Depleted Uranium, & other environment hazards

ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE & HEALTH HAZARDS OF THE NATO BOMBINGS: AN ANNOTATED URL REFERENCED LIST OF INTERNET ARTICLES, NEWS, PRESS RELEASES. [ PART 5 ]
[Compiled by Dr. Janet M. Eaton, June 13, 1999 ] 

• ADVISORY: Request DU Maps & Info for Balkans >
• July NRPB warning on DU for Kosovo travellers
• The Sunday Herald on lack of DU warning to refugees
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Dear readers, 
Some links might be leading to the same documents, we have done a quick layout job in order to give you this material fast. 
Excuse for any inconvience.

Thank you 

ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE  [PART  5]

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12187


ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE  [PART 4]
http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11860

ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE  [PART 3]

http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11622

ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE  [PART 2]

http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11281

ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE  [PART 1]
 
 http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11003

This compilation contains
A) INDEX OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHES  ARTICLES
B) ECOLOGICAL  CATASTROPHE ARTICLES 
    [With excerpts]  

For your information and use. 
Please distribute as you see fit !! 

All the best,
Janet Eaton 

Dr. Janet M. Eaton, PhD 
Biologist, Educator, Researcher, 
Public Policy Consultant,
Research Fellow, International Systems Institute, 
Wolfville, N.S., CANADA

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A) INDEX OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE -INTERNET ARTICLES

1) ADVISORY: Request  DU Maps & Info for  Balkans 
By Joan McQueeney Mitric,   Jmitric1@aol.com 
Independent medical reporter based in Washington, DC
July 15, 1999, Washington, D.C. 

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12606

2] Serbian Town [Pancevo] Bombed by NATO Fears Effects of Toxic
  Chemicals 
By : Chris Hedges,  New York Times,  July 14, 1999

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a378d1e98238f.htm

3] Serbs Allege NATO Raids Caused Toxic Catatrophe Bombed Refineries,
  Plants Spewed Stew of Poisons  they Say 
By Uli Schmetzer, Foreign Correspondent Chicago Tribune: 
July 14, 1999 

http://chicagotribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-9907080418,00.html

4]  Belgrade is hiding toxic time bomb, Greens warn
By: Rory Carroll in Belgrade
The Guardian, Wednesday July 7, 1999,

http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,,63681,00.html

5] Eye witness account of the impact of war and sanctions on Iraq A
two-part interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot by Barbara
Slaughter
Part One of the interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot by 
   Barbara Slaughter-
World Socialist Web Site,  5 July 1999

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/iraq-j05.shtml

Part two of the interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot by 
  Barbara Slaughter-
World Socialist Web Site,  6July 1999

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/iraq-j06.shtml,

6] Collateral Damage
  By Tony Wesolowsky, In These Times  (8-8-99)

  http://www.inthesetimes.com/wesolowski2317.html

  7] Hiding Under The Black Rain
  By:  Milenko Vasovic, IWPR, June 30th, 1999 

  http://www.iwpr.net/balkans/news/bcr300699_2_eng.htm

8] Damage to Yugoslav Environment "Immense" UN Team Reports
Environmental News Service  June 29th, 1999 

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun99/1999L-06-29-02.html

9] )Green Horizon Online Newsletter 
Regional Environmental Center for Central  and Eastern  Europe
June 29, 1999 * Volume 2 Number 4

http://www.rec.org/Default.shtml

10] Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Military 
  Activity During the Yugoslavia Conflict,
By: Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe 
Released June 28th, 1999 

http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/contents.html

11] Too hot to handle
By: Rob Edwards, 
From: From New Scientist, 5 June 1999

http://www.newscientist.co.uk/ns/19990605/newsstory6.html

12] New DU Website Address: 
http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/ud_main.html
Received From:   Peter Doedens 
Summary of Content of Website Posted by: 
Janet M. Eaton June 26, 1999

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12284

13] Cluster bombs - A million tiny fragments with each impact
From; Guardian (London) Wednesday June 23, 1999

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12232

14] Depleted Uranium:  The Invisible Threat 
By:  J.J. Richardson, MoJo Wire  (6-23-99)

http://www.motherjones.com/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html


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SUMMARIES OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE -INTERNET ARTICLES

1) ADVISORY: Request  DU Maps & Info for  Balkans 
By Joan McQueeney Mitric,   Jmitric1@aol.com 
Independent medical reporter based in Washington, DC
July 15, 1999, Washington, D.C. 

