Children of Chernobyl

 The fallout of Chernobyl was 400 times greater than the Hiroshima bombing- despite the fact that the uranium escaped is only 3% of the fuel.

1 million people are directly effected, including women and children...

Since the accident, congenital heart defects and cancer in the region around the Chernobyl power plant have increased by 250%.

The radiation has caused massive tumors and limbs which don't function.

Infant mortality rates in Belarus is 300% higher than the rest of Europe.

7000 children were on a waiting list for cardiac surgery who will die without the surgery. Thanks to those at http://chernobyl.typepad.com/chernobyl_childrens_proje/ the list has been shortened to 2400.

Volunteers from America come to perform heart operations on some of the most critical cases.

'Chernobyl Heart' is the term applied to these heart conditions.

Today, it is illegal to live in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as unsafe levels of radiation remain in the forms of Cesium-137, Strontium-90 and Plutonium-239.

Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,110 years.

http://www.chernobylheart.org.uk/
"The cardiorheumatology department at Gomel Children’s Hospital - the only dedicated children’s hospital in the entire Gomel region of south-eastern Belarus - diagnoses and treats kids afflicted by all manner of hereditary and congenital heart conditions, ranging from high blood pressure to holes in the heart. However, they can only diagnose and treat the weenies, not operate, so if any of the little mites need operations, they have to travel over 200 miles to Minsk, and then all the way back to Gomel for ongoing post-operative care."


Return to Chernobyl

Chernobyl released 90x the amount of radiaton from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined.
Fallout rained down on several million people.

Belarus 2003 -Vesnova.
There are many children suffering with Chernobyl Heart. Many parents are too poor to look after their children and leave them at Vesnova for care.





http://ccoc.net/index.php/the-chernobyl-disaster/effects-on-children-today

"Today, the threat remains. Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope that was released during the accident, has a half-life of 30 years and will actively trigger radioactivity in the region for decades to come. Fractures in the sarcophagus built around the reactor to confine the radioactivity have allowed the toxins to escape. Radiation lurks in the water, the soil and the food: fruits, vegetables, milk and meat in the region are contaminated and will remain hazardous for generations."

"Radiation attacks developing cells and damages tissue, organs and bones. It weakens immune systems, leaving children vulnerable to an onslaught of infections and disease. Thyroid cancer, heart disease, genetic defects and weak immune systems define childhood for the people living in the contaminated regions. The rate of pediatric cancer in Belarus is 200 times the world norm. These children were born many years — some even decades — after the explosion."