Letter to the Editor

Topic uranium ammunition – no longer taboo

A fact that can no longer be denied is gradually finding its way into the press and the general public. Twenty years after the war against Yugoslavia, the people of Serbia and Kosovo are confronted with a very unpleasant truth. Increasing cancer rates, especially in southern Serbia, but also in the area around Novi Sad and in Belgrade, as well as in Kosovo, especially Prizren, bear witness to a type of weapon used in the war, the lethality of which does not end with the war. André Gsponer, the Swiss physicist who unfortunately passed away early, published a comparison between uranium ammunition and nuclear weapons of the fourth generation in 2002. His hypothesis is that the use of these radioactively toxic ammunition was intended to accustom humanity to nuclear-contaminated theatres of war. This hypothesis is not absurd, since in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc. we are dealing with very similar, if not identical, clinical pictures, which became apparent very soon after the first bombardments: for example, multiple cancers, which until then had hardly been known to oncologists. The infertility of women also increased strongly there, the young married couples are confronted with unavoidable childlessness. A tragedy. Some time ago, the Italian government had already paid compensation to soldiers suffering from leukaemia, for example, who were deployed in Kosovo. Today, the Italian government wants to assist the people in Serbia suffering from leukaemia in a lawsuit for compensation against the Nato states involved.
Switzerland has accepted many emigrants from Serbia and Kosovo. They were all aware of the problem, many of them have lost relatives and will continue to lose them. Talking about the coherences, however, was taboo – lately it has been broken up. The book by Frieder Wagner and the review by Dr Hunziker are a valuable contribution to this. The path to genuine and comprehensive help is thus cleared.

Dr. phil. Barbara Hug