The Balkan Syndrome

The UN Commission, which took samples from eleven bombed sites in Kosovo, where the depleted uranium ammunition had been used, notified the public about eight spots with higher level of radioactivity. ‘We detected higher levels of radiation in some villages, at the spots where children are playing’, said president of the Commission Pekka Haavisto, former Finnish Minister of Environment Protection. She recounted that she had also seen young girls wearing necklaces made of uranium missiles, and cattle grazing on contaminated pastures. The Commission, however, reckoned that the level of radiation is very low, though it suggested that all contaminated sites should be cordoned off and that all remaining radioactive waste materials should be removed. Unfortunately, additional details about how dangerous it all may be for the health of the local population and the peace troops in Kosovo, were not revealed: they will be made known in March, after all analyses are completed. Only then shall we have a real and qualified estimation of the overall conditions. Until then, we can do no more than rely upon what we have known so far. That is not much, having in mind that prior to founding the mentioned Commission, not a single scientific thesis has been published on the subject, so it is very difficult to determine and prove the consequences of very low levels of radiation.

The first thing that should be done is to give some details concerning the uranium ammunition. We often come across statements in the press like ‘NATO was hitting some targets with depleted uranium ammunition’ or ‘depleted uranium was thrown on Bosnia and Yugoslavia’. That is not quite true: depleted uranium is used exclusively for antitank ammunition, and not for bombs and skyrockets. It is mostly about the shells of 120 to 150 mm, which are launched from aerial or field cannon, so that what we have in Kosovo comes from ‘tank hunters’ of NATO air force. The cast piece of depleted uranium is known as ‘needle’ or ‘penetrator’ and it is 10 cm long, weighing between 300 and 350 g. Unlike the cumulative shells, which have an aim of wiping out any obstacle before them, the penetrator has a simpler purpose of creating a hole in the armour, and then incapacitating the crew by knocking itself off from internal walls of a tank, transporter or a bunker. This is important because it means that there is no explosion, which would bring about the dispersion of uranium dust in the local environment. The penetrator most often remains a single piece, or it is sometimes likely to break into several pieces. It is made of uranium because this radioactive metal has a specific weight, which provides it with enormous kinetic energy essential for penetrating modern armours. In addition, uranium is very easily worked and is abundant waste material of nuclear plants. Finally, when highly radioactive isotopes are extracted from it (i.e. when it is ‘depleted’), it becomes almost safe for handling, or at least that has been a common opinion until now.

NATO has, allegedly, launched about 11,000 such missiles (that is around four tons of depleted uranium) during its air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999. The most often targeted sites with depleted uranium ammunition were those occupied by Yugoslav tanks – and that is along the Albanian border (nearby Prizren, Djakovica and Pec) and along the administrative border with Serbia (in the vicinity of Vranje and Bujanovac). Accordingly, over 99% of locations, marked as such by either NATO, or the Yugoslav Army (VJ), are in western Kosovo, whereas the rest of them are in southern Serbia. It brings us to a conclusion that those who live nearby VJ Headquarters or some other bombed buildings have nothing to fear from. At those areas where they are dropped, the penetrators emit very a low level or radiation, which is measured in millimetres and which is not supposed to penetrate through clothes or skin. This emission can be harmful only if it enters the inside of a human body and starts making a mess among the cells. However, taking into account that the penetrator does not have a property to explode when it hits the target, its very small portion is turned into dust, which can be hazardous for local population and animals (plants are immune to radiation, they even flourish when radiated). Only in spring, when the UN Commission reveals the final report, shall we know how extensive the radiation and the danger from it really is.

PROFESSIONAL CONCERN: There is a general impression that the story about the leukemia among NATO troops is, to some extent, puffed up. In Portugal, for example, five out of 10,000 peacemaking soldiers in the Balkan mission suffered from leukemia, while this syndrome is even more rare among common population. However, it is not yet determined whether some proclaimed victims really suffer from this syndrome or not, whereas the others that do, have not had any contact with the radioactive ammunition. Moreover, experts claim that it takes at least a few years for leukemia, caused by radioactive chemical particles, to became detectable in a human organism. If it happened earlier (it means that the radiation was much higher), it would bring about many more victims of radioactive diseases or other types of cancer, besides leukemia. So far, there are no such reports (apart from one Briton who lost his hair during his mission in Kosovo), so it is untimely to draw conclusions that the depleted uranium ammunition is to blame.

If we assume that the overall affair is puffed up, there is a question – what for? Above all, we should doubt the lawyers who smelled a perfect opportunity for amassing huge amounts of money by representing their real or alleged victims and their families. Now each NATO soldier who, in the last few years, set his foot upon the ground of Kosovo or Bosnia and who does not feel very well these days, can claim war reparations, and if he, god forbids!, dies of some disease related to radiation, his next of kin will be in position to sue NATO. The army is mostly professional in the West, and the government is obliged to take care of the soldiers’ health with the money gathered from tax payers, so these things are taken quite seriously. However, people were entitled to compensation from tobacco companies, because they ‘did not’ know that smoking was detrimental. Thus, it would not be unusual if they received compensation for not knowing that the army was harmful too and that uranium was radioactive. The second problem is political discord within NATO, and especially in relation between Europe and the United States. Some American allies, in particular France and Italy, cannot miss the opportunity to reproach America for forcing them to embark upon a war which they originally wanted to avoid. And finally, in America itself, the debate over radiation could strengthen the determination of Bush’s administration to diminish or even withdraw all American troops from the Balkans. Albanian leaders in Kosovo immediately estimated that all stories about leukemia derived from official Belgrade’s propaganda in order to instigate the withdrawal of KFOR troops from Kosovo and leave the southern Serbian province in the hands of the Serbs.

IMPORT FROM RUSSIA: Although it is too early to judge about the political consequences of the use and effects of depleted uranium, it is definite that they would not result in the withdrawal of KFOR mission. Apart from that, there is hardly a chance that the depleted uranium ammunition would become subject to a legal ban in the near future. That type of ammunition is so widely used that it is almost treated as irreplaceable and no one will dare to place it out of use. Even if it has to happen, no one knows any other way of destroying it apart from launching it to a foreign territory, as was the case in Serbia and Iraq).

It remains to be explained why the official stance of the Yugoslav Army, concerning the potential danger for Kosovo veterans and civilians who live in the targeted areas, is so reserved. It is published that all potentially dangerous sites in southern Serbia were carefully marked, and that some unexpected signs of cancerous illness have not yet been noticed. Our Army reacted to all this without evident anxiousness, as if someone else had been hit by depleted uranium ammunition. All this becomes reasonable if we take into account the fact (not very familiar) that they have also been using the ammunition of similar type. ‘We have never produced the depleted uranium ammunition, but we have imported it from the former Soviet Union’, says a competent VJ source wishing to remain anonymous. The same source claims that there are countless amounts of such ammunition in the military storages and that it is packed in ordinary wooden containers without any measure of precaution: ‘We haven’t used this ammunition in Kosovo, since we haven’t had a chance to face the NATO ground troops, but we are regularly using it in practice.’ Therefore, it would not be bad if the UN Commission, which has recently announced the gathering of samples from bombed locations in the FRY outside Kosovo, visited such places as Pasuljanske Livade, Bubanj Potok and Pester. Just in case, although in this period of electrical power shortage everything radiant on this territory is welcome.