Chernobyl Accident: the Crisis of the International Radiation Community

Mikhail V. Malko

Institute of Physical and Chemical Radiation Problems of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus

Minsk, Sosny, 220109, Republic of Belarus; fax: +375 (0172) 467317

Table 1 Number of thyroid cancer of children and adults in Belarus [10].

The total number of children's thyroid cancers established in Belarus in 1986-1995, which is the first 10 years after the Chernobyl accident, reached 424 cases [11]. It exceeded 10 times the total number of children's thyroid cancers predicted by authors [9] for the 35-year period after the accident. As can be seen from the comparison of predicted and real data, the prognoses of the Soviet specialists [1,9] had underestimated to a great extent the children's thyroid cancer resulting from the Chernobyl accident. The same may be concluded in regard of the hereditary malformations in the contaminated areas of the former USSR. Predictions [1,9] excluded practically even the possibility of such effects being established. The incorrectness of this conclusion was shown by Prof. G.Lazjuk and his colleagues [6,7].