By Brian Carnell

Monday, January 7, 2002

The Observer (UK) reports that a new Unicef report on the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is not likely to sit well with Western environmentalists. The report concludes that the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people in combination with benefits given to people who lived in the area have done more harm than the radiation from the nuclear plant itself.

The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, killing 41 emergency workers. According to Unicef, the major health problem associated with the radiation from the disaster has been large increases in childhood thyroid cancer -- about 1,800 cases of the normally rare disease have been diagnosed since 1986.

But aside from that, the Unicef report argues that the biggest damages were done by the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people near the site as well as benefits which have instilled a sense of dependency on people living in the Ukraine and Belarus.

Contrary to widely repeated claims in the West, the Unicef report maintains "there remains no internationally accredited evidence of an excess of leukemia." There is also no evidence of any increase in other types of cancer, nor is there any evidence of an increase in birth defects and deformities.

In fact, the report argues that the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people combined with generous welfare benefits for those near the disaster "destroyed communities, broke up families, and led to unemployment, depression, and stress-related illnesses ... The first reaction was to move people out. Only later did we think that perhaps some of them shouldn't have been moved. It has become clear that the direct influence of radiation on health is actually much less than the indirect consequences on health of relocating hundreds of thousands of people."

Source:

'Myth' of Chernobyl suffering exposed. Anthony Browne, The Observer, January 6, 2002.

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