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12606

On May 3, 1999, Air Force Major General Charles Wald confirmed that
NATO was using DU bullets in its A-10 (Warthog) jet planes to fire on
Yugoslav tanks. (see Christian Science Monitor May 7, 1999)..The
National Gulf War Resource Center, (NGWRC) a coalition of some 58
groups concerned about the proliferation of DU weapons in their
various forms, believes it is prudent to assume that peacekeeping
troops, returning refugees, journalists, NG0s and other civilians
living/working in Kosovo may have been exposed to unacceptable levels
of radiation from these tank-busting DU weapons. ...NGWRC has asked
NATO and the Department of Defense (DoD) to release information on the
number and kinds of  DU weapons deployed in Kosove and to publish maps
of the areas where DU munitions were used.  Other groups and
journalists, including myself, have done the same.... To support the
work of the NGWRC and others for greater transparency from the
military, interested parties, NGOs and journalists or their U.S.
affiliates can file a Freedom of Information request with the federal
government. To file a FOIA, as it is called, one needs only to write a
straight forward letter to the person or government agency most likely
to be the keeper of the information sought. [The remainder of the
e-mail is devoted to instructions as to how to best prepare a request
as an FOIA- under the Freedom of Information Act.]

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2] Serbian Town [Pancevo] Bombed by NATO Fears Effects of Toxic
 Chemicals 
By : Chris Hedges,  New York Times Sate: July 14, 1999

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a378d1e98238f.htm

Farm workers, plunging their fingers into the earth, say they
come away with rashes that burn and blister. Those who eat the
river fish and vegetables or drink the tap water, which trickles out 
of faucets because of the damage to the purification plant, 
come down with diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps. .. 
Children,. still  suffer headaches and dizziness. ..... There are 
twice as many miscarriages as during this period last year, doctors 
here said. .......  The U.N. Environment Program.....Balkans Task  
Force ......will send a team of international experts to Pancevo, and 
about half a dozen other damaged industrial sites, next Tuesday to 
take air, water and soil samples for three or four weeks.." 
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3] Serbs Allege NATO Raids Caused Toxic Catatrophe Bombed Refineries,
 Plants Spewed Stew of Poisons  they Say 
By Uli Schmetzer, Tribune Foreign Correspondent Chicago Tribune: 
July 14, 1999 

http://chicagotribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-9907080418,00.html

PANCEVO, Yugoslavia Dragomir Djuric says he has been fishing the Tamis
River for 48 years, pulling fat catfish out of its depths using live
black leeches as bait....In recent weeks, something in the water has
changed. He says the leeches die in a day, and are white when pulled
out, looking as if they had been "boiled."..The fish are different,
too-- sluggish and sickly, with protruding bones and bulging eyes, he
says....Duric is unequivocal in fixing the blame. He thinks the water
has been polluted by toxic chemicals released from a huge
manufacturing complex here, the largest in the Balkans... The Yugoslav
government alleges the airstrikes at places such as Pancevo caused an
environmental catastrophe in Serbia. ..Pancevo, a city across the
Danube and 12 miles from the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, is gripped
with fear......Professor Mico Martinovic, a hydrologist, said the
array of toxic chemicals released in the region "is unique in world
history."... "We have no idea what negative effects they will have on
human life and the environment because we have no test analysis
available," he said. "We can only suspect they polluted our entire
watershed, the soil and the rivers."........"What was done against
Pancevo was a crime against humanity," said Mikovic, 39. "I never
thought NATO or the Americans would bomb the petrochemical plant. I
thought they were more civilized.
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4]  Belgrade is hiding toxic time bomb, Greens warn
The Guardian, Wednesday July 7, 1999,
Rory Carroll in Belgrade

