BBC at it on Chernobyl -- Chernobyl invalid fasts to death

[maury <maury@webtexas.com>]

This fairy tale seems to be about par for the course of Chernobyl

distortions.

 It only seems out of time -- The Chernobyl tales usually erupt in April

for the

annual anniversary of The Accident. Maybe such depatures from UNSCEAR

findings and the onset of funding appeals are now switching to a year

around

basis.



Seems these claims ought to be widely known so that they might more

widely

be refuted.



Maury Siskel          maurysis@ev1.net



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



Chernobyl victim fasts to death



A victim of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster has died holding a

hunger

strike to demand new housing.  Pyotr Budyonny, 58, died in the Krasnodar



region, said the president of the Russian Chernobyl Union, quoted by the



Interfax news agency.



"He had both his legs amputated due to a failure of blood circulation, a



disease most typical among Chernobyl veterans," said Vyacheslav Grishin.



Mr Grishin said Budyonny should have been given a house many years ago.



Officials estimate that up to seven million people were affected by the

disaster in Ukraine, which also polluted neighbouring Belarus.  Many

injured

or displaced people still complain about inadequate benefits.



      Typical diseases



Budyonny had moved to Krasnodar from Kyrgyzstan in 1998.  "Pyotr began

his hunger strike in early July in his mud house in the Medvedkovskaya

settlement of Timoshevsky region, where he resided with his wife," Mr

Grishin

said.  "A week later he felt ill and was taken to an intensive care

unit. After

leaving the hospital, he resumed his hunger strike, but was taken back

to the

intensive care unit several days later, where he died."



The union, he said, had tried to collect money to make him stop the

strike,

"but we only managed to gather several thousand rubles".  According to

Mr

Grishin, local authorities must provide Chernobyl invalids with housing

within

three months from the time they are entitled to it.  "But Budyonny could

not

get housing for several years," he said.



Since the disaster, the affected areas - especially Belarus - have seen

a

dramatic rise in the number of thyroid cancers and leukaemia, as well as

birth

defects.



The Chernobyl plant remained in service until December 2000, when it was



finally shut down under pressure from the world's richest nations. Some

experts say the sarcophagus constructed over the damaged reactor

needs urgent repairs, but Ukraine denies any serious safety threat.



      Story from BBC NEWS:

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3928299.stm



      Published: 2004/07/26 22:03:21 GMT









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