Former Czech Persian Gulf Commander Hit by "Balkan Syndrome"
http://www.centraleurope.com/news.php3?id=254762

PRAGUE, Jan 14, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) Jan Valo, former commander of the Czech anti-chemical unit in the Persian Gulf War, is another Czech veteran who suffers from serious health problems, the twin dailies Zemske noviny and Ceske slovo wrote yesterday. The papers write that doctors detected retinal tumors in both eyes of Valo some time ago. It indirectly ensues from doctors' reports that the disease could be linked with Valo's Persian Gulf stay in 1991. Last year Valo underwent a surgery.

Now his condition is good. "Before the operation, doctors asked me whether I had been exposed to radiation or toxical substances. I wondered at being faced with such a problem," Valo is quoted as saying. Some veterans of NATO's Balkan missions suffer mainly from leukemia and cancer as part of what is now called the "Balkan syndrome".

According to experts, their problem can be due to the ammunition containing depleted uranium which was for the first time used in the Persian Gulf against Iraqi tanks in 1991. ((c) 2001 CTK - Czech News Agency)