Schools/Education

 Medical Impact

"We are we are now seeing genetic changes, especially among those who were less than six years of age when the accident happened. These people are now starting to have families, so we are witnessing the effects of the disaster move to the next generation.’ The silent killer, radiation, is threatening the gene pool and the future of the people”.
(Dr. Vladislav Ostapenko head of Belarus’ Radiation Medicine Institute)

Belarussian doctors identify the following effects from the Chernobyl disaster on the health of their people:

• 100% increase in the incidence of cancer and leukemia
• 250% increase in congenital birth deformities
• 1,000% increase in suicide in the contaminated zones
• 2,400% increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer
• “Chernobyl AIDS” is the term doctors are using to describe illnesses associated with the damage done to the immune system by the effects of the radioactive material “strontium”. It is also a contributory factor to the increase in the number of cancer cases as a result of damage to the body’s immune system.

The United Nations Agency “UNICEF” has assessed the impact of Chernobyl on the health of children in Belarus, and found increases in:

• Congenital heart and circulatory diseases – 25% increase
• Disorders of the digestive organs – 28% increase
• Malignant tumours – 38% increase
• Disorders of the genito-urinary system – 39% increase
• Disorders of the nervous system and sensory organs – 43% increase
• Blood circulatory illnesses – 43% increase
• Disorders of the bone, muscle and connective tissue system – 62% increase
  (From the 1995 UN Report on Chernobyl)

 

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The extraordinary increase in the number of these illnesses can be associated with the exposure of the population to the aggressive radioactive particles released by the Chernobyl explosion. The biggest health threat is caused by the incorporation in the human body of caesium, which modifies the heart and kidneys and enhances the chance of innate diseases by influencing the hormonal relationship in the mother-foetus-placenta system. A change in the hormonal status of the mother-foetus system leads to increase of pregnancy length, complications with birth & after birth development of the child.

Countless lives in the Chernobyl affected areas have been destroyed by ill health. What we are witnessing is the slow erosion of a nation’s health. Scientific research shows that the people are faced with soaring levels of infertility and genetic changes, affecting the very future of their race.

Their mortality rates already outstrip their birth rates. According to the UN, seven million people are affected, half of whom are children. In Belarus alone, 90 per cent of children are deemed to be victims of Chernobyl. A general increase in morbidity from non-oncology conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory conditions now emerging, are adding to the general decline in health of the people living in the affected countries. It is difficult to get a true assessment of the impact of the tragedy on the health in the three affected countries; data from experts and health professionals from the region are not always believed by their counterparts in the West. This is partly because many regions in Chernobyl find it difficult to attract doctors to work in contaminated areas because of their knowledge of the possible dangers, isolation and lack of proper facilities.

Many patients in remote parts of the zones are unable to receive medical treatment because they are too poor to travel to the nearest hospital, which is often up to 100 kilometres away. The problem is compounded by a secret decree which was passed in 1988 in Moscow, banning doctors from naming radiation as the cause of illness or death. Bearing in mind this culture of control over information, CCPI salute the courage of those medical and scientific personnel who have risked revealing the truth. It has not been in the interests of some that the true health toll be known. In Belarus the computer files holding the health data on all accident victims simply disappeared.

 Because of severe damage to the immune system, there is deep concern for the body’s inability to fight cancer cells.