Depleted or defeated. How the Bosnia and Herzegovina example should teach us for the future
Abstract: The Former Repairing Tank Facility at the area Hadzici in Bosnia and Herzegovina was targeted by the NATO forces at the end of 1995. As a result, residues of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition have penetrated to the ground polluting the environment to some great extent. Succeeding the war, several people established to the area which has been thereafter transformed into a growing industrial site. Therefore, the inhabitants’ perception on the potential long-term health threats as well as the view of official authorities on the matter is of great importance. This work tries to understand the current perceptions on these questions and the results unveil some alarming conclusions. While there is a clear increase of health issues since the attacks, the lack of information and support by the local authorities shifts the inhabitants focus rather on their economic survival than on long-term health matters. At the same time, international organizations still try to raise awareness on the negative impact of DU ammunition usage suggesting the need for global collaborations. The conclusions extracted by the Bosnia and Herzegovina example expound how critical it is to follow the precautionary principle in any future case of possible DU ammunition usage.
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