June 18, 2000
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's bombing in Yugoslavia last year has caused serious environmental contamination there, which is "paying off" the NATO- led peacekeeping force and members of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said Sunday.
The news agency published an article Sunday, saying that lead was found in the blood of a Danish soldier after he suddenly lost consciousness last week. Doctors deemed that there was no doubt that it was caused by chemical and nuclear radiation pollution from the NATO bombing.
The article accused the U.N. Mission and international humanitarian organization in Kosovo of trying to hide the facts that more and more soldiers in the peacekeeping force have suffered from diseases caused by contamination.
NATO dropped about 31,000 depleted uranium bombs in Kosovo last year, 10 times more than that in other Yugoslav areas, according to NATO figures.
