UNEP Team Terminates DU Inspection of Bosnia

UNEP terminates its inspection of sites suspected of being targeted by Depleted uranium military ordnance during the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s, according to UNEP sources.

Samples of water, soil, vegetation and air have been taken from six sites identified by NATO as possibly having been targeted with DU, while six other sites denounced by local residents as being radioactive have also been inspected.

WHO experts are analysing data on increased rates of cancer in cluster areas around where DU ordnance was supposedly deployed, namely in Sarajevo and Banya Luka. Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the Depleted Uranium Assessment Team of UNEP, stated that the purpose of the visit was to assess whether or not DU ordnance posed a health risk to the local population “either now or in the future”. Previous studies conducted in Kosovo and Southern Serbia led to recommendations by UNEP that local populations should take precautionary action “to avoid contact with the substance”, described by WHO sources as having “significant chemical toxicity”.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru