[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16279-16282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF NATO AIRSTRIKES ON THE FORMER REPUBLIC OF 
                               YUGOSLAVIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 25, 2000

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Vojin Joksimovich, a well respected 
scholar of the Balkans, has given a thorough analysis of the 
environmental impact that the NATO airstrikes have had on the ecosystem 
of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. His research and analysis are 
profound and compelling, that I am inserting them into the 
Congressional Record so it may become public knowledge.

   Environmental Aspects of Yugoslav Reconstruction: NATO Ecocide in 
                                 Serbia

(By Vojin Joksimovich, Kennedy School of Government-Harvard University, 
                            April 25, 2000)


                              Introduction

       In considering America's role in the world, it is worth 
     starting from the premise that this has in general been 
     extremely beneficial and positive. America's contributions to 
     the defeat of the twin menaces of fascism and communism in 
     this century are events of epic proportions. I myself am a 
     refugee from Tito's brand of communism and my daughter fled 
     from Milosevic's version. So I am personally grateful for 
     America's role in combating this twin menace.
       With this positive image of America's role in the front of 
     my mind, I take no pleasure

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     in saying that NATO's Kosovo war does not fit this positive 
     pattern. In fact it was a source of evil. Many of the charges 
     against the war are familiar to you: that it was illegal, 
     unnecessary, counter-productive, damaging to global US 
     interests and so on. I discuss all of these in my book 
     ``Kosovo Crisis: A Study in Foreign Policy Mismanagement.''
       Today, however, I want to draw on my professional 
     background as a nuclear and industrial safety specialist to 
     discuss an aspect with which you may be less familiar, namely 
     the huge environmental catastrophe that was wrought by NATO. 
     As a part of my professional career, I have studied the 
     anatomy of catastrophic nuclear and non-nuclear accidents 
     such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Challenger, 
     Piper Alpha, and others. As a member of the National Academy 
     of Sciences Committee, I have studied oil spills such as the 
     Exxon Valdez, Amoco Cadiz and many others. These were 
     however, caused by man (operators) or management negligence.
       Indeed, I want to introduce you to a new term added by NATO 
     to the vocabulary of war. This is ecocide. For those with 
     environmental background this is a familiar concept. But it 
     may be new for students of war. I mean by ecocide in this 
     context the deliberate and conscious causation of 
     environmental damage to achieve war aims. In history, we have 
     seen many instances of incidental damage to the environment 
     caused by war. For example, dropping of atomic bombs on Japan 
     to terminate WWII. As a matter of fact, wartime environmental 
     damage is as old as the bible. The old testament states that 
     ``the trees in the battlefield are not men that you should 
     besiege them'' and it advised ``not to cut down trees and not 
     to kill animals in the enemy territory.''
       But my assertion is that, through NATO's use of 
     contemporary precision weapons to demolish the infrastructure 
     and poison the human habitat not as a byproduct of war but as 
     pro-active instrument of war policy, the Kosovo war broke new 
     ground. It is a new phenomenon. This justifies the use of the 
     new word in military vocabulary-ecocide. It is a chilling 
     concept. I hope by focusing on it today, we can raise such 
     abhorrence for it that a consensus will be formed that 
     ecocide cannot and should not ever be used again by civilized 
     nations. At least in this way the cruel suffering of the 
     Serbian people will bear some positive fruit.


