UN Scientists Complete Survey of Radioactive Kosovo Bomb Sites
http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=221848&section=Kosovo

PRISTINA, Nov 18, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) UN scientists completed a study of sites contaminated by depleted uranium (DU) ammunition fired by NATO planes during the Kosovo war Friday, and recommended they be avoided while samples were tested.

"It was possible to detect higher than normal levels of beta and gamma radiation," Pekka Haavisto, head of the United Nations Environment Program team told reporters.

"These sites should be marked. The danger is perhaps less than having an X-ray at the dentists, but it is an unnecessary risk."

The team took "several hundred samples" of spent DU ammunition and contaminated earth, soil, plants and cow's milk, from sites in Kosovo where NATO planes had fired on suspected Yugoslav positions during the alliance's 1999 air war.

The samples will be tested in laboratories elsewhere in Europe and the results of the study become available in February next year, he said.

"The aim of the assessment will be to determine whether the use of DU during the Kosovo conflict has resulted in any current or future health or environmental risks," Haavisto said.

DU is used to make munitions heavier and enable them to cut through tank armor, but its use is controversial because it throws up a cloud of radioactive dust at the point of impact, which could present health risks.

The ammunition was first used by U.S. forces in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and some scientists believe its effects could explain some of the symptoms of so-called Gulf War syndrome, a wasting illness that affected returning soldiers.

Haavisto said he was disappointed that NATO had not supplied precise details of the bomb sites until a year and a half after the conflict, but that the information when given had appeared accurate. [NDR: dovrebbe essere seccato PER IL FATTO che hanno usato uranio, innanzitutto]

Radiation levels were concentrated tightly around the sites, he said, and while they were up to 3,000 times higher than Kosovo's normal background level, they were no higher than naturally occurring levels in some areas of western Europe.

Piuttosto dell'inutile Commissione politica per la riconciliazione dopo la guerra fredda, occorre una commissione mista (ma possibilmente senza i responsabili stessi dei danni), che comprenda anche rappresentanti di ONG, per stabilire con chiarezza la situazione di contaminazione raggiunta e prendere atto dell'effettivo stato delle cose. Nonché, ovviamente, individuare dei rimedi al più presto. Ormai la politica si divide tra due soli schieramenti ideali: gente di buon senso e vitime della mucca pazza.

Una soluzione per il futuro sarebbe quella di accreditare una Watchdog Authority (noi abbiamo costituito per questo l'Osservatorio) composta anche da casalinghe/i : se avessero deciso anche loro a suo tempo, state certi, certe cose assurde non sarebbero successe. Proposta per la DOXA: provate a chiedere ALLA GENTE dove se le deve sparare il Pentagono le sue scorie radioattive.