Cancer rates increase near Chernobyl: Breast cancer rates up 70%

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Cancer rates increase near Chornobyl; so does rescue of Jewish children

JERUSALEM (AP) - After the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, Mikhail Gechtin got hold of a Geiger counter and learned the terrible truth that Soviet authorities were hiding from people living around the crippled reactor - the ground remained hot with radiation.

Gechtin had to make a heartbreaking choice - either send his children into safe exile or keep them at home at a terrible health risk. The computer engineer sent his eight-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to Israel where they were taken in by Chabad, a New York-based group that tries to return Jews to their faith.

At a news conference Tuesday marking the arrival of the 2,000th child in Israel, Chabad said it had underestimated its projections of the number of children needing rescue - the area is as radioactive as it was after the meltdown.

The incidence of cancer is rising, said Yogesh Choudri, an Indian doctor conducting research around Chornobyl.

``The results raise a red flag about the health dangers to those living in contaminated areas,'' he said at the news conference.

As an example, Choudri said his studies show a 70 per cent rise in breast cancer since the disaster - an increase that he said shows no signs of abating.

Chabad spokesman Jay Litvin said that when the project was launched, officials predicted the numbers of people brought to Israel would taper by now on the assumption that radiation levels would drop.

With evidence of radiation levels remaining the same, the project shows no sign of shutting down, he said. Chabad also assists UN programs that diagnose and treat those children who stay in the area. UN figures say that seven million people, including three million children, are at risk.

Some parents sent their children to Chabad only for a few years; many for longer.

Gechtin told reporters that it had been devastating to send his children away.

``They were so small,'' said Gechtin, now reunited with Ira and Yevgeni. ``We didn't really know where they were being taken or who would look after them.''

The Gechtins were living in Gomel, Belarus, 140 kilometres from Chornobyl, which is across the border in the Ukraine. At first the Soviet government did not tell the people about the explosion, Gechtin said, and then it did not say how serious the situation really was.

But after checking radiation levels, he said, ``I realized I had to get the children out of there.''

David Volpov was only 10 when he left his parents behind in Dnieperpetrovsk, in the Ukraine. ``I missed my mom and dad,'' he said. ``The Chabad people made us really welcome, but I cried a lot, especially at the beginning.''

David, who is now 17, was wearing a skullcap and white fringes under his shirt. The pious environment at Chabad influenced the children, who came from secular families, and they have adopted the clothing and customs of the religious.

Gechtin said he did not resent the religious education.

``I felt that I had come out of hell,'' he said. ``I'm grateful to everyone who looked after them.''

http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/updates/intlnews/200009200_ISRAEL-CHORN.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), September 20, 2000

Answers

Fourteen years after the fact! Remarkable!

-- Wayward (wayward@webtv.net), September 20, 2000.

We're talking half-life of some really slowly decaying stuff. In some cases measured in EONS! Yes, the really nasty ones, stronium and radioactive Iodine are short lived in terms weeks, lots of stuff was spewed out. A half life means how long it takes to become HALF as big, so you need 5 half lifes to become minscule, but even a minscule amount is still toxic - even a single atom can be dangerous.

That area will remain hot for a very long time.

Do you have your glow-kit ready for use? Potassium Iodate or Iodide http://www.compfxnet. com/opshop/porkert.htm , I'm just a satisfied customer.

A Child's thyroid is very suseptable.

Visit here to learn more than you want to know. http://oism.org/nwss/index.htm

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), September 21, 2000.


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