                         NATO Ecocide in Serbia

       Almost daily attacks on the chemical, petrochemical, 
     pharmaceutical plants, plastic factories, refineries, fuel 
     storage tanks, and the electric power grid have caused 
     numerous industrial accidents throughout Serbia. Chemical 
     substances released plus depleted uranium (DU) are 
     carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic, and as such cause perilous 
     consequences to human, plant, and animal life. Most of these 
     substances are unlikely to kill people instantly. Soaked into 
     the soil they percolate into the aquifer and hence the people 
     of Serbia and the entire region will be repeatedly exposed to 
     them. 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, Europe's most important waterway that runs 
     almost 2,000 miles through 11 countries, is partially dead, 
     although it provides drinking water for some 10 million 
     people. Furthermore, one must take into account effect on the 
     habitat and the ozone layer of kerosene, which fueled over 
     1200 NATO planes participating in destruction of Yugoslavia.
       Herewith, we are dealing with deliberate and calculated 
     poisoning of the human habitat. According to a NATO 
     spokesman, targeting encompasses an environmental assessment. 
     Hence, the consequences should have been known. Chris Hedges, 
     reporting in the New York Times, called NATO officials in 
     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.'' 
     It is apparent that NATO showed disregard for human life and 
     the environment. We are talking about low intensity 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 a hideous stain on the moral fabric of the 
     U.S. and its NATO allies.
       In this country we celebrate the Earth Day. The Clinton-
     Gore administration takes a great pride in its environmental 
     record. The environmental goals have been incorporated into 
     the mainstream of U.S. foreign policy. In her April 10 speech 
     to the World Resources Institute Secretary Albright stated: 
     ``Our citizens cannot be secure if the air we breathe, the 
     food we grow and the water we drink are at risk because the 
     global environment is in danger.'' This is well said. My 
     point is that we embrace environmentalism as a domestic 
     priority. We should not subvert this internationally as we 
     did by deliberate poisoning of Serbia, Balkans and Eastern 
     Europe.


                            Pancevo Hot Spot

       NATO repeatedly pounded Pancevo, a town of 80,000 
     inhabitants, located on the Danube river only 12 miles from 
     Belgrade with its 2 million population. Pancevo is a major 
     industrial complex including a petrochemical plant, a 
     fertilizer plant, and a major oil refinery. An artificial 
     canal carries wastewater and stormwater runoff directly into 
     the Danube. NATO destroyed all 3 major industrial plants with 
     bombs and missiles: City Refinery (seven attacks), 
     Petrohemija petrochemical plant (two airstrikes), and Azotara 
     fertilizer nitrogen processing plant. Petrohemija and the oil 
     refinery were leveled. Various noxious substances were 
     released into the environment either directly or as a result 
     of fires. Fires raged for 10 days. The cloud of smoke was 
     more than 10 miles long. The sun was blotted out for a day. 
     Black rain fell on the city and surroundings. Much of the 
     town's population was evacuated following the strikes on 
     April 17/18.
       The following substances were intensely released from the 
     refinery as a result of burning of 80,000 tons of oil and oil 
     products: CO2, NOX, soot and polycyclic 
     aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Strikes at the petrochemical 
     polyvinyl (PVC) plant and the ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer 
     plant destroyed a reservoir with 1200 tons of vinyl chloride 
     monomer (VCM) and 6 train cisterns of 30 tons of VCM each. 8 
     tons of metallic mercury leaked in the electrolysis system. 
     Only 200 kg reached the wastecanal and 50-100 kg were found 
     on the concrete floor. The rest likely evaporated. As a 
     preventive measure 250 tons of liquid ammonia were released 
     into the canal.
       Fears of birth defects have tormented pregnant women. Mark 
     Fineman reported in the Los Angeles Times, physicians 
     recommend that all women who were in town on April 18, 1999 
     avoid pregnancy for at least the next 2 years. Women who were 
     less than 9 weeks pregnant were advised to obtain abortions.


                                Novi Sad

       With 180,000 population, Novi Sad, located on the Danube 
     river, is second largest city in FRY. NATO heavily targeted 
     it with rail and road bridges across the river destroyed 
     together with water pipelines carried by the bridges. Another 
     principal target was the city oil refinery located only about 
     a mile upstream from the filtration wells used for the city's 
     water supply. The groundwater table beneath the refinery is 
     located only 1-2 m below the surface. The water supply of 
     Novi Sad was contaminated after 100 fuel tanks and the 
     refinery was hit 12 times spewing oil. About 73,000 tons of 
     crude oil and oil products burnt or leaked. Novi Sad streets 
     were drenched with slimy, sooty rainwater. Danube was heavily 
     contaminated. Even vast quantities of fire-extinguishing foam 
     needed to control the 11-day blaze pose their own ecological 
     threat.


