 Scientists gravely concerned about health
effects
DU near private homes
From, Nis, the second largest city in Yugoslavia,
my guide and interpreter Nikola Bozinovic
(25) and I head by car to Vranje, a city
of 65,000. We drive 115 kilometers (72 miles)
south on the main road to Macedonia. The
National Health Institute is in the heart
of the city. We were ushered to a second
floor conference room where Miroslav Simic
(32), in charge of the Physics Department
and directly involved in the DU survey, began
his explanation.
"At least 3 or 4,000 DU shells were
fired in southern Serbia." The institute
has been unable to survey dangerous places
near the Kosovo border or in areas accessible
only by jeep, so as he points out, "The
actual number could be far greater."
 Field full of holes
After receiving a video presentation of the
institute's survey conducted by Simic and
his team, we visited Rerjan, a village where
DU munitions were actually used. An army
colonel (56) rode with us "for safety."
Rerjan is about 20 kilometers (13 miles)
southwest from Vranje. It is farming village
with a population of a few hundred. It is
located in Serbia, yet Muslim Albanians live
there peacefully. It is one of the few "coexistence
areas" that are so rare these days.
We stopped the car on a hill where about
40,000 Yugoslavian soldiers were encamped
during the war. About five kilometers (3
miles) on the other side of the hill, from
which there was a good view, we could see
the border with Macedonia.
"Look. See all these holes? They're
made by DU penetrators." Getting out
of the car, we walked over the field. The
holes, about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in
diameter, were everywhere. Fired from A10
fighter planes equipped with 7-chambered
machine guns capable of firing 30mm rounds
at more than 1000 rounds per minute, the
penetrators that failed to strike metal (tanks,
etc.) went straight into the ground, buried
1.2 to 1.5 meters deep.
"We had lots of dummy tanks made of
wood all around, right? The pilots thought
they were real tanks and attacked them ferociously.
Some of the rounds fell very close to private
homes," said Simic. Some of the DU penetrators
from this area were removed by the military,
placed in special shielded containers and
stored in the basement of the Institute.
"We don't really know how many DU penetrators
actually hit the tanks or trucks they were
aimed at. Those that did were vaporized and
the particles scattered into the air. It
is certainly true that the majority are buried
in the earth. However, it would be impossible
to go around removing them all." says
Simic.
Involving doctors in the investigation
 After returning to Nis, I met with Golan
Manic (41) =pictured=, who has been traveling around surveying
soil radiation levels in southern Serbia
where the DU munitions were used. He is director
of the Radiation Department at the Institute
of Occupational Health. He opened his notebook
and began to explain what he had found after
analyzing about 500 samples.
"In soil directly next to a buried DU
penetrator we found a maximum of 235,000
Becquerels of U-238 per kilogram. This figure
refers to the number of atoms decaying per
second, and this level of radiation is similar
to that found in areas contaminated by the
Chernobyl nuclear power accident."
According to Manic, soil with large amounts
of buried DU can be expected to affect the
crops grown in it, the livestock that feed
on those crops, and the underground water.
Clearly we need to consider the impact on
human beings as the radiation comes up through
the food chain.
"We intend to work with doctors to watch
this impact very carefully. Nis and the capital
city Beograd suffered tremendous damage from
bombs and missiles, but luckily they haven't
found any radiation," says Manic.
The institute's greatest concern is the impact
on Kosovo, where the most DU munitions were
used. However, given the present conflict
situation, "We can't just go over to
Kosovo and conduct a survey." Manic's
expression is grim.
 | Yugoslavia top |
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Nikola Bozinovic points to a hole where a
DU penetrator is buried. Holes like this
are everywhere in that field. (Rerjan)
|
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| A DU penetrator fired in southern Serbia
but not destroyed. It is about 1 cm in diameter,
about 10 cm in length and weighs about 300
grams. If it had hit a tank or other hard
target, much of it would have been transformed
to particles of U-238 oxide. (Vranje) |
|
