UNEP team finds DU contamination near Sarajevo An Italian soldier from a nuclear, biological and chemical platoon checks the level of radiation in fences around an Italian SFOR base in Sarajevo. A United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) team announced Nov. 11 that it found three sites contaminated by the use of weapons tipped with depleted uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina after a month-long investigation of 14 different sites. The team, which conducted investigations after concerns were raised that NATO ammunition used in 1995 could pose health risks, found traces of radioactivity at two locations in Hadzici and one in the Bosnian-Serb town of Han Pijesak, Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. Experts are still debating the danger of the material, which was used by NATO as a coating for shells and bullets designed to pierce armour. There has been growing concern that depleted uranium shrapnel left behind in former Yugoslavia could cause cancer or other problems associated with radiation. SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE Black Sea dolphins get CITES protection A proposal by Georgia to ban export of bottlenose dolphins from the Black Sea was passed at a meeting of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES)in Santiago, Chile, according the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. The dolphins are sought by amusement parks, circuses and aquariums because they are playful and receptive to training. According to Reuters, environmentalists have said that there are genetic distinctions between the bottlenose dolphins in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and those found in the Black Sea. Russia, the world's top exporter of bottlenose dolphins from the Black Sea, led the opposition to the proposal, claiming that existing CITES limits on trade in the animals had already led to an increase in the population, but environmentalists questioned this claim, according to the Reuters report. "Today's move is a dramatically positive first step toward the long-term recovery and survival of the species in the Black Sea," Mike Simmonds, Director of Science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, was quoted as saying. Bill would stop used tyres at Serbian border The Serbian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection has proposed a bill to prevent the import of used car tyres, plastic waste and animal waste, according to a Nov.17 report from EkoForum, a Belgrade based environmental group. "Last year,187,000 used tyres were imported to Yugoslavia. The fact is that we have our own waste too, and we don't know what to do with it," Vladica Cudic, an expert on waste problems, told EkoForum. In the last few years, piles of car tyres, mostly brought in from Western Europe, have been appearing in sites around Belgrade, EkoForum reported. Next page »

News around the CEE region   Top   Top