Chernobyl's Lethal Legacy Hits New Generations

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

Tuesday April 20 5:50 PM ET 

Chernobyl's Lethal Legacy Hits New Generations

KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - More than a decade after the explosion 
of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power station, the poisonous 
radioactive legacy of the accident is crippling the health of younger 
generations, officials said Tuesday.  

``Statistics show rising numbers of radioactivity-related diseases,'' 
Olha Bobyleva, deputy health minister, told a news conference.  

``We have also registered a growth in the number of general 
diseases, especially among children and pregnant women.''  

Bobyleva said four children had died of thyroid cancer, with the 
total number of cases of this disease reaching 1,200 among those 
who were under 18 in 1986 when Chernobyl's fourth reactor 
exploded.  

The reactor exploded in the early hours of April 26, 1986, spreading 
a poisonous radioactive cloud over much of Ukraine, Russia, 
Belarus and parts of Western Europe, killing 31 people and 
affecting thousands more.  

Bobyleva said the number of leukemia cases registered among 
employees who battled the explosion was twice as high as the 
national average.  

Health ministry officials say that food contaminated with radiation 
brought from the vast high-radioactivity zone surrounding the 
station and sold in large towns was another danger to public 
health.  

Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Kholosha said the 
many Ukrainian farmers selling their uncertified products at chaotic 
markets presented a serious problem.  

``I always say that babushkas (old women) selling mushrooms at 
village roads are the most dangerous phenomenon,'' Kholosha said. 
``It is much more dangerous than radiation from Chernobyl, where 
everything is controlled by professionals.''  

Kholosha said cash-short Ukraine had spent about $11 billion to 
battle the consequences of the accident.

Ukraine has promised Western states it will close Chernobyl's last 
remaining reactor by 2000 in exchange for financial assistance for 
finishing the construction of two new reactors in Western Ukraine. 
It says it may delay the shutdown if funds are  
not forthcoming.

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

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