United Nations recalls disaster with conference, concert, exhibit (05/05/96)

United Nations recalls disaster with conference, concert, exhibit

by Roman Woronowycz

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations commemorated 10 years since the Chornobyl disaster with a two-day conference, held April 25-26, that dealt with both toxic waste and the legacy of Chornobyl. The Belarusian and Ukrainian Missions also observed the anniversary with musical performances on April 25 and a photo and art exhibit sponsored by Ukraine.

The conference titled "Health and the Environment: Global Partners for Global Solutions" was sponsored by World Information Transfer Inc., a non-governmental organization associated with the U. N. that promotes environmental literacy, and the Lebanese Mission to the U.N.

The meeting drew more than 500 scientists, environmentalists and non-governmental organization activists who were gathered for the annual meeting of U.N. NGOs, and political leaders from Ukraine and Lebanon. Also present in the conference hall were dozens of high school students there to observe the proceedings.

Overshadowing the conference was the Lebanese-Israeli conflict, which caused the Lebanese ambassador to cut short his remarks at the conference's opening and excuse himself from participation. Ambassador Samir Moubarak said he saw tragic irony in that the Lebanese minister of health would give the keynote speech later that day on Lebanese efforts to rebuild its country after devastation by war and civil strife on a day when the country was again being torn apart.

The conflict also unexpectedly changed the venue for a performance by the Odessa Philharmonic of Ukraine. The 100-plus member orchestra with its U.S.-reared conductor, Hobart Earle, originally had been scheduled to play in the General Assembly hall that evening, but had to be moved to the visitors lobby after an emergency session of the General Assembly was called earlier in the day.

IAEA unyielding

At the conference the International Atomic Energy Agency continued to maintain that only 30 people died in the days immediately after the Chornobyl fires. Berhanykun Andemicael, IAEA representative to the U.N., reiterated that merely 28 had died of acute radiation exposure, two more from other causes, in the immediate days after the explosion, and that 14 more have died since, but not all of radiation poisoning.

An interesting point in the conference occurred when Mr. Andemicael was asked by a conference attendee why the IAEA continues to stick to these old figures when new evidence suggests that Chornobyl-related deaths are much higher. After supportive applause from the crowd for the question, Mr. Andemicael staunchly defended the figures as ones developed after exhaustive research by the scientific community.

Mr. Andemicael at another point said that no statistically significant increase of cancers has been noted by scientists, although he explained he foresees a drastic increase (into the thousands) in the future.

He said the true legacy of Chornobyl may be the psychosomatic disorders that continue to plague the survivors, including chronic fatigue, stomach disorders and depressed immune systems.

He ended his talk on a positive note, stating that he feels health problems such as thyroid cancer can eventually be overcome and that even the soil can be rehabilitated, if properly turned using new technology. Then fast-growing plants could be utilized to make products not for human ingestion.

The person receiving the warmest greeting was Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1995, physicist Joseph Rotblat. After receiving a standing ovation, Prof. Rotblat pursued a theme that the world must rid itself of nuclear weapons and the philosophy of "mutually assured destruction." He explained that the world has for a millennium followed the old Roman dictum, "if you want peace prepare for war," to no avail.

"We have followed it for centuries and the result is that we have had war." He proposed that the new dictum should be: "If you want peace, then prepare for peace."

"War must cease to be an acceptable social institution," said the professor.

Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations Anatoliy Zlenko guided the conference back to the theme of Chornobyl. He spoke of the large cost of resettlement, decontamination and medical treatment for the victims. "Twelve percent of the national budget is dedicated to reduce the aftereffects," said Ambassador Zlenko. He explained that at one time the figures were sustainable, but today, with the continued decline in productivity, "finances available under the state budget have fallen."

The ambassador put forth several suggestions for future Chornobyl-related projects, including expanded research on the effects of Chornobyl on the Dnipro River, which supports 30 million people, and the Black Sea into which it flows. He also suggested the development of a technical center for research on Chornobyl problems.

