulated by industry.
Though the newly enacted law has improved upon the former legislation
in these areas, the series of amendments that severely deprives
the public of involvement in decision-making surrounding the EIA process
belies such improvements, the Friends of the Ea rth press release said.
The bill is going to the Czech Senate, where Friends of the Earth and
a coalition of environmental groups will continue to lobby against it,
the release said.
Contact:
Daniel Vondrous,
lobbying coordinator
Friends of the Earth, Czech Republic
tel: (420-5) 4521-4431
e-mail: daniel.vondrous@ecn.cz.ROMANIA
BRACES FOR WORST DROUGHT IN 50 YEARS
Romania has introduced water rationing measures and the country's cabinet
is discussing even more drastic means
of addressing the severe drought that
the country is expecting, according to a Jan. 8 report by Radio Free Eu-
rope/Radio Liberty. Power cuts and
complete cut-off of water supplies for
agriculture are possible as the country faces its worst drought in 50
years, the report said.
Contact:
Romanian Environment Ministry
tel: (40-1)
4 10-0246 or (40-1) 410-0215.
AUSTRIAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR MORE TESTS AT
TEMELIN
Austrian environmentalists have called for tests at the Temelin nuclear
power plant in South Bohemia to be
extended until the end of this year, according
to a Jan. 11 report from Radio Prague. The controversial nuclear po
wer plant, located just fifty kilometres from the Austrian border, continues
to draw protests, even after Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel agreed in December to carry out
an envir- onmental impact study on
Temelin, the report said. Environmentalists
said safety tests at Temelin should be extended until the
end of this year, the report said.
Temelin shut itself down on Jan. 6
after a minor technical problem
triggered safety systems, according to another
Radio Prague report. The plant's operator, the power company CEZ, said
in a statement that the shutdown occurred after a minor technical glitch,
the report said.
Contact:
Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety
tel:
(420-2) 24 22-3139
fax: (420-2) 2162-704
e-mail: karel.bohm@sujb.cz;
or Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart
tel:
(420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111
or Greenpeace Austria
tel: (43-1)
545-4580.
PROPOSED SIXTH EAP FOR EUROPE
EMERGES
The European Commission's environment directorate has circulated to other
EC departments its first draft
proposal for a sixth European Union environmental
action programme, to cover the period 2000-2009, according to
ENDS Environment Daily. The
fifth programme, begun in 1992, was a "failure" according
to a EC review published last year, ENDS reported. This sixth programme
was the first to be developed with broad input from stakeholders
in Central and Eastern Europe. Draft copies of the proposal will
be available online on Jan. 24, according to EC officials.
Contact:
EC
tel: (32-2) 299-1111
web: http://europa.eu.int/comm.
To subscribe
to ENDS Environment
Daily
e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
Copyright 2000 by the Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe
Ady Endre út 9-11
2000 Szentendre
Hungary
Tel: (36-26) 504-000
Fax: (36-26) 311-294
E-mail: GreenHorizon@rec.org
Web: http://www.rec.org/
Funded by the European Commission's DG-XI
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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