Re: UN/IAEA "information" on Chernobyl heealth effects

[maury <maury@webtexas.com>]

True to form -- out They come just in time for the 26 April (18th anniversary)

Chernobyl accident. The near-death experience of UNSCEAR and the related funding

are about to begin paying off again .... sigh. The annual ritual continues in

one form or another.

Maury Siskel



============================

Jim Muckerheide wrote:



> Friends,

>

> See the following announcement.

>

> Do you know whether this is a credible effort following the UNSCEAR

> 2000/Kiev 2001 meetings, plus the UNDP et al. "lack of health effects"

> report? Or would it more likely follow the disinformation produced by Abel

> Gonzalez following the Kiev meeting and other IAEA misrepresentations of the

> potential consequences of Chernobyl?

>

> (Do we know whether UNSCEAR science has been further compromised, like RERF

> was/is following its "near death experience" by DOE and the subsequent Roger

> Clarke-led "blue ribbon committee"?)

>

> Regards, Jim Muckerheide

> ========================

>

> IAEA News

> Vienna -- 19 April 2004

>

> Chernobyl: Clarifying Consequences

>

> IAEA Chernobyl Forum Promotes Facts About Health & Environmental Effects

>

> Eighteen years after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, people in

> the region still live with wildly varying reports about what impact the

> accident will have on their families. future health and the environment. The

> IAEA initiated 'Chernobyl Forum' is working to give people in the affected

> villages greater certainty, by issuing factual, authoritative statements on

> the health effects caused by radiation exposure from the reactor explosion

> and its environmental consequences.

>

> The Forum - comprising eight United Nations organisations, and Belarus,

> Russia and the Ukraine - met in Vienna 10-11 March 2004 at IAEA

> headquarters. IAEA Director of Radiation and Waste Safety, Mr. Abel

> González, said conflicting information had caused tremendous confusion and

> suffering.

>

> "People living in the affected villages are very distressed because the

> information they receive - from one expert after another turning up there -

> is inconsistent. People living there are afraid for their children. The aim

> of the Forum is not to repeat the thousands of studies already done, but to

> give them authorative, transparent statements that show the factual

> situation in the aftermath of Chernobyl," Mr. González said.

>

> The Forum was set up in 2003 following discussions between IAEA Director

> General Mohamed ElBaradei and the Prime Minister of Belarus. It is part of

> broader efforts to help implement the UN strategy on the Human Consequences

> of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident - A Strategy for Recovery.

>

> At its meeting in Vienna in March 2004, initial reports were presented by

> the Forum.s expert groups for 'health' (led by the World Health

> Organization) and the 'environment' (led by the IAEA). It is expected the

> Forum will issue it findings at an international conference to be held in

> 2005 or 2006.

>

> Another key aspect of the Forum.s work is to advise on, and help to

> implement, programmes that mitigate the accident's impact. For example, this

> could include:

>

> Remediation of contaminated land;

>

> Special health care of the affected population;

>

> Monitoring long-term human exposure to radiation;

>

> Environmental aspects of decommissioning the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and

> the Shelter and;

>

> Addressing environmental issues related to radioactive waste from the

> accident.

>

> For the Forum's Terms of Reference see related links. The UN organizations

> involved in the Forum include the IAEA, Food and Agriculture Organization,

> UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Development

> Programme, UN Environment Programme, UN Scientific Committee on the Effects

> of Atomic Radiation, the World Health Organization and the World Bank.

>

> The Forum is part of ongoing IAEA efforts to mitigate the effects of

> Chernobyl. Since the 1986 accident it has assisted with technical

> activities, environmental and agricultural monitoring and rehabilitation.

>

> Contact: Ms. Melissa Fleming, Tel: +43-1-2600-21275, Mobile: +43-(0)664-325

> 73 76, e-mail:Melissa Fleming or Mr. Mark Gwozdecky, Tel: +43-1-2600-21270,

> Mobile: +43-(0)664-154 69 89, e-mail: Mark Gwozdecky



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