Athens, Jan. 18, IRNA -- Cancer cases in certain regions of Serbia and Kosovo that were bombed by NATO with depleted uranium shells in 1999, have increased as much as 500 percent, like in the case of Pancevo.

The increase in cancer cases throughout Serbia compared to their number before the NATO bombings is estimated at 30 percent, while the next thirty generations will suffer the effects of the depleted uranium bombs.

The shocking figures were given by Serb ecologists Biljana Tomasevic and Budomir Babic in a press conference in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Wednesday on the occasion of the event under the title "From the Persian Gulf Syndrome to the Balkans Syndrome" organized by Greek environmental organizations at Thessaloniki's Macedonia University.

The Serb ecologists underlined that the 31,000 depleted uranium bombs dropped on Yugoslavia have left behind a total of 15 tons of nuclear waste and in order to be cleaned the country's soil must be removed at a depth of 2 meters.

NK/JH
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::irna  19/01/2001  12:40