| April 26 marks the 30th anniversary
of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. An explosion and fire spread huge amounts
of cancer-causing radiation over a vast area - a disaster exceeded only
by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
Nuclear expert Helen Caldicott called it “by orders of magnitude
many times worse than Chernobyl.” The effects of both catastrophes
are being felt by countless millions.
Caldicott called denial about Chernobyl’s widespread deadly effects
“one of the most monstrous cover-ups in the history of medicine.”
Everyone should know the truth, she stressed.
A 2009 New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) study said Chernobyl
killed around one million people and counting. Seven years later
it’s likely many more.
The official IAEA figure claiming around 4,000 deaths was fabricated
to downplay the disaster. NYAS explained its analysis was based on
“a collection of papers translated from the Russian with some
revised and updated contributions.”
“Written by leading authorities from Eastern Europe, the volume
outlines the history of the health and environmental consequences of
the Chernobyl disaster.”
"According to the authors, official discussions from the (IAEA) and
associated (UN) agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl reports) have largely
downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern
European scientific literature and consequently have erred by not
including these assessments."
Distinguished nuclear expert Christopher Busby earlier called
downplaying the devastating effects of Chernobyl and Fukushima
“breathtaking ignorance of the scientific literature.”
Many research groups studied the health effects caused by the
Chernobyl disaster. Evidence is “massive and demonstrable,” Busby
explained. Scientific peer reviewed literature is definitive.
From 1986 to 2004, “more than a million people have died…as a direct
result of Chernobyl,” said Busby.
A study he conducted showed widespread increases in infant leukemia
in six countries - fetuses in the womb at the time of contamination
affected. “There (was) no other explanation than Chernobyl,” Busby
explained.
Helen Caldicott warned against eating European food, saying “(f)orty
per cent of (the continent) is still radioactive.”
Countless thousands developed thyroid cancer from Chernobyl, she
explained. Inhaling one millionth of a gram of deadly plutonium
causes cancer.
Joseph Conrad once said “(a)fter all the shouting is over, the grim
silence of facts remain.” Nuclear apologists can’t hide its danger.
Einstein said splitting the atom “changed everything, save man’s
mode of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled
catastrophe.”
Arrogance and hubris may end life on earth.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in
Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |
