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Conference on the environmental impact of NATO bombing of Serbia

This Sunday, March 22, RAS, an international Serbian organization, held a conference at George Mason University in Arlington, VA, outlining the disastrous environmental impact of the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999.

The conference started with the presentation of a documentary film on the bombing of Serbia. Keynote speakers were Jasmina L. Vujic, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkley, CA; Zorka Vukmirovic, Ph.D., Chemistry, Research Professor Emeritus, Institute of Physics, Belgrade, Serbia, and Sriram Gopal, M.S., former Institute for Energy and Environmental Research staff scientist.

Hosted by RAS, the lectures covered a wide range of topics, starting with the origins of the NATO-led bombing campaign but focused largely on the devastating effects of depleted uranium (DU) and industrial chemicals on the people of Serbia, as well as their sources of food and water.

Due to the targeting of the NATO bombardment on industrial sites as well as military targets, a tremendous number of industrial chemicals were released into the atmosphere and environment.  Dr. Vukmirovic has undertaken an extensive study of these pollutants which show the spread and effect of these chemicals into the air and waterways of Southern Europe, threatening wildlife, food supplies, and most importantly human life.  She documented the significant increases in cancers surrounding the industrial sites that were bombed, and showed that the levels of PCB’s and mercury in areas of Serbia were more than 20 times their normal level directly after the bombing.

Dr. Vujic covered the long-lasting impact of DU on people of Serbia and Kosovo.  She stated that over 30,000 round of ammunition containing DU were expended over Kosovo and southern Serbia, totaling more than 12,000 kilograms (26,400 pounds) of radioactive material that is now in the soil and water of Kosovo and Serbia.  Marked increases in Hodgkin’s disease and various types of lymphoma’s and cancers indicate a direct correlation between the use of this weaponry and the cancer rates in these effected areas.

Mr. Sriram Gopal spoke about his personal experiences working in Serbia after the NATO bombing campaign, including the failure of government organizations to clean up the environmental disaster. Mr. Gopal published a book on “Precision Bombing, Widespread Harm - Two Case Studies of the Bombing of Industrial Facilities at Pancevo and Kragujevac during Operation Allied force, Yugoslavia 1999.”

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