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Chernobyl's Tax on Life

Two decades ago, one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters captured headlines around the world. But Chernobyl, now a global household word, is more than just a page in history for the children who were born or grew up in its wake.

Thyroid cancer rates for children in some parts of the region have been measured at 80 times higher than normal. In some affected areas, childhood leukemia rose by 50 percent. And numerous other ailments, from asthma to brain tumors, continue to plague the area’s youth. Researchers say it’s hard to pinpoint which illnesses are caused by exposure from the reactors and which would have occurred anyway; poor health care and the confusion that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union may also be contributing factors.

Still, experts place the death toll from Chernobyl at a minimum of 4,000 people. Estimates range as high as 200,000, and we may never know for certain how many of the 17 million people exposed to radiation in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine suffered as a result. Some scientists say those who weren’t even born at the time still suffer the consequences, from exposure to irradiated soil, food, rivers, fish and mushrooms that grow in the region.

One thing scientists do agree upon: More research is needed.

For more information on the health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, click here.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org