Conclusions drawn by the mission from the currently available scientific data:
1. Depleted uranium is only weakly radioactive and emits about 40% less radioactivity
than a similar mass of natural uranium.
2. Scientific and medical studies have not established a link between exposure to
depleted uranium and the onset of cancers, congenital abnormalities or serious toxic
chemical effects on organs. Caution has been expressed by some scientists who would
like to see a larger body of independently (i.e. non-military) funded studies to confirm
the current viewpoint.
3. Soldiers, particularly those at the site of an attack, are the most likely to have inhaled
uranium metal and oxides in dusts and smoke. It is likely that the general population
would not have encountered this form of transmission pathway or, at the very worst,
only in very isolated instances.
4. The presence of minute quantities of plutonium in the depleted uranium used in
Kosovo was reported by UNEP on 16 February 2001 (press release). UNEP has
stated that ‘these newest findings on the composition of the depleted uranium only
lead to a minor change in the overall radiological situation and therefore should not
cause any immediate alarm'.
. No convincing evidence is available to indicate any health impacts to the Kosovo
population associated with the use of depleted uranium.
6. The health and population information systems presently available in Kosovo do not
permit the reliable identification of any changes in disease frequency in the
population.
7. The present health information system, in spite of the best efforts of many people, is
fragmented and inadequate. In particular, for non-communicable diseases the health
information system does not exist. The comprehensive collection and continuing
statistical analysis of all forms of recorded illnesses must be re-established swiftly
and implemented in all health institutions in the same way. Without a functioning
health information system it will not be possible to discern with certainty any health
trends in the future, mediated by whatever cause.
8. There are a variety of responses to the claims of health impacts from depleted
uranium in Kosovo, and no communication strategy that involves all relevant players
is in place. Decisions on health screening, environmental monitoring, the type of
analyses and treatment to be given to the data collected, which results to distribute
and to whom, and how to issue that information, are being taken separately by
different agencies and military groups. These different initiatives and pieces of
information provided separately by each of these groups add confusion to the present
situation.
9. Unnecessary speculation and anxiety about the potential for risks from depleted
uranium, which, from what the mission can judge so far, are not present or minimal,
are being fuelled by the different opinions expressed as a consequence of the normal
process of scientific debate, as well as by the lack of a common communication
strategy.
10. The presence of high levels of lead in people in the Mitrovicë/Mitrovica region and
the absence of efficient measures to reduce the long-term exposure to lead, together
with the alarmingly high rate of traffic-related deaths, both observed by the mission,
require urgent attention by UNMIK and other organizations. The unlikely health
effects of depleted uranium exposure, if any, are much smaller in comparison to these
causes of death or incapacity.