http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,,63681,00.html

The Yugoslav government is leaving its people exposed to poison by
suppressing evidence that Nato's bombing has devastated the
environment and contaminated the food chain, European
environmentalists warn. Tonnes of toxic chemicals are filtering into
crops but state agencies have been banned from revealing what areas
are at risk because the regime wants to reassure people that the
country is returning to normality. Environmentalists said yesterday
that it would take several months to assess the damage, but by then
towns near bombed industrial plants could have absorbed hazardous
chemicals into their water and food supplies....... A  delegation from
the European Federation of Green Parties was appalled by a visit to
Pancevo,..."You could smell the ammonia in the air, it was like
sniffing a bottle of bleach," said  the delegation's spokeswoman.
...The government imposed a 60-day moratorium on publishing
environmental information when the war ended on June 9, but Dusan
Vasiljevic, president of the opposition Democratic party's ecology
committee, doubts that it will be lifted for many months.....Mr
Vasiljevic said that government scientists had leaked to him detailed
measurements of the damage: 

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5] A two-part interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot by Barbara
Slaughter Felicity Arbuthnot is a freelance journalist, who has
visited Iraq on many occasions since the end of the Gulf War. She has
just returned to Britain from her eighteenth visit.


5 A]] Part One  of the interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot 
By   Barbara Slaughter-
World Socialist Web Site,  5 July 1999

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/iraq-j05.shtml

In the first of a two-part interview she explained to Barbara
Slaughter how she became involved. Like many others I had opposed the
Gulf War. I knew that, like the war in Yugoslavia, it was about the
strategic interests of the western powers and not about either Saddam
Hussein or "little Kuwait". At the end of the war I thought, "We did
our best and failed. And now the rebuilding of the country will
begin." ..Nothing was being done to help and I felt impelled to go to
Iraq and see for  myself. A week later I was in Baghdad and I was
appalled by what I saw. It was a country which had, as James Baker had
threatened, literally been reduced to a pre-industrial age.....What 
was unique was that this was done in the name of the people of the 
United Nations. It will go down in history as one of the great crimes 
of the twentieth century..

5 b] Part two of the interview with journalist Felicity Arbuthnot by 
   Barbara Slaughter-
World Socialist Web Site,  6July 1999

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/iraq-j06.shtml

In the second of this two-part interview she explains to Barbara
Slaughter the social and cultural impact of the war and sanctions on
Iraq and Yugoslavia.

" The parallels are so stark between Yugoslavia and Iraq, whether it's
the weapons used, whether it's Rambouillet.....In both countries the
entire infrastructure has been destroyed....I was stunned to see that
in every city [of Iraq]the television station was bombed. In
Yugoslavia they bombed every radio and television center........They
also targeted education. In every single town in Iraq, the educational
establishments were targeted. On the same day the stores that provided
educational materials were also targeted. This can only be described
as a kind of cultural or historical cleansing....Another parallel is
the unprecedented environmental degradation in both Iraq and
Yugoslavia. .We have seen the terrible toll in Iraq of the use of
depleted uranium weapons - the spiraling birth deformities, the up-to
ten-fold cancer increases amongst children, the toxicity which has
been released and all the things that we don't know about yet... What
has happened to the UN Declaration of Human Rights?.... to the
Declaration on the Rights of the Child? ...... to our common humanity?

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6] Collateral Damage
  by Tony Wesolowsky, In These Times  (8-8-99)

http://www.inthesetimes.com/wesolowski2317.html

During its air war in Yugoslavia, NATO's  military might  Across
Yugoslavia, fuel  depots, oil refineries and chemical factories were 
routinely bombed, trying to bring Slobodan Milosevic to heel. .As a 
result, NATO's air campaign unleashed a chain of ecological 
disasters, the aftermath of which will be felt for generations.
Although it's too early for comprehensive reports on the  bombings'
environmental effects, there is some alarming  evidence of serious
damage.  The sprawling petro-chemical plant at Pancevo, just 10 miles
northeast of Belgrade, served as one of NATO' s favorite targets...   
.. Especially troubling was NATO's use of armor-penetrating depleted 
uranium (DU) weapons. First used on a large-scale during the Gulf 
War, DU has been linked to Gulf War Syndrome as well as high levels 
of stillbirths,  birth defects and leukemia among Iraqi children.  No 
one knows exactly where and how much of this lethal dust is now 
sprinkled across Yugoslavia. The Kosovars returning home are about to 
find out.

