27 Nov
1999
27 Nov
'99
3:46 p.m.
At 04:44 PM 11/27/99 +0000, Scott G. Akmentins-Taylor wrote:
It is sad you compare this Soviet-era technology to
that of the U.S. or
even other modern installations. The number of casualties in Ukraine
alone are in the thousands for the first months after the accident there.
Well over 150,000 people have now died as a result. This from a single
incident. The numbers are staggering. There are still tens of thousands
of people suffering and dying from thyroid cancer.
I would like to know the source of your numbers. According to a very complete
report in the November 1996 issue of IEEE Spectrum, which relied heavily
in the data issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World
Health Organization, and the European Community (which have all been
sponsoring periodic conferences just for the purpose of getting hard
numbers on this subject), you are off by almost two orders of magnitude
when you say "150,000 people". To quote from the report:
"The incidence of thyroid cancer has risen far more than expected among
infants and even children still in the womb who were in the
most contaminated zones right after the accident. "
"There is as yet no significant rise in leukemia among the inhabitants of
those same zones or among the emergency workers and
evacuees hit by the highest initial doses of radiation. "
"Perhaps most widespread are psychosomatic illnesses--even in not-too-
contaminated areas, there has been a large upswing in
stress-related physical ailments, notably stomach and autoimmune
disorders. In fact, morbidity and mortality due to such disorders
may well in the end exceed sicknesses and deaths caused by radiation. "