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Health Effects: Chernobyl Research Becomes International Growth Industry

Ten years after the accident at Chernobyl, the social and psychological effects of the mass evacuations and clean-ups are still being felt in the contaminated regions of Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia. Some 270,000 people continue to live in areas with levels of residual radioactivity high enough to require expensive and disruptive measures to monitor and control foodstuffs. In addition, efforts are being make to monitor an estimated 800,000 people from all over the former Soviet Union, the `liquidators` involved in the cleanup after they received substantial radiation doses. One of the most visible legacies of the accident is a profusion of studies of its impact on the health of local populations. This growth industry has been hampered by the initial secrecy that surrounded the event and the deep suspicions among the local population of Soviet researchers who first came to study them. This article describes the problems and the present state of research and project direction and funding.