Kostunica: NATO's 'depleted conscience'

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Yugoslavia's president has criticised NATO for using depleted uranium (DU) shells and bullets during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.

Vojislav Kostunica said: "We could say those who used the infamous depleted uranium have a depleted conscience."

NATO said on Tuesday that data from its 19 member states showed no link between depleted uranium munitions and "Balkans Syndrome" cancers. But the military alliance's assurances have failed to calm an international uproar.

After two weeks of mounting controversy, NATO said its chief medical officers had compared evidence and seen nothing that pointed to a serious health risk from depleted uranium munitions used in the Gulf War and the Balkans.

Their report was NATO's most co-ordinated response yet to a row that erupted early in January and provoked anger as some countries suggested a connection between leukaemia and other diseases among young NATO soldiers who had served as peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia.

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"We cannot identify any increase in disease or mortality in soldiers who have deployed to the Balkans as compared to those soldiers who have not deployed," NATO medical committee chairman General Roger Van Hoof said after a day-long meeting with his 18 counterparts on Monday.

"On the evidence available, a causal link cannot be identified between depleted uranium and the complaints or pathologies," he told a news conference at NATO headquarters.

Studies from both governmental and independent sources showed "any danger related to depleted uranium exposure is known to be quantity-dependent, and so far there is no evidence of possible exposure beyond the safe levels," he added.

"However, there are a number of military personnel reporting symptoms. While these symptoms are not linked to depleted uranium exposure, these should warrant further peer-reviewed scientific studies."

At the European Parliament Socialists said they would seek a moratorium on depleted uranium munitions pending an independent study.

European security chief Javier Solana, who was NATO secretary-general during the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, was due to address an EU debate on the issue in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, during a visit to Greece, Kostunica demanded international investigations. "Our authorities have warned about the use of DU since 1995. We are ready to work on this with other countries but it seems there is less willingness from some NATO countries."

Prime Minister Costas Simitis of NATO-member Greece said after meeting Kostunica that he agreed with Yugoslavia on the need for more information on DU weapons from NATO.

German troops said they found only very low levels of radiation at the military maintenance centre in Sarajevo's Hadzici suburb, the target of NATO air attacks on Bosnian Serb military positions in 1995 and believed to be one of the areas most affected by munitions containing depleted uranium.

"They found a very mild, low level of radiation, it's less than we can find in normal dirt," said SFOR spokesman Major Bob Thompson said at the site.

The NATO members agreed in Brussels to each analyse the crude mortality rates of its military personnel and calculate separately those deployed in the Balkans and those who were not

Depleted uranium, the by-product of manufacturing nuclear fuel and exposives, is used to add density and penetrative power to ammunition.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Uranium arms warning issued in 1991
January 15, 2001
Use of DU weapons could be war crime
January 14, 2001
NATO blamed for 400 cancer deaths
January 13, 2001
Germany issues uranium 'all clear'
January 12, 2001
Danger signs to go up at uranium sites
January 11, 2001
Belgrade: NATO contaminated our land
January 11, 2001

UN Environment Programme: Balkans
World Health Organisation
U.S. Dept of Energy: Depleted Uranium
NATO
UK Ministry of Defence
UK Atomic Energy Authority

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