"UNITED NATIONS INTER-AGENCY NEEDS ASSESSMENT MISSION TO THE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA"

         ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS ASPECTS

            M  I  S  S  I  O  N    R  E  P  O  R  T

                       Bakary Kante
Senior policy Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP

                       May 1999

                U N I T E D   N A T I O N S

This is a part of the Executive Summary of an internal report of 
the United Nations about the environmental consequences of the war 
against Yugoslavia.
One aspect (among others) which has been mentioned in the report 
is the hazard of the use of   D e p l e t e d    U r a n i u m :


VIII. EFFECTS OF THE USE OF WEAPONS WITH RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

According to the available data, NATO forces have used against civilian 
targets special ammunition containing depleted uranium in bombing 
military and civilian targets. The caliber of this ammunition is 30 mm:
it is fired mainly from cannon, jets type A-10 and "Tomahawk" cruising 
missiles. The mentioned missiles can penetrate a steel plate some 57 mm 
thick. The cores of these missiles are radioactive and the estimates are
that their activity of Uranium 238 amounts to about 3.4 Mbq. Uranium 
belongs to the group of toxic elements and has been classified in the 
second group of radionuclides of very high toxicity. This type of 
ammunition is nuclear waste and its use is very dangerous and harmful.
The effects on the population are terrible because in addition to
injuries and destruction of body tissue, it causes radiological 
contamination. This contamination produces toxic and radiation effects
that cause cancer.

The use of ammunition with impoverished uranium in the future course of
NATO's air strike on FRY would have even more adverse effects resulting
in a large-scale ecological disaster and long-term effects on human 
health (leucemia, cancer, congenital anomalies, etc.) When weapons with 
depleted uranium are used, they produce uranium-oxides (U3O8 & UO2) as 
well as highly reactive gases Radium and Radon, among others. Oxide 
particles are from 0.5 to 5 microns large and can be carried by the wind
over several hundred kilometers. Since northwestern winds are most common
in the Yugoslav region, this practically means tha pollution goes from
Yugoslavia to Hungary, Germany, Croatia and Bosnia or to Albania, Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece.

Radiological as well al chemical contamination "do not distinguish" 
among military personnel who use this weapons, among targets, 
territories, innocent present civilians, the press, the crew and
teams that provide all sort of assistance, nor are they confined
within any state boundaries or a specified time period. It is 
noteworthy that the time of semi-decomposition of depleted uranium
is 4.5 billion years.

It is important to mention catastrophic cnsequences of the targeting of
the Nuclear Research Institute "VINCA", located near Belgrado, which
is also the storage place of domestic low-radioactive waste".

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"Serious damage to the environment is being caused by the destruction of 
oil refineries, petrochemical plants, chemical and fertilizer factories, 
pharmaceutical plants and other industrial enterprises. There are severe 
actual and potential environmental impacts of the current hostilities, 
mostly in the Serbian part of FRY. Both the population and natural environment
in the Balkans may be under threat. If pollution crosses Yugoslavia's borders,
it may affect other countries in the region. It may also further complicate
the tragic refugee situation in some neighbouring states."

"Human settlements are badly affected mostly in Kosovo"

"Different types of targeted international assistence are required to cope 
with impacts on environment and human settlements in F.R.Y."

The report includes a preliminary list of factories which have been destroyed 
and/or attacked AND THE EFFECTS.

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"NATO bombing is happening in the phase of planting many crops vital
for the survival of the population: corn, sunflower, soy, sugar beet 
and vegetables. All above mentioned polluters affect the quality of air,
soil, water and have negative effects in the short and long term on 
the food chain".


WHAT IS DEPLETED URANIUM?