NATO countries concerned over health of soldiers deployed in the Balkans

NATO countries concerned over health of soldiers deployed in the BalkansDecember 27, 2000
Madrid, December 26th (Tanjug) - Defence ministries of several European NATO countries have launched examinations to determine whether their troops had been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation caused by ammunition charged with depleted uranium, used during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia from March 24 - June 10, 1999.
The Spanish defence ministry has confirmed it will subject to medical examination all of its 32,000 men who had been deployed in the Balkans since 1992.
The ministry's decision was preceded by last week's statement of Italian Defence Minister Sergio Mittarella, according to which Italy was investigating cases of cancer among its soldiers deployed in Bosnia and Serbia's Kosovo-Metohija province, in order to find out if the disease was caused by radiation resulting from last year's bombing.
Twelve Italian soldiers who had participated in Balkan peacekeeping missions have developed cancer. Three of those stationed in Bosnia died of leukemia last year, whereas four others died of cancer.
The Portuguese Ministry of Defence has announced it will send an expert team to Kosovo and Metohija to check the radiation level, and its Dutch equivalent said it would carry out radiation-related examinations in Balkan countries where its troops had been deployed.
Pentagon's spokesman, Jim Turner, said today "so far there were no cases of leukemia illness or of other illnesses among American soldiers deployed in the operations in the Balkans". According to his words, all soldiers are medically checked on their return to the USA.