International Team Examines Health in Zones Contaminated by Chernobyl

Glasnost notwithstanding, the Soviet Union has faced a credibility gap regarding its public pronouncements about the health effects from the explosion of a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl atomic power station in 1986. While rumors have abounded in the affected republics of excess cancers or thyroid abnormalities, the central government has not found any clear evidence for maladies attributable to the accident. (See PHYSICS TODAY, July 1990, page 62.) In October 1989, the Soviets asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to review government assessments of the radiological and health situation in the areas affected by the accident and to evaluate measures to protect the population. The resulting report, released at the end of May, largely validates the Soviet assessments to date. The study team did not find any significant health abnormalities that might be associated with radiological exposures except for high levels of stress and anxiety caused by concern over the radiation. Because of the limited scope of the study and the long latency period of cancers, the team could not determine whether there are any excess cancers in the populations examined. The report contains some recommendations for improvements in the ongoing assessments.