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Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

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Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#11

Post by qiqing »

I can see this being a scene in a film (from the article):

'I arrived the next morning to be greeted by two men, with cheap suits and attaché cases, looking like the East German Stasi. They were government officials. They asked, “So what do you want to do here?” I said openly, “I want to take photos here because I’m looking for victims from Chernobyl.” Their answer, “None of these kids here are in any way connected with Chernobyl. You know that malformations can happen anywhere, none of this is connected to Chernobyl.”

Even though it was still very early in the morning, I had a great thought — I had obviously already had enough coffee — and I responded, “Okay, if you give it to me in writing that not a single kid here is in any way connected to Chernobyl, I will pack up my bags and my cameras, and I’ll leave.” And then I said, “But of course, we will need to report in National Geographic that because none of the kids’ diseases are related to Chernobyl, you’re no longer interested in receiving funds from Chernobyl charities.”

P: Wow. Power move.

G: You should have seen how fast they changed their minds. “Oh, there may be this child, and may be this one, and, well, the parents of this kid lived in Chernobyl.” All of sudden the whole situation turned. So in that kind of encounter you learn that you cannot trust officials today any more than you could in the past. It’s gotten better in Ukraine, but Belarus was pretty bad.'

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#12

Post by salgernon »

rasz_pl wrote: post #10
lampe3 wrote: post #4

here i'am ! Because of chernobyl I was born 2 months to early. I had luck on the same day there where children born with 3 hands or other deformation.

Children with deformations are born every day.

I feel like you're looping the conversation, since that sentiment was expressed and dismissed in the article.

So, should financial support be withdrawn for Chernobyl cleanup / support?

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#13

Post by gus_massa »

lampe3 wrote: post #4

here i'am ! Because of chernobyl I was born 2 months to early. I had luck on the same day there where children born with 3 hands or other deformation.

Do you have a link to an article about the children with three hands? It's an unusual deformation in newborns, but I think it's not related to radiation.

Radiation is bad and is especially bad for small children and unborn children, but it can produce only certain types of deformations. The number of hands in a baby is fixed after the 4th week after fertilization. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_development )

I also found this article: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2021142

> Most cases of multiple limbs result from conjoined twins forming in development. One child does not survive and becomes essentially absorbed into the other, said Dr. Russell Jennings at the Children's Hospital in Boston.

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#14

Post by lostlogin »

rasz_pl wrote: post #9

Where are they? In the scaremongering imagination of pop writers and lobbying scientists. Last time I checked there was a <3% leukaemia bump after 'the worst nuclear disaster in the world'.

You read the account here? Hiding problems and pretending all is well is very much the strategy according to the article. Medical staff and government officials appear to be trying to hide the victims. It wasn't some sort of unverifiable anti-nuclear rant. Edit: where is 3% coming from? My quick look is giving much higher rates. http://m.ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/1/125.long

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#15

Post by option »

rasz_pl wrote: post #9

Where are they? In the scaremongering imagination of pop writers and lobbying scientists. Last time I checked there was a <3% leukaemia bump after 'the worst nuclear disaster in the world'.

I actually grew up (ages 4 - 17) near (<36miles) Chernobyl and my family still works on CHNPP. I now work at on of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley. I would even question a <3% leukaemia bump for people who were not involved in cleanup efforts directly.

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#16

Post by dvt »

I'm also Chernobyl kid! :)

I was born in Romania in May of 1986 about 700km from the plant[1]. My mom tells me stories about how all the pregnant women in the area were encouraged to eat pre-packaged food (no fresh veggies, for example), and drink powdered milk.

Luckily, I was almost completely developed by the time of the disaster (born May 8, meltdown happened April 26), but I am very cognizant about some health problems that people affected by Chernobyl might have, notably thyroid cancer[2].

[1] https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Chernobyl,+Kyivs'ka+oblast,+...

[2] https://www.mskcc.org/blog/study-reveals-genetic-causes-thyr...

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#17

Post by weinzierl »

Jun8 wrote: post #7

Photos of Chernobyl always remind me of Stalker ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film) ), yet the philosophical introspective guide is light years away from the garish tourist guide pictured here with radioactive lenses.

Me too. On the other hand, apart from a few shots of ruins or the creek full of trash, Stalker is set mostly in the meadows. I was always amazed how Tarkovsky managed to fill 163 minutes when almost all he had was meadows.

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#18

Post by vasilipupkin »

option wrote: post #15
rasz_pl wrote: post #9

Where are they? In the scaremongering imagination of pop writers and lobbying scientists. Last time I checked there was a <3% leukaemia bump after 'the worst nuclear disaster in the world'.

I actually grew up (ages 4 - 17) near (<36miles) Chernobyl and my family still works on CHNPP. I now work at on of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley. I would even question a <3% leukaemia bump for people who were not involved in cleanup efforts directly.

From the link:

Rates were 1.2 times higher after the accident compared to the pre-accident period among the population living in territories with a level of radioactive pollution exceeding 555 kBq per m2

Re: Where Are Chernobyl’s Children?

#19

Post by hga »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #18
option wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually grew up (ages 4 - 17) near (<36miles) Chernobyl and my family still works on CHNPP. I now work at on of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley. I would even question a <3% leukaemia bump for people who were not involved in cleanup efforts directly.

From the link: Rates were 1.2 times higher after the accident compared to the pre-accident period among the population living in territories with a level of radioactive pollution exceeding 555 kBq per m2

We're talking about absolute numbers so small that we can't have much confidence in the cause (http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/1/125.full):

Between 1986 and 1996 a total of 21 cases of leukaemia were observed in Zhitomir occurring among children born during 1986. A total of eight cases were observed in the largely uncontaminated Poltava region.

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