From: "Janet M Eaton" <•••@••.•••> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 07:15:04 +0000 Subject: ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE [6] NATO Bombings [Referen <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE & HEALTH HAZARDS OF THE NATO BOMBINGS: AN ANNOTATED URL REFERENCED LIST OF INTERNET ARTICLES, NEWS, PRESS RELEASES. [ PART 6 ] [Compiled by Dr. Janet M. Eaton, July 15, 1999 ] http://www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/12608 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Please add to the following earlier compilations for a complete set of over 80 references. 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 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> A) INDEX OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE -INTERNET ARTICLES 1) ADVISORY: Request DU Maps & Info for Balkans By Joan McQueeney Mitric, •••@••.••• 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-9907 080418,00.ht ml 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.ht ml <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> SUMMARIES OF ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE -INTERNET ARTICLES 1) ADVISORY: Request DU Maps & Info for Balkans By Joan McQueeney Mitric, •••@••.••• 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.] <><><><><><><> 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.." <><><><><><><> 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.h t ml 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. <><><><><><><> 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: <><><><><><><> 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? <><><><><><><><> 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. <><><><><><><><> 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. <><><><><><><><><> 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.. <><><><><><><><> 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: <><><><><><><> 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 <><><><><><><><> 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 <><><><><><><><> 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/ <><><><><><><><> 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. <><><><><><><><> 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.ht ml "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." <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> END <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
