The Committee for National Solidarity
Tolstojeva 34, Belgrade, YU
Spanish Kosovo Peacekeepers to be Tested for
Depleted
Uranium Effects
MADRID, Dec 23, 2000 -- (Agence France
Presse) The
32,000 Spanish troops who served in Kosovo will
undergo
medical tests to determine whether they were
exposed to radiation from
depleted uranium shells, the
defense ministry has decided.
"Many
have expressed their concern and to reassure
ourselves we have decided to
monitor everyone," said
army doctor Colonel Luis Villalonga of the
defense
ministry told a news conference Friday.
Depleted uranium is
often used in anti-tank shells,
because its extreme density makes it good
for piercing
armor.
Some 5,000 tests have already been carried
since
February on Spanish troops but "no radiation anomaly
linked to the
depleted uranium was detected," said
Villalonga.
The army doctor
denied television reports that a
Spanish soldier who served in Kosovo had
died of
leukemia after being exposed to radiation from
depleted uranium
shells used by NATO during its 1999
bombing campaign on
Yugoslavia.
Villalonga said the soldier was based in Macedonia
from
March to June of last year and that his death had
nothing to do with
exposure to radiation.
"Spanish troops in Kosovo were deployed in areas
where
this type of ammunition was not used," he said.
The death of
seven Italian peacekeepers who developed
leukemia after having served in
the Balkans prompted
Italian Defense Minister Sergio Mattarella to set up
a
commission of scientific inquiry into their deaths.
In Lisbon,
Portugese newspapers reported that a
soldier had died last March not long
after returning
from a mission in Kosovo. ((c) 2000 Agence
France
Presse)
Mrs Jela Jovanovic, art historian
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