September 10 - 12, 1999
Cleveland, OHIO

Almost daily attacks on the and chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical plants, plastics factories, refineries, fuel storage tanks, and the electric power grid, as well as the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, have resulted in large releases to the environment of various substances with carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic, and other perilous consequences to human life, plants, and animals. Large quantities of ammonium and ammonium elements, oil and oil derivatives, acids, and alkali leaked into rivers‹including the Danube River destroying aquatic flora and fauna. The Danube is partially dead, although it provides drinking water for some 10 million people.

Thus, we are talking about chemical and radiological warfare banned under the Geneva Convention and by the International Court. It is also a violation of the 1992 Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development, which explicitly protects the environment during war conflicts. This is also a hideous stain on the moral standing of the U.S. and its NATO allies.

Chemical Releases

The chemical substances released include but are not limited to: vinyl-chloride manomer (VCM) chlorine, chloro-carbon hydride, mercury, cadmium, hydrocarbons, ammonia, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, benzene, phosphorous compounds, dioxins, PCB's, and hydrogen halides. These chemicals are highly toxic, and carcinogenic. Destruction of electric power relay stations led to release of the highly toxic chemical piralen. A large number of people had to be treated for poisoning. City of Pancevo and its surroundings were affected most.

Pancevo

NATO destroyed 3 major industrial plants with bombs and missiles: City Refinery, Petrohemija petro-chemical plant, and Azotara fertilizer nitrogen processing plant. The strikes on Pancevo, a city of 150,000 near Belgrade, leave a dreadful legacy. The fires raged for 10 days. The cloud of smoke was more than 10 miles long. The sun was blotted out for a day. 100,000 tons of various carcinogens were released into the air, water, and the soil. 1,500 tons of VHM were released. Shortly after the strike on Azotara, on April 18, levels of VHM not only rose 10,600 normal, but rains north of the city carried VHM, poisoning the land and the crops of grain and fruit [Vasovic, 7/1/99].

15,000 tons of ammonia and associated substances were poured into the Danube, Europe's most important waterway that runs almost 2,000 miles through 11 countries, which are already heavily polluted. This was necessary to avert a Bhopal-type of accident. Fishing was barred downstream of Pancevo. Potentially, more deadly is contamination with heavy elements and‹mercury in particular sweeping the poison downstream into the Black Sea. Over 100 tons of mercury was released. Cadmium and Zinc have also leached into the Danube. More than 1,000 tons of ethylene dichloride, 800 tons of hydrogen chloride, 250 tons of liquid chlorine, 1,000 tons of sodium hydroxide, and a vast amount of dioxin were also spilled [G, 7/9/99].

The Serbian government imposed a 60-day moratorium on publishing environmental information since June 9. They are doing that for fear of those who are affected, and for fear of facing pressure to do something. On the other hand, they themselves are aware that they are not competent, nor can they do anything [Vasiljevic, 7/1/99]. In addition, the regime wanted to reassure people that the country is returning to normality. Nonetheless, farm workers have developed rashes that burn and blister. Those who eat the river fish and vegetables or drink the tap water come down with diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Miscarriages have doubled.

Fears of birth effects are tormenting pregnant women. Mark Fineman [LAT, 7/6/99] stated that physicians recommend that all women who were in town on April 18 avoid pregnancy for at least the next 2 years. Women who were less than 9 weeks pregnant were advised to obtain abortions. Most did comply. Pancevo pro-democracy mayor, Srdjan Milkovic, said: "Only in the next 2 years or 20 can I tell you the full consequences ... I am afraid you will find a lot of our people in the oncology ward fighting cancer, or perhaps in the hematology department or center for respiratory diseases, or perhaps in the morgue. But for today, it's enough to worry just how to get through the summer and the cold winter that lies ahead."

