Side Effects of NATO’s Yugoslavia Campaign: Cancer, Sterility and Mental Disorders

According to Serbian oncologists, the number of cancer patients in the country is on the rise, and the mortality rate among them is increasing. The situation with infertility, autoimmune diseases, and mental disorders in Serbia is also alarming.

“Twenty years after the bombing of Yugoslavia, we are seeing an increase in oncological diseases, primarily systemic ones, such as lymphomas and leukaemia, and then solid cancerous tumours. And the most tragic thing is that, compared with the European average, we have 2.5 times more children with cancer”.

This is what a nation’s “medical record” looks like two decades after NATO’s “humanitarian operation” against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), according to Professor Danica Grujicic, PhD, Head of the Neuro-Oncology Department at the Clinical Centre of Serbia. Cancer, however, is not the only issue on the rise.

“The second problem is autoimmune diseases. Today, there isn’t a free spot at the Clinic of Allergology and Immunology. It wasn’t like that before”,  Professor Grujicic told Sputnik. In addition, according to Grujicic, the situation with infertility became worse after the country was bombed.

“We have a 100% increase in male infertility. If before you took 100 couples who were receiving infertility treatment: in 40% of the cases there was a problem with the woman, in 20% with the man and in 40% it was not clear what the problem was. Today — 40% are issues with women, 40% with men, and in another 20% the cause is unknown”, she explained.

In Serbia, 20,000 people die from cancer every year and more than 30,000 people fall ill. More than 60 million euros a year are spent on drugs for cancer patients in Serbia, while six years ago 9.6 million euros was allocated. This is shown by data published by the Serbian Cancer Society on the basis of information from the Republican Statistical Agency and the Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr. Milan Jovanovic Batut”. […]