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Article

23 Nov 2010

Author:
Petrit Collaku, BalkanInsight

Kosovo: Blood testing to begin for Roma lead camp children

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children in the Osterode settlement in Mitrovica, most of whom spent their childhood living near an old lead mine, will soon have their blood tested for lead contamination. Kosovo's Ministry of Health signed an agreement...with health authorities in Mitrovica that will monitor and regulate the treatment of children in the Osterode settlement with high levels of lead in their bloodstream...Most of the Osterode residents were recently moved to the site after the informal settlement of Cesmin Lug near the Trepca lead mine was closed...Hundreds of RAE families lived for ten years in Cesmin Lug, an area that was never cleaned up and which is still extremely contaminated with the heavy metal. Dozens of cases of settlement residents contracting lead poisoning have been reported over the years...Human rights and health groups long expressed concern about the level of pollution in Cesmin Lug, one of the three camps opened by the UNHCR in 1999 to house hundreds of Roma refugees.