We are faced with ecological catastrophe:
Depleted uranium (DU) is used primarily because it is effective against tanks. The uranium oxide from these bullets when inhaled donates «hot» particles of around 0.5 microns to the chest, equivalent to 20 chest X-rays per hour. Nearly all the Cruise missiles used so far contain DU warheads. The UK Sunday Times says 120 of these have been fired so far, but other reports say much more have been fired. DU is classed as a weapon of mass destruction and therefore illegal according to the Geneva Convention. They could have teratogenic effects for generations afterwards on combatants and targets alike. Certainly they will damage US or NATO troops as well as all others in Kosovo in any ground war, to judge from what happened after their use in the Gulf War and in Bosnia.
Serbian Ecological Society Univ. Belgrade, Fac. Biol.
Inst. Bot. & Bot. Garden «Jevremovac»
Takovska 43, 11000 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Tel: +381 11 767-988 Fax: +381 11 769-903
Dmitar Lakusic, President dlakusic@EUnet.yu
Radoje Lausevic, Secretary
rlausevi@EUnet.yu