“More than 300 Italian soldiers may have died during the past 15 years from exposure without protection to depleted uranium during missions to Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, while another 3,700 are sick for the same reason.”
““To date, 331 Italian soldiers have died and another 3,764 have developed cancer as a consequence of having been exposed to depleted uranium,” said Domenico Leggiero, a former Italian pilot who is now president of the Osservatorio Militare [Military Observatory] association, which represents the victims and their relatives.”
““After [serving in] the Balkans, many of them were deployed also in Afghanistan and Iraq, where depleted uranium was also used,” Leggiero explained.”
“Depleted uranium, D-38, is a by-product obtained from the process used to enrich natural uranium for use as fuel in nuclear reactors.”
“Its huge density makes it the perfect material for producing “tank armour and bullets … to penetrate enemy armoured vehicles”, the US Department of Veterans Affairs wrote on its website.”
“The use of D-38 in making weapons represents a serious hazard for human beings, however.”
“Although Italian soldiers in Kosovo were deployed in the sector of Kosovo which NATO had bombed most heavily, the World Health Organization, WHO, reported, Leggiero said they were operating without special training or special equipment.”
““While soldiers from other countries had information about the risks they had to face and took adequate protection, Italian soldiers were in the dark,” Leggiero said.”
““The Italian government has demonstrated an amateurish attitude,” said Alessandro Marescotti, president of Peacelink, one of the first Italian associations to denounce the effects of depleted uranium during the war in Yugoslavia and to campaign to force the Italian government to admit responsibility.”
““The Italian authorities have never admitted officially the existence of this problem… they accused us of raising alarmism and insisted on minimising the issue,” Marescotti told BIRN.”
“Nicole Corritore, who works at the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, [the Balkan and Caucasus Observatory] and has followed the issue of depleted uranium since its beginning, argues that admitting reality would have serious consequences for the Italian authorities.”
““Demonstrating the connection between the use of depleted uranium and the deaths of hundreds of Italian soldiers would also mean talking about the effect of depleted uranium on the civil population of former Yugoslavia,” Corritore told BIRN.”
““It would also mean recognising that weapons using D-38, which are currently used by the Italian army… in Sardinia, have inflicted damage on the local population,” Corritore said.”
Read more: Italian Soldiers Keep Dying from ‘Balkan Syndrome’
2021-week18
