Poland Sends Experts to Kosovo to Investigate Balkans Syndrome
http://www.centraleurope.com/news.php3?id=245201

WARSAW, Jan 5, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Poland has sent a team of six military experts to investigate the so-called "Balkan syndrome" among Polish peacekeepers, a military source said Friday.

Polish chemists and doctors will examine sites that may have high radioactive and chemical pollution, and areas where a joint Polish-Ukranian battalion is stationed, said Colonel Mieczyslaw Splawski, the head of Poland's anti-chemical warfare unit.

"Up until now none of the professional examinations conducted previously in places the Polish contingent has been stationed has shown any disturbing results," Splawski was quoted as saying by the daily Rzeczpospolita.

Some 2,500 Polish soldiers are participating in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, according to the defense ministry.

The deaths of several Italian soldiers stationed in the Balkans from rare cancers has sparked heated debate over the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which have been blamed for causing the illnesses.

Fragments or dust from the weapons, which soldiers may come into contact with or inhale after they have been fired, are suspected of being highly toxic.

The United States and NATO however have said there is no link between exposure to the weapons and the illnesses.

((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)