Just to reinforce Enrique's and Doug's emails on the subject. My feeling is that as soon as the environmental impact starts affecting the occupation forces in Yugoslavia, they will leave. They can all bring their Perrier water and food from the humanitarian West but they have to breath the air they have so polluted. They cannot escape from this. I should also add that in northern Greece people are concerned that all the
produce have been affected by the environmental impact of war and as a matter of fact, the French producers association of Asparagus issued a statement some time ago warning its French customers to avoid eating produce from northern Greece.
elias
Report on impact of war in Yugoslavia Potential environmental catastrophe in Balkans By Michael Conachy 14 July 1999 Use this version to print
Amid the world media reports about alleged crimes against humanity and the torture and murder of innocent civilians in Kosovo, one crime has gone largely unmentioned.
Between March 24 and June 8, 1999, at least 23 petrochemical plants, oil refineries and fuel storage depots in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were bombed, as were at least another 121 major industrial plants containing various chemicals and substances dangerous to human health. Thousands of tonnes of highly toxic chemicals were uncontrollably released into the air, soil and water in a densely populated country covering an area of just 102,173 square kilometres (about the size of the US state of Kentucky or just larger than the Australian island state of Tasmania).
The plants were deliberately and criminally targeted for destruction in the planning rooms of NATO high command. They were subjected to multiple bombing and missile attacks designed to completely demolish them. The long-term public health and environmental effects in Yugoslavia and throughout the Balkans region are potentially catastrophic.
A preliminary report on the environmental impact of the war in Yugoslavia was prepared by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). Released on June 28, the report was prepared under contract from the European Commission's DG-XI and presented to the EU Council of Ministers.
The REC is a non-profit, non-government organisation based in Hungary, with regional offices and experts throughout the Balkans. Among financial contributors to its operations are the governments of United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Croatia. The report entitled, "Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Military Activity During the Yugoslav Conflict," cannot therefore be dismissed as Serbian propaganda.
It is a cautious document, emphasising the difficulty in defining the dimensions of long-term ecological effects because of inadequate scientific monitoring facilities and resources in the region. While the report refrains from describing the results of the NATO air campaign as a "large scale ecological catastrophe," its contents suggest that such a conclusion can reasonably be drawn.
An accompanying press release lists the following environmental problems that "may pose immediate health dangers":
* Extensive damage to the waters of Yugoslavia, which will impact on agriculture and fishing.
* An interrupted planting season in Yugoslavia and border regions, which will mean a poor harvest and potential food shortages.
* Damage to the electrical power infrastructure of Yugoslavia, which will mean heating shortages in the coming winter.
* Damage to the water and waste-water systems in Albania and Macedonia, which may cause long-term problems for the infrastructure of those two countries.
* Air and water pollution, including potentially hazardous pollution from depleted uranium weapons, which will have as-yet-unknown impacts on the water table, and hence food chain of the entire region.
Pancevo
The region worst affected by pollution is the industrial complex of Pancevo,
home to some 150,000 people, 15 kilometres north-east of Belgrade. Three plants were bombed on the night of April 18: the Pancevo Nitrogen Processing Plant (fertiliser), the Pancevo Oil Refinery and the Pancevo Petrochemical Plant. All three are situated within an eight square kilometre region and within hundreds of metres of residential buildings.
The report states: "Present in the plants are ethylene-dichloride, ethylene,
chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen, propylene and vinyl chloride monomers. These fluids have been released into the atmosphere, water and soil due to bomb damage and now pose a serious threat to human health in general and to ecological systems locally and in the broader Balkan region. The soil at the Petrochemical Complex was soaked with ethylene-dichloride.
"All chemicals that had been released in water were found to be present in the surface waters, as well as the compounds resulting from their reactions. A large number of people have been poisoned, injured and/or evacuated. According to Yugoslav estimates, some 70,000 people have been endangered locally"(Section 3.1, page 2).
