Chernobyl echoes again. This time in Great Britain

The consequences of the 1986 catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Ukraine) are still the focus of numerous investigations. These are investigations mostly held, not in Russia or Ukraine, but in Western Europe.

A group of British scientists headed by John Urquhart has come to a conclusion that the radioactive cloud affected the state of people’s health in many European countries, Great Britain in particular. The scientists analyzed infant mortality and sickness rates in England and Wales. The New Scientist magazine reports that the infant mortality rate increased by 200 children within 36 months since the passing of the radioactive cloud. At the same time, thenumber of registered defects, including Down Syndrome, increased by 600 children within the same period.

Professor Urquhart’s group analyzed the records of infant mortality and birth defects over the period of 1983–1992 and concluded that all anomalies were concentrated in the regions and time periods connected with the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl. The results of the investigation reveal that the Chernobyl catastrophe has brought grave consequences even to such remote countries like Great Britain, although it is situated far from the Ukraine. It is not ruled out that more investigations of the negative consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe are to be held soon. Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/27/43340.html