At the time of writing of this article, the EU, FOCUS and the Greek Chemists Association preliminary assessments came out. From these reports it is clear that the atmospheric environment is threatened by war activities not only inside FYR but also in neighboring counties. During the destruction of the VCM (Vinyl Chloride Monomers) plant in Pancevo, the VCM storage facility burned for hours and 1000 tones of VCM were released in the air (EU report, 1999). The polluted toxic clouds carried phosgene, chlorine and its oxides among other pollutants in the air, creating a whitish smoke and clouds which moved west ward. The cloud according to the EU and Serbian reports (Glas Javnosti, May 19, 1999 p. 5) merged with another cloud formed by the burning of a storehouse full of fertilizer. Two ppm of phosgene and toxic chlorine were reported.

Products from incomplete combustion from burning of thousands of tonnes of crude oil and other materials resulted to releases of large amounts of soot, particulates, pyrotoxins, etc. Soot from Novi Sad, Pancevo and Smederevo oil depots burning, created according to the Serbian authorities (and post cards available in FYR) smoke cloud, 1,5 Km wide, 3 Km height and visible about 20 Km downwind from the sources. Reported concentrations of particulates increased by four to eight times above allowable levels (FOCUS and Serbian reports). Following the Pancevo Strike, acid rain was deposited. The heavy toxic smoke cloud was partially rinsed by heavy rain which lasted for several hours.

As shown in this report, Romania is expected to have experienced high air pollution episodes from transboundary transport of toxic gases. The Timis county Environmental Protection Agency reported that the maximum allowable concentrations for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia were exceed by 5-10 times between 18 and 26 April, 1999. In another case, burning of the Prahovo oil terminal on May 15, the black cloud covered 10-15 square Km of Romania’s territory. On May 12, 15 and 21 acid rain was measured in Caras Severin County (pH=5,4), the village of Gradinari (p=4,7) and in Moravita (pH=5,1) respectively.

In Bulgaria, during May 23-26, 1999 at the reference monitoring station Rozhen, acid rain was recorded (pH=4,23). The direction of the wind (NNW) indicates the rain to be related to industrial damage in FYR. After the May 15 destruction in Prahovo’s oil depots, the (heavy) rain in Bulgaria during the night of May 16/17 was black and tainted by soot and hydrocarbons as reported by the head of district M.S. Milivoje (Politica, 1999).

Generaly speaking, except for excess of dust (particulate matter which occasionally exceeded allowable limits) there has been no measurable effects on air quality in Bulgaria. However, according to the Ministry of Environment and Waters of Bulgaria, the level of toxic metals and metalloids in the sediments near the BG border exceeded long-term average, 3 times for lead 1,400 times for copper and 30times for cadmium and an excess of nickel content in fish was reported. It may well be that the discharges of mines Bor in FYR may be the source of these pollution effects and not the conflict (EU report, 1999).

It should be pointed out, however, that heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, chromium and zinc are extremely dangerous. These along with mercury (in its methylated form) can be transported over hundreds of Km from the source and have been released in the environment after the destruction of the industrial facilities (eg. the electroplating shops in Kragujevac, Valjevo and Cacak). Of course their transport and deposition is determined not only by the source but also by the state of the atmosphere and the prevailing weather conditions.

Another important issue of air pollution concern are the semi-volatile organics (SVO’s) which include dioxins, furans, PCBs and PCBs, all known to be toxic and hazardous to health. These chemicals were released in the atmosphere during the air strikes of the chemical, oil storage and a variety of other industrial facilities. As has been described in the Rapsomanikis et al. (1999) report to the Ministry of the Environment of Greece and by Sitaras and Siskos in Chimika Chronika (1999), and in § 5 of this report such toxic and carcinogenic substances have been transported over FYR and neighboring countries including Greece. The documentation supporting this transboundary transport comes from the measurements performed at the University of Xanthi, Greece. Because the detection of these highly toxic substances in air needs sophisticated and expensive sampling and analysis techniques and special sampling filters, no other similar measurements in the area exist in the period of interest. It is interesting to note that in attempts to detect these toxic substances in air (Kouemtzis, Th., Chimica Chronika, 1999) it is reported that excess PCBs could be detected in Thessaloniki only on the 7 April, 1999 but no excess in dioxins and furans either in air or in water and no evidence of acid rain was measured over Thessaloniki. As noted by the Committee of the Greek Chemists Association, the Rapsomanikis and Kouemtzis measurements are not comparable not only because of differences in location and sampling but also because of the different dates studied. It should be stressed here that suitable meteorological conditions for airborne transport or toxic gases and aerosols to Greece could be found only in a few occasions during the month of April. Such conditions were met for example with end point in Xanthi at 850 hPa (1500m height above sea level) on April 7, 8, 12, and 19 as seen in figures 10-13.

From that discussion it follows that suitable emissions and meteorological conditions for transboundary transport were jointly met during the dates between 6 and 8 April, 12 and 18/19 April. As the prevailing winds blew, in most cases, from north westerly directions, significant transport of toxic air pollutants may have occurred not only in Xanthi but over other areas in northern Greece and FYROM. Of course following the large Pancevo incident, there is little doubt that large amounts of toxic air pollutants have been transported over Romania.

In conclusion, the pollutants released in the air during the operation Allied Force either were washed out by rain or settled in FYR and to a lesser extent in neighboring countries. The expected effects and long-term consequences should be searched in the drinking water in limited regions of FYR. The toxic substances released in the Danube river and the transport of toxic gases and aerosol to large distances is documented but their consequences to human health are extremely difficult to estimate because of lack of suitable number of regional measurements and lack of actual emissions during the strikes which are not provided by the Serbian authorities.

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APPENDIX