According to the report, 1,000 tonnes of ethylene-dichloride, close to 1, 000 tonnes of a 33 percent hydrogen-chloride solution and 3,000 tonnes of natrium hydroxyde were released into the Danube River, as were 100 tonnes of ammonia, and tens of tonnes of chlorine, along with undetermined quantities of mercury. Ethylene-dichloride, considered a probable carcinogen, is known to cause damage to the kidney and liver.
More than 1,000 tonnes of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) were released when the Petrochemical Complex was destroyed. A VCM concentration of 10,600 times above safe levels was recorded a few kilometres away from the plant. A massive cloud of pollution produced by the burning of VCMsþcontaining phosgene, chlorine, chlorine oxides, ammonia, petroleum and petroleum productsþmerged with the clouds of smoke from a burning fertiliser warehouse.
Seeking information on VCMs, this author visited the web site of the New Jersey Department of Health and Community Services. At this site a "Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet" on vinyl chloride warns that it is a known carcinogen and that many scientists believe there is no safe level of exposure. Short-term effects are burning and irritations of the skin, while known long-term effects of exposure include brain, liver and lung cancer. Increased rates of birth defects have been reported in the vicinity of plants manufacturing VCMs.
On the same night, the Pancevo Refinery was bombed. According to the Yugoslav Ministry of Environment, the burning refinery produced a cloud of smoke 1.5 kilometres wide, three kilometres high and 20 kilometres long. The cloud persisted for a 10-day period, moving to the ground 15 kilometres from the plant. Five days after the bombing concentrations of benzene, toluene, and xylenes (to list only a few of the components of the carcinogenic cloud) were measured at four-to-eight times safe limits.
Residents' accounts state that the chemical clouds over Pancevo blocked out the sun the day following the bombing. Thousands fled the city suffering from eye and skin irritations, respiratory difficulties and nausea that lasted for days, and in some cases still persists.
Physicians in the city have advised that all women who were in Pancevo when it was bombed to avoid pregnancy for at least two years. Those who were less than nine weeks pregnant at the time were advised to terminate their pregnancies.
While Pancevo was the city most seriously affected by pollutants released by NATO strikes, similar refineries and depots were hit at: Lipovica, Belgrade (several), Bogutovac, Smederevo (several), Novi Beograd, Novi Sad, Sombor, Pristina, Nis, Kragujevac, Baric, and Bor.
Pollution of water supplies
One of the most serious dangers to the people of the Balkans is the release of pollutants into the surface waters. Oil, ammonia, ethyl dichloride, and vinyl chlorides were leaked into the river system in massive quantities as a result of bombings of refineries, storage depots and petrochemical plants in Pancevo, Novi Sad and Prahovo. Harmful heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc and mercury were released following the destruction of industrial facilities such as those associated with electroplating.
In Bulgaria, water sampling of toxic metals and metalloids in the sediments near the border between May 25 and May 29 exceeded average longstanding levels by three times for lead, 1,400 times for copper, and 30 times for cadmium.
NATO bombing of power stations and transformers released the highly dangerous pollutant, PCB Pyralene. PCBs are known carcinogens, causing skin and liver cancers as well as damage to the reproductive organs. PCB poisoning can be passed from mother to child via breast-feeding. There is no safe level of exposure in the opinion of many scientists, and a single litre of PCB pollutes as much as a billion litres of water. The quantity of PCBs released into water and air is not known because even in sites where Pyralene use had been discontinued, PCB waste was often stored in drums rather than destroyed or neutralised.
Following the bombings of Pancevo and Novi Sad, large quantities of dead fish were observed in the Danube River 30 to 40 kilometres downstream. There are reports from Romania that the Danube turned black at times as a result of the NATO bombing.
The REC report states: "... it would be a mistake to underestimate the potential damage caused by the oil and oil derivative pollution in the riversþas well as potential river pollution from acids, alkalis and phenols. Usually, oil flows away, acids and alkalis are quickly diluted and phenols hydrolyse. But the pollution of ground water is more serious, because ground water has a limited capacity for self-purification" (Section 4.1.1, page 1).
It is noted elsewhere that ground water supplies 90 percent of Serbia's domestic and industrial needs.
Potential threats throughout the region are even wider. The polluted surface waters belong to the catchment area of the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea.
