Nuclear nightmare revealed

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday, March 19, 1999 Published at 01:05 GMT  - BBC

Nuclear nightmare revealed 

Babies born with deformities are often abandoned  

The Russians chose one of the most desolate parts of their empire 
to build their nuclear testing base. Scorching in summer and 40 
degrees below freezing in winter, it is an inhospitable place.  

Nonetheless when the first bomb exploded, there were over a 
million Kazakhs living here.  

More than 100 bombs were detonated above ground, with 
radioactive fallout spreading over a vast area equivalent, scientists 
say, to over a hundred Chernobyls.  

It was the Cold War and the Russians were eager to catch up with 
America. Safety was not a priority.  

Watching the explosions  

Nurgul Skakova, whose child is disabled, said: "We were told there 
was nothing to worry about. In fact, we were ordered out of school 
in order to watch the mushroom clouds.  

"I was contaminated and that's why my son was born paralysed 
and mentally sick."  


Nurgula told me that every family in her village, which was 30km 
from the epicentre of the explosions, has been affected.  

To prove her point, she took me next door to see the girl with six 
toes. Her mother said that her older daughter is in hospital with 
leukaemia.  

In the next house, I was introduced to Zaneisti, who is 21 and 
stands only a metre tall. Everyone in the village wanted to show me 
their disfigurements because, they said, they welcomed any 
outsider who showed any interest.