From JOHN FREMLIN
According to Jeremy Webb, an international study of the Chernobyl disaster
found that none of the health disorders suffered by people living in areas
contaminated by the disaster could be attributed directly to radiation;
and this study caused an uproar at a meeting of politicians and scientists
in Vienna (This Week, 1 June).
Like most uproars, this must have been caused by ignorant people.
The only reliably recorded disorders resulting from exposure to radiation
are cancers, and these may take a decade to show themselves. The only way
in which ‘disease after disease’ could have grown worse since the disaster
could have been the effect of a coincidental loss of a large number of local
hospitals – which has not been reported. A great deal of fear and depression
brought about by ill-informed publicity about the effects of radiation could
also be at the base of many illnesses reported.
I wonder how many people know that the total of extra cancer deaths
among the irradiated populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over the ensuing
40 years, was not much more than 200; and these were mainly among those
exposed to over 50 rems. None of the deaths from causes other than cancer
were greater among the irradiated population than among those with no extra
radiation dose.
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John Fremlin Birmingham