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7] Hiding Under The Black Rain
By:  Milenko Vasovic, IWPR  June 30, 1999 

http://www.iwpr.net/balkans/news/bcr300699_2_eng.htm

Their streets have been drenched with slimy, sooty
rainwater, the result of the West's attack on Novi Sad's oil industry
on May 1...There has been no official explanation for the pollution,
though one is hardly needed. A massive environmental disaster is on
hand, with untold health problems to come.Pancevo, a city of 150,000
citizens near Belgrade, suffered a similar fate.. .."It is obvious
that the authorities are hiding the truth," says Dusan Vasiljevic,
chairman of the Belgrade Democratic Party's ecology committee ..But
pollution of this kind and on this scale is unprecedented. .The lack
of information is worrying everyone. ..Some officials like Bancov are
breaking ranks to warn against eating fish, eggs and meat from the
affected regions, and some experts advise people to boil water before
drinking. Fears of future birth defects are tormenting pregnant women,
culminating in public calls for help with abortions.. ..Last but not
least there is the threat from the bombs and missiles tipped with
depleted uranium.... Belgrade nuclear physicist Vladimir Ajdacic urges
widespread measurements of radioactivity in the affected areas and the
public release of the data. 
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8] Damage to Yugoslav Environment "Immense" UN Team Reports
Environmental News Service  (6-29-99)

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun99/1999L-06-29-02.html

Throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the 11 weeks of NATO
air strikes that ended June 10 have had "a devastating  impact" on 
the environment, industry,  employment, essential services and 
agriculture, a newly released United Nations  report says. Land, air, 
rivers, lakes and  underground waters as well as the food chain       
and public health are affected...The report of the Inter-Agency Needs 
Assessment Mission that UN Secretary-General  Kofi Annan sent to 
Kosovo and other areas of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 
May 16 and 27 was released publicly today. ..The environmental, 
socio-economic, and  physical toll of the conflict throughout the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and beyond is "immense" and "has 
created a new type of complex humanitarian emergency," the report  
says... The Mission team's report repeatedly calls for "urgent" 
specialized environmental assessment and remedial action focused on 
the environment. ...Panceveo, ...may pose a serious threat to  health 
in the region, as well as to ecological systems in the broader 
Balkans  European region," the team said. "Many of the compounds 
released in these chemical accidents can cause cancer, miscarriages 
and  birth defects. Others are associated with fatal nerve and liver  
diseases. A proper scientific and technical fact-finding mission      
under UNEP's lead is ugently called for...The pollutants which have 
been released could have a negative effect in the short and 
long term on the nutrition chain... Land, rivers, lakes and 
underground waters may be polluted  due to the spillage of 
petrochemicals, oil spills and other chemicals, the Mission team 
said..

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9] )Green Horizon Online Newsletter 
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
June 29, 1999 * Volume 2 Number 4

http://www.rec.org/Default.shtml

Balkan Crisis
--------------------
REC Report for EU Ministers Details War's Damage-
The report is accessible from the front page of the REC's web site at

http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/contents.html

Bulgaria to Query Yugoslavia About River Pollution - 

Romania Wants Dam on Danube as Part of Balkan Reconstrcution:

Web Sites Contain Articles About Depleted Uranium Threat:
http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/ud_main.html

http://asterix.phys.unm.edu:8000/

Russia Says it has Satellite Data on State of Yugoslav Environment:
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10] Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Military 
Activity During the Yugoslavia Conflict,
By: Regional Environmental Centre for Eastern and Central Europe
Released June 28th, 1999 
The full text of the REC report can be found at:

http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/contents.html

REC REPORT FOR EU MINISTERS DETAILS WAR'S DAMAGE
A preliminary report on the environmental damage caused by the war in
Yugoslavia -- put together by a team of experts from the Regional
Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) -- was made
public on June 28. The report, entitled "Assessment of the
Environmental Impact of Military Activity During the Yugoslavia
Conflict," was prepared under contract to the European Commission's
DGXI and presented to the EU Council of Environmental Ministers in
mid-June. Because the report has a regional focus, it includes
analyses of transboundary damage and the environmental impact of
refugee movements in Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia and
Romania. While it is only a "snapshot" of the situation, and
additional monitoring is clearly necessary, this document represents
one of the most extensive studies on the subject thus far. 