Chris Hedges [NYT, 7/14/99] called NATO officials in Mons, Belgium who told him that the environmental damage caused by the attack was taken into consideration. "When targeting is done we take into account all possible collateral damage, be it environmental, human, or to civilian infrastructure. Pancevo was considered to be a very, very important refinery and strategic target, as important as tactical targets in Kosovo." It is apparent that NATO showed disregard for human life and the environment. If the refinery was strategic, which the war developments do not seem to corroborate, why were the petrochemical plant and the fertilizer plant bombed?

Other Towns

Other places have been affected, such as Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Kostolac, Lazarevac, Nis, Belgrade, and Smederevo. The water supply of Novi Sad was contaminated after 30 fuel tanks and the refinery were hit and spewed oil. Novi Sad streets were drenched with slimy, soothed rainwater. Even vast quantities of fire-extinguishing foam needed to dose the 11-day blaze pose their own ecological threat.

The destruction of high voltage transformers unleashed highly poisonous PCB's into the water supply of Kragujevac. Some of the transformers used the highly toxic and cancerous coolant piralen, one liter of which can poison four million liters of water [Vasovic, 7/1/99].

DU

NATO has been using armor-piercing shells loaded with the DU fired by A-10 anti-tank aircraft [BBC, 5/7/99] and possibly Tomahawk Cruise missiles. The Serb sources reported that 150 shells were dropped on Belgrade alone, and many more in Kosovo. NATO insists use by A-10 in Kosovo only. John Pike, a respected defense analyst, estimated that 10,000 of DU rounds was fired in Kosovo [Mother Jones, 7/5/99]. Amazingly, a large number of rounds, were fired at the Devil's Rocks near Vranje, which is a desolate place. Presumably, it was done for rock penetration testing purposes [Vukmirovic, 7/11/99].

DU, a waste product of uranium enrichment, is essentially a radioactive waste 1.7 denser than lead. As a waste product, it costs nothing. Its kinetic energy is sufficient to penetrate tank armor or concrete bunkers. It is both radioactive and toxic. It has been previously used in Iraq and Bosnia. Pentagon also confirmed that it has no plans to clean it up, despite the presence of NATO troops! Thus the hazard to Kosovo civilians and NATO troops is ignored. The National Radiological Protection Board advises press and relief agencies to avoid contaminated areas [BBC, 8/15/99]. DU clean up is difficult and costly. The top layer of soil - roughly one foot deep - would have to be removed and disposed.

Upon impact, the DU core partially ignites producing uranium oxide in particulate of between 0.5 and 5 microns. Mobile aerosol spreads over several hundred miles, depending on wind conditions. If inhaled or ingested, it stays in the body 10 or more years (it does not decay) irradiating the tissue around it. One "hot particle" in the lungs is equivalent to one chest X-ray every hour of every day for the rest of one's life. It is impossible to remove - slow irradiation takes place resulting in radiation sickness and premature death. The uranium oxide goes into the soil as well. DU's chemical toxicity presents even greater danger to human health in the short term after exposure. The kidney is the target organ. DU is incorporated into the farmland; picked up by vegetables; and children can handle the shrapnel.

According to the Pentagon, 400,000 American and British soldiers were exposed to this DU aerosol in the Gulf War. About 200,000 of them have sought medical care since the war and about 115,000 have been diagnosed as having Gulf War Syndrome. Hari Sharma, of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, predicted an increase of 20,000- 100,000 fatal cancers in veterans and Iraqi citizens. A Russian Army's expert says they have contracted the disease and abnormalities at the genetic level. An Iraqi pediatric oncologist claims that childhood leukemia has risen 600% in areas of Iraq where DU was used. Stillbirths, birth or abortions of fetuses with monstrous abnormalities, and other cancers in children born since 1991 have also been found. In 1996, the DU issue was brought up before the UN Human Rights Tribunal in Geneva. The Tribunal condemned it and called it a weapon of mass destruction. Dr. Sharma has written to all NATO heads of state asking them to eliminate DU munitions from their arsenals.

