YUGOSLAVIA: YUGOSLAV DOCTORS SPEAKS OF FEARS FOR HIS PEOPLE AFFECTED BY RADIATION FROM NATO USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN AMMUNITION

Record ID: 647123

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: YUGOSLAV DOCTORS SPEAKS OF FEARS FOR HIS PEOPLE AFFECTED BY RADIATION FROM NATO USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN AMMUNITION
  • Date: 17th January 2001
  • Summary: VILLAGE OF RELJINA, SOUTHERN SERBIA, YUGOSLAVIA (JANUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV/MV SOLDIERS MEASURING RADIATION LEVELS (5 SHOTS) 0.31 2. SCU RADIATION MEASURING DEVICE; SCU WARNING NOTICE, READING IN SERBIAN AND ALBANIAN "DANGEROUS" (2 SHOTS) 0.43 3. MV YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS MEASURING RADIATION LEVELS (5 SHOTS) 1.19 4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) LT.COL. CEDA VRANJANAC, SAYING: "We cannot say that civilians will not be endangered by the subsequent consequences of the radiation. Radioactive substances remain on the ground. Due to the rain and snow it circulates through the ground and spread to the wider area. Nutrition of domestic animals with contaminated food and water brings radiation into the food chain which could lead to the indirect contamination of people." 1.50 5. GV/LV VILLAGE OF RELJINA (2 SHOTS) 1.58 BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (JANUARY 13, 2001) (REUTERS) 6. SLV EXTERIOR YUGOSLAV MILITARY-MEDICAL ACADEMY (2 SHOTS) 2.07 7. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) ZORAN STANKOVIC, HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORENSIC MEDICINE OF THE YUGOSLAV MILITARY-MEDICAL ACADEMY, SAYING "In the data given to the representatives of the Yugoslav Army by NATO, points bombed with the ammunition containing depleted uranium were located. The data shows that the Bujanovac area was bombed with a number of such missiles, which means that the area is contaminated. 2.32 8. MV INTERVIEW 2.37 VILLAGE OF RELJINA, SOUTHERN SERBIA, YUGOSLAVIA (JANUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 9. SLV BOY LEAVING HOUSE; SLV CHILDREN PLAYING IN SNOW (2 SHOTS) 2.48 10. SCU COW DRINKING WATER; MV FARMER WITH COW ; SCU CHICKENS (3 SHOTS) 3.02 11. SCU CHILDREN EATING SNOWBALLS; MV CHILDREN WALKING BY (2 SHOTS) 3.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE/RELJINA, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA83P8PZKOKUH8BF7MRZHX038PV
  • Story Text: As the international controversy over the military use
    of depleted uranium grows, a Yugoslav forensic doctor has said
    he fears many people in his country could be affected by
    radiation.

    The Yugoslav Army has continued to measure radiation
    levels at six locations in southern Serbia which were hit by
    depleted uranium shells during the NATO bombing campaign in
    1999. The Army said tests on 1,000 soldiers who served in
    Kosovo had so far proved negative.

    Reljine, a tiny village of 150 people, has been named
    by the Yugoslav army as one of six locations in southern
    Serbia which NATO had bombed with depleted uranium-tipped
    weapons.

    Yugoslav Army experts conduct radiation level measurements
    on a daily basis.

    Army Lt. Colonel Cedo Vranjac said there is no way the
    local population can be fully protected from the indirect
    effects of depleted uranium.

    Serbian officials have said precautions had been taken in
    areas known to have been hit by the weapons in Serbia proper.

    Those areas have been registered, identified and
    marked. Unauthorised access has been prevented in such areas.

    Zoran Stankovic, head of the Department of Forensic
    Medicine at the Yugoslav Military-Medical Academy in Belgrade
    expressed concerns that people in southern Serbia could have
    been contaminated by the NATO use of missiles containing
    depleted uranium (DU).

    The pathologist said an organised multidisciplinary study
    had not been established to study possible links between DU
    and cancers.

    Stankovic said he felt strongly there was a link.

    Stankovic was commenting on expert reports from some
    Western countries refuting any link.

    He said depleted uranium munitions had inflicted physical
    and internal damage
    to human beings, while exposure to radiation had caused bone
    marrow and congenital anomalies.

    Depleted uranium continued to contaminate the soil and
    underground water supplies threatening plants and animals, he
    said.

    Stankovic said the United Nations must organise a study as
    it was directly responsible for the use of the weapons
    containing depleted uranium.

    NATO said it had fired 31,000 depleted uranium shells
    during its three-month bombing campaign of Yugoslavia in 1999.

    The Yugoslav Army has so far not recorded any cases of
    cancer amongst soldiers who served in Kosovo during the air
    campaign. The Army has said it has screened 1,000 of its
    troops and had negative results.

    Stankovic said the 1,000 troops tested represented less
    than one percent of the 150,000 troops deployed in Kosovo.

    He also said two cases of eye cancer had been reported to him.


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