The report is accessible from the front page of the REC's web site at

http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/contents.html

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11] Too hot to handle
By: Rob Edwards, 
From: From New Scientist, 5 June 1999

http://www.newscientist.co.uk/ns/19990605/newsstory6.html

In 1991 Doug Rokke went to the Middle East as a US army health
physicist to clean up uranium left by the Gulf War. He helped
decontaminate 23 armoured vehicles hit by shells in "friendly fire"
incidents. ..Today he has difficulty breathing. His lungs are scarred
and he has skin problems and kidney  damage. Rokke, a major in the US
Army Reserve's Medical Service Corps, has no doubt what made him
ill--contact with radioactive metal.. "It is a war crime to use
uranium munitions when men, women and children are exposed to them
without any medical screening or care," he says. "It is totally,
totally wrong."...                                                
Gulf veterans such as Rokke believe exposure to this DU is one of the 
causes of Gulf War Syndrome, Iraqi scientists also claim that DU was 
responsible for a rise in the numbers of cancers and birth defects in 
southern Iraq. But both the US and British governments dispute this. 
....But the row is erupting again with the US admission it is using 
DU weapons in the two-month-old war against Serbia. ..The ultimate 
irony is that DU could poison the very land that NATO is trying to 
protect, says Rokke

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12] New DU Website Address: 
http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/ud_main.html
Received From:   Peter Doedens 
Posted by: Janet M. Eaton June 26, 1999
http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12284

Find pasted in  below the A]  "Homepage" and B] "Depleted Uranium
Hazard Page"  which contains links to  Ecological Catatrohpe NATO
Bombings Part [1] to [5] at  
http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11860

Find also C] a list of  references  and full text - "Statement 
>>>>From Depleted Uranium Research Center On Use of DU  
Weapons By Us and British Forces Against Iraq " at 
the bottom clipped in from the links provided to:   
http://asterix.phys.unm.edu:8000/

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13]  Cluster bombs - A million tiny fragments with each impact
From; Guardian (London) Wednesday June 23, 1999

http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12232

Cluster bombs, dropped by British and US aircraft during NATO's air
assault on Serbia, are lethal "area impact" weapons which scatter up
to 650 yellow containers of explosives over an area the size of a
football pitch..Each "bomblet" produces up to 2,000 high-velocity
shrapnel fragments. Paul Rogers, professor at Bradford university's
school of peace studies and a weapons expert, described their effect
as "similar to a large number of miniature nail bombs exploding
simultaneously". Nato sources said yesterday that it was common for up
to 10% of the bomblets to fail to explode. Cluster bombs were used in
a mistaken attack on a market in Nis, southern Serbia, during the
war.Hundreds were dropped by RAF Harriers. George Robertson, the
defence secretary, told the Commons that 423 RBL 755 cluster bombs had
been dropped by mid May - six weeks into the 11-week air
campaign..Human rights and anti-landmine campaigners say that cluster
bombs should be outlawed given the large number which fail to explode
on impact.

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14]  Depleted Uranium:  The Invisible Threat 
By:  J.J. Richardson, MoJo Wire  (6-23-99)

http://www.motherjones.com/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html

"The Pentagon has  confirmed that it used DU in Kosovo. It
has also confirmed it has no plans to clean it up.  Lt. Col. Diane
Lawhon, a spokesperson for the Pentagon's  Office of the Special
Assistant for the Gulf War Illnesses [OSAGWI] says "Uranium is all
around us, in the air, the soil ..when exposed [to DU] the body just
assimilates it."  Daniel Fahey, a former Naval officer who is now the
research director at the National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC),
has conducted extensive research on depleted uranium. DU contamination
 poses a hazard to NATO troops and Kosovar civilians alike, Fahey
says, unless they are provided with appropriate training and
protective clothing. "You're talking about something that should be
stored as a radioactive waste and [instead they're] spreading it
around other countries -- and the Pentagon is saying there's not a
problem." 

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