Yugoslave War 91-95 - Depleted Uranium Issue

PGV sorry i lost my password after accident early summer and just got back on. On your question I did not deal in the other contamination issues of the tour like what you mention and the asbestos issue in most buildings we slept in. Heavy metal and PCBs are devastating to the body there are symptoms of that and tell tail signs if you are suffering from it. Not my area of research but a real concern. Google the PCB thing loads of info and heavy metal as well. Your issue will be to get evidence the sites where contaminated. The UN eviro reports post war may be of help but ya have to sift through loads of paper to find a smoking gun. Another good approach would be check out the P Meds and what they found find a reired guy and ask them im sure there is a whole story there. Either that or check out the engineers and look for enviro guy that may have done a report on a site you worked at. Good luck

Thanks for your hard work. I was in Croatia in 93-94 and saw a thing on TV about PCB's and heavy metal contamination at a sight I spent 1 month covered head to toe in the stuff. Did you come across anything in your search about this? I know there was a doctor that noted this for all of us on the tour but was later deleted from everyones files by the CF. There was supposed to be a review done in 1999 but I can't find anything about the outcome.

interesting stuff and a good read.i did 3 tours their myself UN in 92 in bosnia sort of lol the fist i-for and an s-for.

propat

I have been doing my own work on the issue since 95 and have been given the run around since then but slowly the issue has been clearing up so one can see the clear facts through the cover ups and pure ignorance of CF staff. I hope some of what I have found is good info for those who have been wondering and have there own claims pending or an illness that they cant figure out. If anyone has any input to further clear up or add valuable info that would be appreciated.
The basics implications on the issue are health and compensation. Thus far there are no health concerns by the CF on the issue as they believe no one is suffering from DU exposure. The compensation front follows same path with no belief in illness no medical compensation.
The Problem -
1. CF Medical does not believe DU has any real impacts on health.
2. CF does not believe any soldiers were exposed to DU.
3. The basic myths about DU complicate the above 2 issues and give CF a way to pretend it is not an issue.
First I will lay out the issue of the myths problem 3. It will clarify why the CF acts like an austridge on the issue and buries its head and plays dumb when it comes to problem 1 and 2.
First - DU by its very nature is less radioactive then mined Uranium. Hence the name Depleted Uranium. The act of taking mined uranium and removing as much U-238 as you can from it which depletes the mined uranium of the radioactive isotope U-238. The concentrated U-238 is used to make nuclear fuel for reactors or weapons grade concentrate. The leftover uranium is void of U-238 is almost inert and seen as having almost no negative radiation affects on humans. This left over depleted uranium is very heavy and dense so excellent for building weapon penetraters that can cut through armour it is also used in armour to defeat weapons from penetrating. So whats the issue if DU is almost inert and much less radioactive then uranium dirt thats mined? Well the sad truth is DU is rather harmless when used as a weapon which fits the CF argument no harm>>>>but the DU used in Yugo was contaminated with nuclear reactor grade uranium. This fact changes the whole issue now because DU contaminated is highly radioactive and poisonous. What appears to have occurred was spent nuclear fuel was used as an additive to DU. Proof of this was the finding of U-236 in weapons strike sites. U-236 cannot be produced in nature but can only occur through the act of fission in a nuclear reactor. U-236 is a by product of nuclear fusion. NATO now has also confirmed that some batches of DU were contaminated with reactor fuel rod waste. they only did this after proof was found that U-236 was found at strike sites then found in DU unused weapon penetrater samples that were taken as a sample of the inventory. Further investigation and samples were made of DU amour and found to also have elements of U-236 in it. These discoveries change the view of DU weapons as they are not inert radioactively due to contamination. The CF Medical system now should reevaluate all the claims of DU poisoning because there testing and arguments was based on DU being inert. In fact the contamination of U-236 and other isotopes like U-238 and other U isotopes makes DU a very harmful and poisonous product. The extended issue on DU contamination is how would such an accident occur with all the safe guards in the industry>>>>>>answer as unpleasant as it is would be that the US did it on purpose because a penetrator with U-236 and 238 in it is a better weapon. This is another whole war crimes topic I will leave for another day.
Second - Boxite used to fill sand bags issue in Croatia is not part of the DU poisoning problem. But this potential medical issue was used to cover up the actual poisoning of CF members by contaminated DU. The testing of 119 soldiers from Croatia on Boxite issue was an easy smoke screen as none of them was going to produce a negative result for uranium. Furthermore the testing of an additional group of sailors some 15 in total because they had DU ammo on the ship was again going to be a nil result as the weapons are sealed and safe even if contaminated until they hit a target and vaporize well down range from any sailor. Those who claimed to be contaminated by DU could not get any testing done unless they were in Croatia Boxite group or worked on ship that employed DU as a weapon. Thus the CF Medical system could anounce the result as 134 tested no radioactive contamination found. This last obstruction by CF medical system was to ensure no one would be tested with potential for contamination. In my case i took almost 1 year of arguments to get myself included in the testing of the 119 Croatian deployed soldiers and 15 Navy sailors. When i was included I requested that I be tested for U-236. They refused and only tested for U-238. Again the CF stacked the deck so the results would be skewed and show little to no concentrations.
Third - NATO denied usage of DU weapons in FRY but then admitted years later it had used them in 95. NATO also denied any DU was contaminated by reactor spent fuel rods until a few years ago when they admitted some batches of DU have been contaminated.
Finally - with all that figured out now over 15 years the CF and DVA must reopen the files on those that complained of DU poisoning and figure out who they should test or retest and do the test for U-236 this time.
Any comments or new info is appreciated if you wonder if you were contaminated you would have to check out target strike sites and have been close to them when struck or just after in 95. There really is little down wind hazard on this stuff but it is viable way to get contaminated if your at right place at right time. If you were treasure hunting and stuck your head in a NATO struck tank you could possible breath in some residue>>>>if ya did that its a self inflicted wound so just suck it up. I hate people that claim compensation for breaking the rules.
NATO and UN has maps for strike points in FRY and DU contamination areas in 95 if your curious.