Are the residents of former Yugoslavia still exposed to elevated PCB levels due to the Balkan wars? Part 1: Air sampling in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) spilled into the environment as a result of damaged industrial and military targets, natural resources, and infrastructure during the Balkan wars still pose a problem several years later. The aim of this project was to investigate an extent to which the residents of former Yugoslavia are exposed to elevated levels of POPs as a consequence of the wars. The atmospheric as well as the soil levels of PCBs, OCPs and PAHs were determined in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina during five high volume air sampling campaigns in 2003 and 2004. A considerable contamination of several sites was detected (PCB concentrations in the atmosphere ranged between 67 pg m(-3) and 40 ng m(-3) for the sum of 7 indicator congeners) and the levels are reported in this article.