7. Mortality after the Chernobyl Catastrophe

Abstract

A detailed study reveals that 3.8-4.0% of all deaths in the contaminated territories of Ukraine and Russia from 1990 to 2004 were caused by the Chernobyl catastrophe. The lack of evidence of increased mortality in other affected countries is not proof of the absence of effects from the radioactive fallout. Since 1990, mortality among liquidators has exceeded the mortality rate in corresponding population groups. From 112,000 to 125,000 liquidators died before 2005--that is, some 15% of the 830,000 members of the Chernobyl cleanup teams. The calculations suggest that the Chernobyl catastrophe has already killed several hundred thousand human beings in a population of several hundred million that was unfortunate enough to live in territories affected by the fallout. The number of Chernobyl victims will continue to grow over many future generations.

The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Survivor Studies: Discrepancies Between Results and General Perception

“…The credibility of authorities over nuclear matters has become very low, and sensational news stories abound, in which irradiation levels are often expressed in microsieverts, which makes for impressive figures. Conspiracy theories argue for a massive cover-up of catastrophic health information and sometimes make their way into allegedly scientific papers (Sawada 2007;Yablokov 2009). Furthermore, there is indeed a gray area in the history of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings: during the first 2 years (1945)(1946)(1947), before the establishment of the ABCC (later RERF), medical studies were performed by the US army and their results were not disclosed.…”

Genetic consequences of Chornobyl disaster: 35 years of study

“…ліквідаторів, з яких до 2005 р. померло 112-125 тис. осіб [8]. Скорочення забрудненої території внаслідок міграційних процесів 137 Cs менш значуще порівняно з радіоактивним розпадом.…”

Overestimating Chernobyl’s Consequences: Motives and Tools

“…Some publications have contributed to the misconception. I noted recently3 that in some articles456 dedicated to the Chernobyl accident, references to nonprofessional publications (eg, newspapers, Web sites of unclear affiliations often with nonworking URLs, commercial editions) were used widely to support scientific views and conclusions, thus overestimating the medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Yablokov and Nesterenko acknowledged that “sometimes references in the text do not correspond with those used in the list of references.”7 They provided a quotation from the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus Web site (, accessed on April 6, 2011): “A certain fraction of mushrooms, berries, wild flesh, and fish consumed by inhabitants was highly contaminated, ie, during the last three years about 30% of mushrooms, 15% of berries, and 40% of wild flesh.” This was a misquotation.…”