                              Other Towns

       Other places have been affected, such as Kragujevac, 
     Kostolac, Lazarevac, Nis, Belgrade, Boor, Pharos and 
     Smederevo. Bombings of the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac 
     resulted in high levels of PCB's and dioxins; high levels of 
     PCBs around high voltage transformers, contaminated water 
     tanks. Some of the transformers used the highly toxic and 
     cancerous coolant piralen. Severe air pollution from sulfur 
     dioxide emissions, PCB contamination at transformer stations 
     in the town of Bor in Eastern Serbia near the Bulgarian 
     border.


                   April 17/18 Simultaneous Releases

       Essentially simultaneous releases of smoke plumes occurred 
     from April 17/18 bombings of Pancevo and Novi Sad with the 
     burning rate of 2000 tons per hour during the first 12 hours. 
     With the methodology applied in the case of the Kuwait oil 
     smoke plume, Prof. of Environmental Studies at Belgrade's 
     Alternative Educational Network, Zorro Vukmirovic, and the 
     Belgrade Institute of Meteorology estimated the trajectories 
     of air pollution using the ETA model. The analyses show that 
     the pollutants moved eastward over Romania, Bulgaria, 
     Moldavia, Ukraine and the Black Sea. The lower level 
     trajectories from Pancevo indicate pollutant tansport towards 
     the Belgrade area in the first day. The regional transport of 
     PAHs, dioxins and furans originating from Pancevo were 
     registered at Xanthi in Greece.


                        Other Beyond FRY Effects

       Rumania reported acid rain. The pH level of the rain stood 
     at 5 indicating acidity instead of the normal level of 7. In 
     many towns in the southwestern region, crops and forests were 
     damaged and leaves fell from trees. Vineyards and crops in 
     the southern region were also damaged. 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 toxin on the days the wind blew south. In 
     Macedonia, radiation levels had risen 8 times over. Moldavia 
     and Ukraine were affected as well.


                     UN Environment Project Report

       In late October, 1999 the UN Environmental Program and the 
     UN Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS) issued a Balkan Task 
     Force (BTF) report titled: ``The Kosovo Conflict: 
     Consequences for the Environment.'' The BTF, led by former 
     Finnish Environment Minister Pekka Haavisto, has delivered 
     the report in timely and professional manner. The report's 
     highlights are as follows:

[[Page 16281]]

