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Authorities Persecute Scientists Revealing Unwelcome Truth About Chernobyl (Chornobyl)

"'Investigations of the Chernobyl (Chornobyl) consequences impact on the health of population are not welcomed in Belarus' -- concludes Natalie Nougaired, correspondent of the French weekly Le Monde in her article on the difficulties faced by Belarusian scientists who study consequences of the Chernobyl disaster for the population."

"The author of the article believes that the Belarusian regime constantly persecutes scientists who study Chernobyl consequences: 'Those few scientists who dare to publicly speak about the danger, are strongly oppressed by the authorities'."

"Basing on the scientific data, Le Monde says that 500 children in Belarus still live in radioactively contaminated areas."

"Natalie Nougaired illustrates her opinion about persecution of Belarusian scientists by the facts from life of a well-known Homel (Gomel) scientist Yury Bandazheusky, who was recently charged with taking a bribe. Amnesty International considers Yury Bandazheusky a potential prisoner of conscience. In 1999 professor Bandazheusky has already spent 5 months in jail."

"According to Le Monde, Yury Bandazheusky has received an invitation from a French organization Doctors Against Nuclear War to come to France on June 30 [2000] to receive a special prize, but Belarusian authorities prohibited him from leaving Belarus."

"The troubles of Yury Bandazheusky started when he began to criticize state-run funds providing assistance to victims of the Chernobyl disaster and to publish the results of his investigations of negative impacts of Cezium-137 on the organism of children. Professor Bandazheusky persuasively demonstrated the dependency between concentration of Cezium-137 in children’s organism and various pathologies, for instance heart pathologies, and noted significant growth in thyroid gland disease rate after the Chernobyl accident."

"The newspaper illustrates its conclusions by the example of another Belarusian scientist -- Vasil Nestsyarenka, the head of an independent scientific research institute Belrad in Minsk. Vasil Nestsyarenka has reportedly already been threatened with withdrawing a license to conduct measurements of Cesium-137 content in the organism of children."

"'Meanwhile, Belarusian authorities, nostalgic about the Soviet times, promote returning people to contaminated areas and fall silent about the real scale of the problem in order to decrease budgetary expenditures' -- writes Le Monde in its Monday issue. "

Source: Radio Racyja, by Yuras Bushlyakou, July 4, 2000

Article: Chernobyl (Chornobyl) Effects to Last up to 50 Years

"The Belarus provinces that were affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, will remain dangerous for mushroom-picking and fishing for at least 50 years to come, the British newspaper The Times writes."

"In Great Britain, there are nearly 400 farmers that also were affected by the Chernobyl consequences. Those farmers are banned from selling their sheep for 10-15 years. The hopes that the radiation contamination would come off the grass into the soil, have turned out to be a mistake. The Cesium level in the grass continues to remain high, and is decreasing slower than expected."

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), Daily News Bulletin, 15 May 2000

Article: Hrodna [Grodno] Region Keeps Suffering from Aftereffects of Chernobyl

"Only 18 out of 345 power engineers examined by doctors in the districts of Novogrudok, Dyatlovo, and Ivye were in good health. The most common disoders were chronic hepatitis and the abnormal functioning of liver. Novogrudok, Dyatlovo, and Ivye were affected by Chernobyl worst than any other districts of the Grodno region."

"In all, about 28,000 people in 150 towns and villages are still exposed to abnormal levels of radiation in the Grodno region. The region also accommodates 16,000 evacuees from polluted areas of the Gomel region and 6,300 participants in the Chernobyl cleanup."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 111; Saturday, November 27, 1999; 4:10 p.m.

Article: Opposition Stages Charnobylski Shlyakh-99

"An estimated 7,000 demonstrators marched in procession through the streets of Minsk on April 25 [1999] to mark the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The traditional Charnobylski Shlyakh-99 (Path of Chernobyl '99) demonstration, organized by Belarus' main opposition parties, was expected to end in a rally in front of the Palace of Sports, but it was cut short because of the lack of sound amplifying equipment. Those present observed a minute silence in the memory of Chernobyl victims, [and in memory of] Gennady Karpenko, the late deputy chairman of the Belarusian parliament disbanded after the controversial 1996 referendum, and Arnold Pechersky, leader of the Sadruzhnasts trade union of small business owners killed recently in a traffic accident."

