CHERNOBYL: VICTIMS OF WORLDS WORST NUCLEAR DISASTER UPDATE скачать в хорошем качестве

CHERNOBYL: VICTIMS OF WORLDS WORST NUCLEAR DISASTER UPDATE

(9 Apr 1996) Russian/Nat An international conference began in Vienna Tuesday to take stock of the scientific, medical and social research done in the 10 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The terrible human toll of the world's worst nuclear disaster still isn't fully known - but thousands are already ill or dead from radiation sickness or cancer. Some five (m) million people were exposed to Chernobyl's radioactive fallout - but they are not they only ones to suffer the horrible consequences. In the former Soviet republic of Belarus, a second generation of Chernobyl victims is growing up, displaying shocking levels of infant illness. When the cloud of radiation spewed from Chernobyl in 1986, Igor had yet to be born. The effects, however, will be with him for the rest of his life. He and these other children are members of a second generation of victims of the world's worst nuclear accident. They live out what remains of their lives in an orphanage for abandoned children in Belarus. Igor was born deaf-mute. Others, like two-year-old Vovochka, suffered worse. Extensive brain damage has left him with no more than basic animal reflexes. Unable to cope, his parents left him at the orphanage. Vovochka is not expected to live more than another two years. Stronger children are taught how to feed themselves - a crucial skill before being transferred at the age of four to an invalid home, where the level of attention is minimal. Of all the former Soviet republics, Belarus was worst hit by the Chernobyl disaster. An exclusion zone still restricts access to the most polluted areas around the southern city of Gomel. Ghost villages like Vyleva stand witness to the destruction of hundreds of communities. Agricultural land must lie fallow until well into the next century. Yet measures taken by the Belarussian authorities to evacuate people living in the danger zone have come too late. The impoverished government claims it simply cannot afford to resettle the thousands of families awaiting evacuation. The date on the school blackboard testifies that children were still studying in this classroom seven years after the fallout landed. 200-thousand individuals have been resettled from villages around Gomel to date. But another 40-thousand are still waiting. One-third of Belarus was struck and polluted by the Chernobyl radiation cloud which was carried over the republic by prevailing winds on 26 April 1986. The population was left in the dark for weeks by the Soviet government. But now that they know, there is little or nothing they can do to protect themselves and their children. Even today, there are few reliable studies of the effects of the disaster. One sponsored by the World Health Organisation, however, concludes that in the worst affected areas up to 25 per cent of newborns to three-year-olds can be expected to develop thyroid cancer. Pulmonary and cardio-vascular diseases among infants have also risen sharply as women affected by the fallout are reaching childbearing age. Eduard Rusakov, the chief doctor at Gomel's Central Children's Hospital, has watched the statistics mount. He concedes that it is difficult to link any given child directly to the effects of radiation. But he says the rising figures speak for themselves - the levels of some illnesses have increased by a factor of 10. He warns a vicious circle is taking shape which Belarus is incapable of breaking unaided. SOUNDBITE (Russian): obvious: what kind of offspring is that going to be?" #Chernobyl #Victims #children Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...