Amid a health scare triggered by NATO's use of depleted uranium in the Balkans, Yugoslav officials tried Saturday to allay fears the substance could be harmful to residents, while other countries urged sick soldiers who served in the region to be screened for radiation exposure.
UN scientists who visited 11 areas struck by NATO munitions in Kosovo confirmed Friday they found signs of radioactivity at eight of the sites. Depleted uranium, which increases penetration of ammunition, carries two threats -- radiation and chemical poisoning.
The places that the UN Environment Program (UNEP) visited were among 112 identified by NATO as having been targeted by ordnance containing depleted uranium during the 1999 Kosovo bombardment. UNEP collected soil, water and vegetation samples and conducted tests on buildings and destroyed vehicles.
Some of the soil was "slightly contaminated," UNEP said, adding that it was still trying to determine whether there were any health or environmental risks.
"There is no danger of radiation unless a person finds himself on the very spot hit with the depleted uranium or holds such ammunition in his bare hands," said Jovan Djukanovic, a Serbian government spokesman in the town of Bujanovac, one of the sites targeted by ammunition containing depleted uranium.
Dr Erik Schouten, head of the World Health Organization in southern Serbia, also sought to calm fears heightened by local media coverage.
The headline, "NATO was worse than Chernobyl," ran Saturday in the popular Vecernje Novosti Yugoslav newspaper.
"Since July 1999, there have been no reports of increased numbers of patients with leukemia," Schouten said in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
Schouten said that based on preliminary tests of leukemia patients in the province, "We cannot conclude that the number of leukemia cases is increasing." However, he said the assessment was not complete and more results were expected next week.
So far, there is no conclusive link between the uranium and sick soldiers, and Schouten said trying to establish an effect was "very hypothetical."
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