Serbian children born after 1999 NATO bombing in higher risk of cancer: research

Children born after 1999 in Serbia, aged from five to nine, show an increased tendency of developing malignant diseases, showed a study conducted by Serbian institutions and published on Tuesday, which analyzes the health impact of the bombing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 20 years ago.

The scientific study was commissioned by the Commission for Researching Health Impacts of the NATO Bombing in the parliamentary and was conducted by the Institute of Public Health "Milan Jovanovic Batut".

The commission's President Darko Laketic said at a press conference in the Serbian parliament on Tuesday that according to the research, children born after 1999 were more sensitive to the onset of malignant diseases of the blood, and that it is essential to identify the causative agent.

The bombing started on March 24, 1999, and during the 78 days, NATO deployed depleted uranium bombs.

Laketic said that after 1999, there were cases of blood disorders among children that raised suspicion that some generations were exposed to a certain toxin that made them sensitive to illness.

The research, said Laketic, unambiguously shows that several generations in a certain sensitive period were exposed to a certain factor that made them more susceptible to certain malignant diseases compared to some other generations of the same age.

He explained that the frequency of malignancies in children born before and after the NATO bombing, was analyzed and that it was determined that most common tumors that occur in children from birth to four years are neuroectodermal.

The commission further determined that malignant blood disorders occur to children between five and nine years of age, while children from 10 to 14 years of age most often develop brain tumors.

From 15 to 18 years, solid tumors are most commonly reported.

Laketic reminded that the Commission for Researching Health Impacts of the NATO Bombing was founded last year by the Serbia's National Assembly on the proposal of Speaker Maja Gojkovic.