Nuclear nightmare revealed - COMPLETE ARTICLE

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

Thanks to Joelle who wrote asking if I posted the entire article. I 
did, but looking back at it, I see there is a paragraph that begins 
with the word "from", and everything beyond that was not posted. 
Too bad Radsafe can't take that word and add a flag in front, as 
does Powernet and other servers.. The system sees the word and 
ads a > in front.. Here is the entire article... 
--------------------  

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.  

xFrom the house opposite, a woman called out that she had even 
worse to show me - Davidya, whose tumours have left him hideous 
and half blind. One of his sisters recently committed suicide for 
fear that her unborn child might be affected by the same poisoned 
genes.   

Most of the many suicides in the area have been among young 
men who discover they are impotent.  

Red Cross stretched  

People told me they are living in the most polluted place on Earth 
and are afraid to eat, drink and even breathe the air.  

The International Red Cross look after old people who are dying of 
cancer and whose children have fled the area.  

With a 30 year or so period before radiation exposure develops into 
certain cancers, more and more people in this age group are 
affected, and Red Cross workers can barely cope with the demand 
on their scarce resources.  

In the state hospitals, doctors, some of whom have not been paid 
for six months and who lack modern equipment and drugs, fight to 
save those with a chance.  

But what is puzzling the doctors is the number of babies who 
continue to be born with deformities.  

Unable or simply unwilling to cope with them, parents often 
abandon these babies in the doors of state orphanages.  

Lasting legacy  

Without accurate information about how badly the region was 
contaminated, doctors can only speculate about the long term 
genetic damage that has been done to its people.  

Dr. Boris Gusev from the Institute of Radioactive Medicine says: 
"Even today, the military in Moscow are lying to us about the tests 
as they have all along.  

"They tell us that 700,000 people might have been effected. I 
believe it is over 1.5 million.  

"The contamination spread over thousands of kilometres. There's 
nowhere else like this in the world. Japan? Nevada? Forget it! It's 
equivalent to 1,000 times the impact of the Hiroshima bomb. This 
is a unique situation and we need help."  

The statue of Lenin has been removed from the central square in 
Semipalatinsk. The Soviet military-industrial complex has 
withdrawn and the scientific boffins have packed their bags and 
gone.  

But the people will feel the effects of the Soviet era for decades to 
come.  

The Russians say they have too many of their own problems to 
help their former colony.  

At a conference later this year, the Kazakhs will argue that these 
are victims of the Cold War and it is up to the   
international community to pay the price of helping.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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