Needless to say, the Pentagon denies that the DU used in Kosovo will pose any danger. However, in addition to Dr. Sharma, Doug Rokke is one of the biggest critics of the Pentagon. Rokke, a health physicist, was in charge of DU decontamination after the Gulf War in Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Within 2 weeks upon return, Rokke and other team members began developing health problems. In the 8 years since, some have died and most developed health problems. Rokke himself has had severe kidney and respiratory problems. A urinalysis, conducted 3 years later, showed uranium level 2,000% higher than normal. "The Department of Defense doesn't want to admit that DU is harmful because they don't want the liability." It appears that revelations about "friendly fire" forced the Pentagon to admit use of DU during the Gulf War [MondD, 7/2/99].

Rev. Jesse Jackson characterized the U.S. Navy's bombing at a training center on a Puerto Rico island of Vieqes as "un-American" because it violates the human rights of the island's 9,300 residents. Jackson called the Navy position "colonialism."

Beyond FRY

Romania reported acid rain. The pH level of acidity of the rain stood at 5 instead of the level of 7. In many towns in the southwestern region, crops and forests had been damaged and leaves had fallen from trees. Vineyards and crops in the southern region had also been damaged. The World Wildlife Fund and a Romanian laboratory will monitor a 120 mile stretch of the Danube around the Iron Gates, a hydroelectric dam that forms a border between Yugoslavia and Romania [AP, 7/8/99]. Bulgarian farmers near the towns of Kula and Belogradcik reported that flowers fell from fruit trees and vegetables began to rot on their land. Measurements of pollutants in Northern Greece showed rising levels of dioxin on the days the wind blew south. In Macedonia, radiation levels had risen 8 times over. Moldavia and Ukraine are affected as well.

UNEP

Teams from the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and the UN Agency for Human Settlements in Yugoslavia have already sent a report to Kofi Annan warning of miscarriages, birth defects, and incurable diseases of the nervous system and liver. The UNEP report, which leaked to the Dutch A&P press agency [AusRa, 6/24/99], paints a picture of the disaster surpassing the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

Another UNEP 12-member team for Yugoslavia headed by Pekka Haavisto - Finland's former environment minister - completed a 10-day mission to targeted sites in Serbia and Kosovo and will return for two more weeks at the end of August. The team is taking air, water, and soil samples. It will deal with the DU issue as well. The team is scheduled to present its findings in a report to Kofi Annan in early October. At that point in time, the report will be made public. It will be then up to Annan to decide on a future course of action. The State Department is waiting for the final report.

Haavisto believes that the most dangerous moment was probably during the fires when the smoke was in the air. It is unclear how much is in the soil. A lot of mercury, asbestos and other toxic substances were found in the soil. The biggest danger is the ground water and the Danube. "If the clean-up were to begin tomorrow it would take several years to complete."

The NYT has already latched on Haavisto's statement; "We talk about chosen hot spots where immediate action has to take place, but not about a major ecocide or country- wide catastrophe", to downplay the consequences: "Team finds NATO bombing left few environmental woes" [NYT, 7/28/99]. CNN did the same.

FOCUS

A team of Russian, Greek, Austrian and Swiss experts, representing the FOCUS countries, issued a preliminary report on August 14. The principal conclusion is that Yugoslavia faces ecological disaster unless urgent measures are taken in the worst affected areas to prevent a "possible environmental collapse". Pancevo tops the list, followed by Novi Sad, Smederevo, Pristina, Nis and Bor.

Some 8 tons of mercury had seeped out from the electrolysis plant in Pancevo posing a danger to human health and the environment in the Danube basin. "The release of petroleum, oil, diesel and fertilizers into the soil and water reservoirs has resulted in the contamination of nearby facilities, towns, villages, water and mud in channels and rivers, including the Danube. This could result in changes in the ecological balance in the region and irreversible mutation in plants and animals."