The REC warns that: "Dramatic pollution of most rivers in Yugoslavia by heavy metals, pyralene (PCB), oil etc., will almost certainly affect the neighboring `downstream' countries of Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine in the coming days, months or years."
The report also notes that inadequate collection and treatment of sewage waste waters from refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania has potentially compromised major drinking water springs, artesian wells and rivers in those countries.
Disruption of agriculture
Potential contamination of livestock and crops with pollutants carried by air, water and precipitation is high. Many of the toxins released in the bombings can enter the food chain and continue to poison people for decades.
A major concern expressed in the REC report was that of Dr Luka Radoja, agronomist, who noted that the war occurred during the planting season for corn, sunflower, soy, sugar beet and vegetables. He estimates that the planting of 2.5 million hectares of land was disrupted. The lack of fuel for agricultural equipment and the destruction of fertiliser production facilities and storage depots will have "catastrophic results" on food production.
The ongoing effects of the NATO bombing are summarised in the following paragraph:
"Due to precipitation, much of the air pollution described above will eventually reach the soil and become part of the further biochemical cycle. Bombing has also created deep craters in the humus layer, which will take years to recuperate. According to estimates, a 240-kilogram bomb makes a crater that is 4 metres deep and 8 metres in diameterþor 50 square metres in surface area. The total surface of the craters created by the three month bombing campaign has yet to be estimated. Not only are the craters unusable, but so is the land around the craters. The destruction of the upper layers of the soil means the destruction of its flora and fauna. The natural regeneration of this layer could last thousands of years. It takes from 1,500 to 7,400 years for nature to produce a 20-centimetre thick upper layer of soil. Within 100 years, the surface layer of soil naturally grows only 0.5-2 centimetres" (Section 4.1.3, page 5).
Another major agricultural-environmental concern is for the future of forests and woodlands. The destruction of electricity production and transfer facilities has left most of the Yugoslav population with limited capacity for heating. The REC anticipates an "enormous increase in tree felling during next winter for providing wood for heating".
Conclusions
The REC report concludes that the major direct effect of NATO bombing has been the uncontrolled release of tonnes of toxic chemicals into air, water and soil. While high concentrations of toxins in the air was an acute (short-term) result, the contamination of water and soil presents a long-term health risk. "All released substances will undoubtedly become part of the future biochemical cyclesþpossibly with unpredictable transformations, which enlarge future risks."
The report only mentions the possible health effects of radioactive waste remains of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, describing them as highly controversial and "bound to be revealed by time". It suggests that of more immediate concern for public health is the restitution of power and water supplies, central heating stations and the road and railway networks. Inadequate resources and equipment for monitoring the level and impact of radiation and toxins in Yugoslavia and surrounding region is cited as cause for concern and in urgent need of remedy.
A United Nations assessment of the environmental and humanitarian disaster unleashed by the war is scheduled to begin July 15, but is meeting with resistance from NATO. Speaking on July 6, in Geneva, the head of the planned UN investigation said NATO had not been forthcoming in providing detailed information on its targets.
Given that similar long term environmental and public health consequences of the bombing of Iraq led to the death of an estimated 500,000 children in the past nine years, and a myriad of illnesses, cancers and birth deformities among soldiers and civilians alike, NATO obstruction of the investigation, analysis and amelioration of the long term results of its actions in Yugoslavia will ensure thousands of further cruel deaths.
The comments of Professor Mico Martinovic, a hydrologist from Pancevo, are pertinent. He told the media that the quantity and variety of toxic chemicals released "is unique in world history".
"We have no idea what negative effects they will have on human life and the environment because we have no test analysis available," he said. "We can only suspect they polluted our entire waters, the soil and the rivers."
"What was done against Pancevo was a crime against humanity. I never thought NATO or the Americans would bomb the petrochemical plant. I thought they were more civilised."
It is difficult to decide which is the more chilling thought. That those who selected these targets calculated the potential effects on human health and the environment for decades to come and proceeded in any case. Or that they are so reckless, ignorant and indifferent to the lives of millions of people that the potential results never entered their calculations.
The full text of the REC report can be found at: http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/contents