Madam, - We would like to respond to a report on the effects of Chernobyl in your edition of April 26th by bringing to people's attention the best scientific evidence on the subject.
Probably the most authoritative source of information on the health effects of the Chernobyl accident is the 2000 Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) which was presented to the UN General Assembly on June 6th, 2000.
The accompanying press release stated: "There have been about 1,800 cases of thyroid cancer in children who were exposed at the time of the accident, and if the current trend continues there may be more cases during the next decades. Apart from this increase, there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 14 years after the accident. There is no scientific evidence of increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality or in non-malignant disorders that could be related to radiation exposure."
In addition it should be noted that the recovery workers, of whom there were about 380,000, received very much larger exposures than the local population. Also the thyroid cancers are very treatable so that there have only been a handful of deaths among the 1,800 cases.
It is also worth noting that, despite common perception, UNSCEAR does not report any increase in birth defects that could be attributed to radiation. It is of interest to note that such cases were also not observed among the Japanese atomic bomb survivors who are still being extensively studied by UNSCEAR.
Chernobyl was without a doubt a very serious accident. It happened at a time of unprecedented change in the former Soviet Union and it is safe to say that a number of adverse health effects were caused by factors inherent to Chernobyl, including worsening socio-economic conditions, diminished food supply, vitamin deficiency, relocation, and psychological stress. These are, however, not caused by the direct effects of radiation. Your article only exacerbates radiation phobia within the population. - Yours, etc.,
PHILIP W. WALTON,
Professor of Applied Physics,
WIL J.M. VAN DER PUTTEN,
Professor of Medical Physics,
National University of Ireland,
Galway.