       The BTF established an international scientific team from 
     19 countries, and organized five technical missions to FRY. 
     Governments of the following countries provided the funding: 
     Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, 
     Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom. The U.S., while the 
     principal aggressor, did not participate.
       The BTF concentrated on the following five areas: (a) 
     Environmental consequences of air strikes on industrial 
     sites; (b) Environmental consequences of the conflict on the 
     Danube River; (c) Consequences of the conflict on 
     biodiversity in protected area; (d) Consequences of the 
     conflict for human settlements and the environment in Kosovo; 
     (e) Possible use of DU weapons in Kosovo.
       The BTF concluded that, while the conflict caused 
     widespread physical destruction, it did not cause an 
     environmental catastrophe affecting the Balkans region as a 
     whole. Nevertheless, pollution detected at some sites poses a 
     threat to human life. The BTF identified environmental hot 
     spots in the four areas: Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad and 
     Bor. Immediate remedial action from a humanitarian viewpoint 
     and further monitoring and analyses were called for in order 
     to avoid further damage to human health and ecology. Specific 
     recommendations for the four hot spots have been developed.
       Laboratory analyses of samples taken from the Danube 
     sediment and biota revealed significant chronic pollution, 
     both upstream and downstream of the sites directly affected 
     by the conflict. The report strongly recommended carrying out 
     follow-up monitoring with extension of the sampling to the 
     confluence of major tributaries and to develop and implement 
     an appropriate monitoring program compatible with the 
     international standards. There is urgent need for the FRY to 
     be integrated within international framework, which has been 
     affected by the sanctions.
       More than hundred craters were found in the Fruska Gora 
     National Park. Craters were found in the Kopaonik and 
     Zlatibor National Parks. A general conclusion is that 
     conservation of biological diversity has suffered from the 
     conflict and the sanctions.
       While the BTF report represented a significant step in 
     assessment of environmental consequences of the NATO 
     aggression its scope was limited. As an example, the BTF team 
     did not visit the Panecevo site until late July while most 
     severe consequences have probably occurred during the April 
     17/18 NATO bombings. No computer simulations were done to 
     assess impact immediately after bombing raids. In case of 
     Novi Sad, significant discrepancies exist between UNEP data 
     and those generated by the Novi Sad University Chemical 
     Engineering Lab. In ability to get documentation from NATO 
     regarding use of DU in Kosovo has prevented the BTF from 
     arriving at meaningful conclusions for the impact of DU use 
     on public health. Use of DU in Southern Serbia was not taken 
     into account. It appears that cooperation with the FRY 
     government was limited.


                                 FOCUS

       A team of Russian, Greek, Austrian, and Swiss experts, 
     representing the FOCUS countries, issued a preliminary report 
     on August 14, 1999. 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 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.''


                                   DU

       NATO used armor-piercing shells loaded with the DU. This 
     was officially confirmed in a letter from NATO Secretary 
     General George Robertson to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. 
     Robertson wrote that the U.S. Air Force A-10 ``tankbuster'' 
     had concentrated their operations in disclosed parts of 
     Kosovo but many missions were carried out outside those 
     areas.
       DU, a waste product of uranium enrichment, is essentially a 
     radioactive waste 1.7 times 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. Upon impact, the DU core partially 
     ignites producing uranium oxide in particulates of between 
     0.5 and 5 microns in size. The aerosol can spread over 
     several hundred miles, depending on wind conditions. If 
     inhaled or ingested, it stays in the body 10 or more years 
     (practically it does not decay because of long half-life)--
     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 presently even greater danger to 
     human health in the short term after exposure. The kidney is 
     the target organ. DU is incorporated into the soil taken up 
     by vegetables, and children can handle the shrapnel.
       DU has been previously used in Iraq and Bosnia. 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. Dr. Hari 
     Sharma, of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, predicted 
     an increase of 20,000-100,000 fatal cancers in veterans and 
     Iraqi citizens. An Iraqi pediatric oncologist claims that 
     childhood leukemia has risen 600 percent in areas of Iraq 
     where DU was used. Stillbirths, births 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.
       The Pentagon sponsored a Special Oversight Board headed by 
     former senator Warren Rudman that produced an interim report, 
     which recommended further studies. On the basis of studies by 
     Pentagon and the Rand Corp., radiation was ruled out in the 
     Gulf War illness thus far. A veterans group, the National 
     Gulf War Resources Center, denounced the panel's findings as 
     an ``incomplete whitewash and failure''. In addition to Dr. 
     Sharma, Doug Rokke, a major in the U.S. Army Reserve's 
     Medical Service Corps, is one of the biggest critics of the 
     Pentagon.
       It appears that revelations about ``friendly fire'' forced 
     the Pentagon to admit the use of DU during the Gulf War. 29 
     American vehicles were contaminated by DU on the battlefield. 
     15 Soldiers killed and more than 60 injured by fire from DU 
     arms. 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 to the U.S., 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 difficulty breathing. His lungs 
     are scarred and he has skin problems and damaged kidney. A 
     urinalysis conducted 3 years later, showed a uranium level 
     4000 times higher than the U.S. safety limit of 0.1 
     micrograms per liter. ``The Department of Defense doesn't 
     want to admit that DU is harmful because they don't want the 
     liability.''
       The British Government has been accused of a cover-up after 
     the new evidence emerged proving that British soldiers 
     suffered massive radiation poisoning in the Gulf. The results 
     of urine analysis, performed by a Canadian geochemist and 
     500,000 times more accurate, were withheld from the public. 
     The Government-appointed scientific advisor. Prof. Malcolm 
     Hooper, views the Canadian results reliable and advocates a 
     thorough investigation not only for Gulf War Veterans but 
     also for those troops serving in Kosovo.
       In spite of the above, the Pentagon confirmed that it has 
     no plans for clean-up, despite the presence of NATO troops! 
     Thus the hazard to Kosovo civilians and NATO troops is 
     ignored. DU clean up is difficult and costly. The entire top 
     layer of soil--roughly one foot deep--would have to be 
     removed and disposed of. On October 4, 1992 an Israeli El Al 
     cargo jet crashed in a fireball in Amsterdam killing 43 
     people. The plane contained 380-kg counterweights made of DU. 
     Surface soil layer of 40 cm had been removed from the crash 
     area.
       The Sunday Times reported that 12 British servicemen are 
     preparing to sue the British government. The Belgian 
     government has begun a systematic review of the health of its 
     14,000 troops it sent to Kosovo.