"Yury Khodyko, one of the organizers, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), told BelaPAN that the police had refused to give back the sound amplifiers and loudspeakers that it had confiscated after an opposition demonstration held earlier this spring. 'We intended to discuss a number of issues: the presidential election campaign, the fate of people thrown behind bars for political reasons, the threat of the return of nuclear weapons to Belarus, and Yugoslavia's intention to join the Belarusian-Russian Union. We planned about 10-12 speeches. Of course, we could have used mouthpieces, but they are not good enough for a large crowd of people and the square would become empty before our eyes. We did not want some media to use this to understate the number of participants in their reports,' Mr. Khodyko said."

"According to the BPF headquarters, police detained 8 BPF activists before the demonstration near the Akademiya Nauk metro station. They were brought to a police station and kept there for more than 3 hours. Police officers forced one of them to take off the military uniform he was wearing and gave other clothes instead saying that a special permission was needed to wear the uniform."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 101, Sunday, April 25, 1999; 6:00 p.m.

Article: Red Cross Concerned That Technical Aspects of the Chernobyl Catastrophe May Overshadow Humanitarian Needs of the Population Affected

"The Minsk Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has voiced its concern that technical aspects of the Chernobyl catastrophe such as repairs of sarcophagus of the ruined reactor or shutting down of the plant may overshadow the continuing long-term humanitarian needs of the population affected. Concerted efforts by all concerned are required to ensure the humanitarian dimension remains on the international agenda, says a statement issued by the Minsk Delegation. This was also emphasized by the participants in the International Chernobyl Coordination Committee's meeting held on 15 March in Moscow."

"The International Federation together with Red Cross Societies of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia has been conducting for 9 years the Chernobyl Humanitarian Assistance and Rehabilitation Program (CHAPR) in affected regions of the three countries. Hundreds of thousands of people have passed medical examinations in the Red Cross Mobile Diagnostic Laboratories (RC MDLs). In 199 it is planned to increase the number of check-ups to 90,000 people, mainly for dwellers of remote villages. This year MDLs have already detected 9 cases of thyroid gland cancer including 5 in Belarus. Since 1994, children in contaminated areas have been annually provided with milk powder multivitamins. In some cases medical supplies (L-thyroxine, a life-time needed medicament, necessary to overcome consequences of thyroid gland cancer surgery and to treat other thyroid pathologies) were also provided. A Psycho-Social Support Program is operating in Belarus and Ukraine."

"The data collected by the RC MDLs obviously confirms a rather poor health state of the population in the affected areas. There is a high incidence of the thyroid gland pathologies and cancer, especially in children and persons who were children at the time of the disaster. Experts from research and scientific centers in the three countries involved in CHARP make a bleak forecast about the peak rate of this illness to be expected in 2005-2010. The forecast along with deteriorating living conditions and a reduction in health and social welfare services point out to a clear and compelling need for the Chernobyl Program to be continued."

Source: BelaPAN, No. 100, Saturday, April 24, 1999, 4:00 p.m.

Brief Excerpts from News Stories

• OMRI Daily Digest, No. 184, Part II, 23 September 1996

  Radiation Increases Around Chernobyl. The Ukrainian Ministry for Environmental protection has admitted that there have been two detected increases in radioactivity around Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor, international agencies reported on 20 September. At the same time, it stressed that there has been no effect on the environment. The radiation releases occurred on 12 and 16 September. An examination of the exterior of the sarcophagus did not reveal what caused the radiation increase; it is not possible to examine the inside. Similar unexplained increases in radiation occurred in June 1990 and January 1996. -- Ustina Markus

• The OMRI Daily Digest Mailing List. OMRI Daily Digest   access information at this web site.
  "This material is reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic. For more information about OMRI, please write to info@omri.cz"
• The concrete and steel sarcophagus encasing the destroyed reactor has developed many cracks and is expected to last only half as long as originally predicted (now, about 10 to 15 years), and that radioactive material is currently leaking from a growing number of these cracks and holes.
• Chornobyl is currently operating with two reactors, both of which have been plagued by minor accidents, although reporting of them has been irregular. For example, a "serious incident" occurred in November, 1995, but was not accurately reported until March, 1996.
• Seasonal fires in the exclusion zone cause radioactive material to be released in the environment; dry years, such as 1996, are especially bad.
• Food contaminated by radiation is sold in non-contaminated areas, thus increasing the range of the contamination. Food inspection is highly suspect. There are also rumors that foods, such as milk from a highly contaminated area, is diluted with milk from other areas, and is then sold to unaware consumers.
• Two nuclear power plants in Lithuania near the northwestern border of Belarus are also of concern in the area of safety.

These recent and often on-going events indicate that the lessons of 1986 were not learned all that well.