The Belarusian Ambassador to the U.N. Alyasander Sychow (pronounced Say-shu) also spoke. He asserted that the Belarusian people overwhelmingly have borne the brunt of the consequences of Chornobyl. Among the statistics he cited: 23 percent of Belarus is contaminated as a result of the Chornobyl accident; 130,000 people have been resettled from more than 400 settlements; Chornobyl accounts for half the thyroid cancers in Belarus, which is today 100 times the expected rate; every fifth Belarusian has been affected by Chornobyl.

Mr. Sychou suggested that a Fund for Planet Protection and an international Scientific Interstate Center on Chornobyl be established, which would help those affected defray the costs of the tragedy.

"The world may have lost its interest in Chornobyl, but not the people of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine," he said. "Today we have more questions and fewer answers."

Speaking from the floor at the end of the morning session, Margaret McCaffery, economic affairs officer for the Regional Commisssions' New York office, sought to make people aware of a major cause of the re-release of radiation when she mentioned the brushfires that raged in Ukraine destroying five villages in the contaminated zone only days before the conference convened.

She said the key to containing and preventing fires is adequate forest maintenance. At one time approximately 1,800 fires annually raged on average in the zone, the number of which have been reduced to 800 due to limited access by people.

But if forests are not adequately maintained and cleared of underthicket, deadwood and mosses, the threat of fires is ever present as is the associated release of radiation that remains in the soil and in the vegetation. "Plumes can reach 800-1000 meters [in a forest fire] and disperse radiation for hundreds of miles," said Ms. McCaffery.

Belarusian Mission hosts concert

Immediately after lunch the Belarusian Mission hosted an informal concert in association with the Ukrainian and Russian Missions, as well as the U.N. Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the U.N. Department of Public Information. Pianist Marina Mojoukhova from Miensk moved the audience with her stunning piano work in a short recital that featured the works of Glebov and Rachmaninoff.

Afterwards three films on Chornobyl were presented: the Ukrainian-produced "Years Past and Lives Shattered," the Russian "Chornobyl Postscript" and an Irish documentary on Belarus in the post-Chornobyl era titled "Black Wind White Land."

"A requiem for the victims"

In the evening hundreds assembled in the U.N.'s visitors lobby to listen to one of the emerging world-class symphonies, the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra.

In opening remarks, Ambassador Zlenko called the performance "a requiem for the victims." More than 500 showed, among them the renowned Ukrainian composer Mykola Kolessa, to listen in an area of the U.N. complex less suited for such a performance. But after minor audio adjustments and a brief reminder by Maestro Earle to the audience to maintain silence, the show went off without a further hitch.

Featured were works by Maestro Kolessa, Myroslav Skoryk, Gustav Mahler, Aaron Copeland, Charles Ives and Kostiantyn Dankevych. The concert was simulcast by WNYC across the country via National Public Radio.

Conference day two

The conference's second day featured more discussion on Chornobyl and toxic waste in general, but of a more technical nature. Dr. Allison Keyes gave a detailed account of the chemical processes that take place when strontium-90 enters the body, and Dr. Arthur Upton, professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and formerly director of the National Cancer Institute, spoke of how radiation affects the body.

Then Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, began his talk by stating, "It is exactly 10 years to the day since Chornobyl reactor No. 4 blew," requesting that the audience stand for a minute of silence.

After, Dr. Shcherbak, founder of Green World in Ukraine and an expert on the Chornobyl accident, said the disaster is a new phenomenon of the modern technological age. "No one planned a military operation under the code name 'Chornobyl,'" he said, and explained that Chornobyl is a signal, an alarm that man must better harness control over the modern technology it looses on the environment. As he put it, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

At United Nations other commemorations included a two-day exhibit of art and photos by Ukrainians titled "Chernobyl: Ten Years After" (sic) and a charity bazaar of goods jointly sponsored by the women of the missions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Both the city of New York and the United Nations had proclaimed April 26 Chornobyl commemoration day.

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