Corriere Della Sera: Investigation into contamination in Kosovo
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-09/22/20685.html
September 22, 2000

Rome, September 22 - The Italian press has finally put an end to several month long silence about the health danger and possible illness of Italian soldiers deployed in Kosovo and Metohija in the zone between Pec and Djakovica, where their US military allies had been dropping shells with depleted uranium during a 78-day long bombardment.

The fact that the military prosecutor's office in Rome has launched an investigation into the fate of several Italian soldiers who have been taken back to Italy due to serious illness points to the full gravity of the situation. Those four or five youths have come down with leukemia according to first symptoms.

The shocking information has aroused numerous polemics, but also denial from the Ministry of Defence. According to Corriere Della Sera, Italian military prosecutor Antonino Intelisano admitted that four or five soldiers are undergoing detailed medical check. "For the time being we have only partial data and we are checking if the issue here is leukemia and if the illness is connected to the effect of depleted uranium", the military prosecutor said.

The present initiative was launched in reaction to the yesterday's request made by Italian MPs of the Northern League party who demand urgent forming of the parliamentary commission which would establish if the Italian troops in Kosovo and Metohija are exposed to contamination and if the two soldiers had been taken back to Italy due to the symptoms pointing at leukemia. KFOR Italian contingent spokesman in Pec, Col. Gianfranco Scalas said the troops had not been returned to Italy because of leukemia and that examinations of the field had repeatedly shown that the present radioactivity was within normal limits. At the same time, daily Metro reports today the words of an Italian from Naples, calling himself Pascvale I who voluntarily participated in KFOR mission in Kosovo and Metohija for four months. "Before we went to Kosovo we knew there was depleted uranium in the zone. High-ranking military officials told us to be extremely cautious and brush out clothes well", the man said. To the question of what they used as protection, Pasquale answered "white face masks when we patrolled the streets".