                        Yugoslav Ministry Report

       The author wishes to acknowledge receipt of a comprehensive 
     report produced by the Yugoslav Ministry for Development, 
     Science and Environment titled ``Consequences of NATO Bombing 
     on the Environment of FRY.'' However, well-documented 
     material in this report, other than the DU portion, has not 
     been utilized in this write-up since it arrived only hours 
     before this paper was finalized.
       It is the only report, which has addressed the use of DU. 
     The claim is that NATO's A-10A planes have used DU ammunition 
     south of the 44-degree latitude including sites outside 
     Kosovo: seven in Serbia and one in Montenegro. Evidence 
     presented is samples and ammunition remains of 30 mm API PGI-
     14B and the land contamination with U-238. The coordinates of 
     contaminated areas are marked and defined.
       Tests in southern Serbia show soil samples containing 
     concentrations of uranium over a 1000 times the natural level 
     used as a principle for decontamination considerations. 
     British biologist Roger Coghill said:
       ``This is the best first hard evidence confirming fears of 
     scientists that parts of former Yugoslavia have been turned 
     into nuclear wasteland. On these figures, I have no 
     hesitation in predicting 10,000 deaths and massive increase 
     in cancers and baby deformities as we have seen in Iraq.''
       The report suggests that some mitigating measures have been 
     undertaken including

[[Page 16282]]

     medical examinations of exposed individuals. However, the 
     cost of decontamination or cleanup was characterized as 
     prohibitive and cannot be done without the international aid. 
     The report is dated February 2000 and it is not clear why the 
     FRY government waited until April to approve it.


                              Conclusions

       I hope you agree that I have made a convincing case that 
     NATO's deliberate targeting and destruction of the 
     environment in Serbia and the wider Southeast European region 
     represents a new and deeply troubling escalation of man's 
     inhumanity to man. I believe that the evidence is there to 
     suggest that innocent lives of existing and even future 
     generations have been shortened as a direct result of NATO's 
     actions.
       There seem to be two main conclusions:
       In the short-term Serbia needs and is entitled to 
     reconstruction aid from the NATO member states. NATO has a 
     moral duty to make good the illegal destruction it caused. 
     The economic sanctions against the Serbian people must be 
     lifted immediately. The FRY must be allowed to rejoin 
     international organizations it legitimately belongs to;
       For the longer term, we must unite to identify ecocide as a 
     crime against humanity on a level with genocide and other war 
     crimes. We must ensure that we, the civilized countries of 
     the world, undertake never to use ecocide again.

     

                          ____________________