Re: Chernobyl deaths?

["Dr. Peter Hill" <p.hill@fz-juelich.de>]

At 23:46 29.04.99 , Michael Baker wrote:
>.............. The large
>numbers that you frequently see quoted in the press and other sources are
>almost always due to Ukrainian politicians, or can be traced back to them.
>For example, a recent article in the LA Times had a number around 250,000
>deaths.  I contacted the reporter and he did admit that the source was a
>previous article from a year ago that was quoting a Ukrainian minister.  
>
>Mikr
>

Several years ago there was a claim that several thosand ( 4000 ?)
liquidators had already died, implying but not said 'from radiation'. For
those taking a closer look to this claim it turned out that the given
number exactly corresponded to the normal death rate of  a group of man of
the size and age composition of the group of liquidators. I don't need to
mention that headlines refered to them as Chernobyl deaths.