Columbia University conference focuses on 'the human experience' (05/07/06)

THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER

Columbia University conference focuses on 'the human experience'

by Matthew Dubas

NEW YORK - The Harriman Institute at Columbia University held a conference on Tuesday, April 25, titled, "Commemoration of the Chornobyl Disaster: The Human Experience 20 Years Later." Diverse presentations on the impact of the Chornobyl accident were given from the diplomatic, scientific, humanitarian, literary, film and academic perspectives.

Opening the conference with a general overview was Prof. Mark von Hagen, director of the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University. His opening question to the audience, "Where were you when Chornobyl happened?" reflected the significance of the events of April 26, 1986.

Dr. von Hagen remarked that Chornobyl forever changed the fate of the Soviet Union, from a pre- to a post-Chornobyl society, which reminded its citizens of the dishonesty of the Soviet system and led to events like Ukraine's movement to relinquish nuclear weapons. He spoke also about the future of nuclear energy in Ukraine, which is dependent on nuclear power, and how the current energy crisis, with gas supplies controlled by Russia, contributes to Ukraine's need to develop alternative energy sources.

To highlight the diplomatic perspective, Ambassador Valeriy Kuchinsky, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, presented the global impact, citing reports of heightened radiation levels across the entire Northern Hemisphere after the Chornobyl accident.

The first days after Chornobyl, according to Mr. Kuchinsky, were filled with panic fueled by rumors due to the secrecy of the Soviet regime. For days there was no official word on the events, and even then the accident was trivialized.

The disaster's effects were compounded by Soviet refusal of aid, a lack of precautions issued by the government, iodine scares and the inhalation of radionuclides by unsuspecting citizens. Kyivans were on the streets observing the May Day holiday while the fires at Chornobyl burned, the ambassador recalled.

On a personal note, Mr. Kuchinsky commented how he reacted to Chornobyl. There was widespread fear that led to an exodus from Kyiv as parents tried to "save the children" by sending them to live in Moscow or the United Kingdom. Mr. Kuchinsky sent his own children to live with his brother in Moscow, away from the dangers of radiation exposure. Without media coverage, Mr. Kuchinsky said, there was no outcry for international support and no aid arrived, at a time when lives could have been saved. It wasn't until after the break-up of the Soviet Union that Chornobyl was labeled a national catastrophe.

Regarding the lack of international support after Chornobyl was shut down, Mr. Kuchinsky stated, "the closing of the plant did more harm than good" as Ukraine lost support from the West and perpetuated its dependence on Russia for aid in the $170 billion cost to Ukraine to "ensure that such a nuclear tragedy never happens again."

Mr. Kuchinsky capsulated the commemoration saying, "we have remorse for the past and resolve for the future."

The scientific perspective covered three main areas of medical concerns associated with the aftereffects of Chornobyl, including cataracts, heart defects and thyroid cancer. The first topic was addressed by Dr. Norman Kleiman, associate research scientist of the department of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, presented the work of his mentor and colleague, the late Dr. Basil V. Worgul, professor of radiation biology at the department of ophthalmology and radiology at Columbia.

It was explained to the audience that the lens is the part of the eye that is most sensitive to ionized radiation and that the lens grows throughout a person's lifetime. Dr. Kleiman noted that exposure to radiation, even at low levels, causes cataracts and cancers. He said there is no minimum threshold for exposure, it is simply a matter of time before cataracts and cancers develop.

Findings by the Ukrainian American Chernobyl Ocular Study, made up of doctors from Ukraine, the U.S. and Germany, traced the time of onset with the rate of progression of these cataracts. The main focus group in the group's research was the "liquidator" population in cities all over Ukraine including Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Chornobyl and Donetsk. Their research found that the youngest subjects had various stages of cataracts after being exposed to low level radiation. Dr. Kleiman went on to say that the surgical procedures are not complicated and have become relatively routine in certain areas, but early diagnosis of at-risk persons remains a problem.

Dr. William Novick, founder and medical director of the International Children's Heart Foundation, who was seen performing corrective heart surgery in the highly acclaimed documentary "Chernobyl Heart," spoke on the conditions he observed during over 125 trips to Belarus and Ukraine, including scientific improvements in surgical techniques and the training of local doctors to use these new procedures. Citing his own experience and various reports on the subject, Dr. Novick noted that, of all the heart conditions reported, only 1 percent occur worldwide, regardless of environmental factors.

However, in Ukraine and Belarus, he said, there is a rise in cases of Ebstein's Anomaly and Multiple Ventricular Septal Defects, - congenital defects that account for less than 1 percent of all cases of heart defects worldwide. As reported by the Amosov Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery in Kyiv, in its entire 40 years of documented cases of the aforementioned two defects, only 250 patients were operated on. According to Dr. Novick that number has grown to 8.9 patients per year after Chornobyl, with a trend toward increased cases among younger patients. Dr. Novick called for increased awareness in these areas and said he looks forward to improvements in early diagnosis.

The third presenter, Dr. Daniel Igor Branovan, director of the Thyroid Center at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, traced the causes and the current situation in regards to reports of thyroid cancer in Ukraine. He explained that a lack of iodine in the Ukrainian diet makes people more susceptible to the absorption of radioactive iodine (I-131) in their thyroid (the body recognizes the radionuclide as normal iodine). In Homiel, Belarus, as reported by Dr. Branovan, there was a 500-fold increase in reported cases of thyroid cancer, with the greatest number being reported in children up to nine years of age.

Adults, he said, tend to show sign 20 years after exposure, with an estimated 30,000 reported cases in adults for this year alone. Dr. Branovan touched upon the fact that with 400,000 people from the Ukrainian immigrant population coming to New York City, he said he has seen an increase in cases of thyroid cancer. He went on to comment that "this is a treatable disease with rare morbidity rates, but an aggressive growth rate, which requires early diagnosis." Dr. Branovan further said, "This problem will be in the news for years to come."

On the humanitarian side, the first presenter, Lisa Milanytch of the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund (CCRDF), outlined the long-term consequences of the nuclear disaster. The organization's reports equate the release of radiation at Chornobyl to that of 270 Hiroshima bombs, giving the audience a clearer picture of the energy released in the accident.

Ms. Milanytch spoke of the 80-fold increase in the number of thyroid cancer cases related to exposure to radioactive iodine. She also told the audience about a term for the scar received from thyroid surgery: the "Chornobyl necklace."

Birth defects in children of liquidators, said Ms. Milanytch, will also affect the "grandchildren of Chornobyl" with cases of chromosome damage, and a fourfold increase in the number of spina bifida cases.

Currently, the CCRDF is working on physician training and the translation of neonatal manuals. In her recommendations for the future, Ms. Milanytch urged continued U.N. funding for research, acknowledgment by the World Health Organization (WHO) of cancers with longer latency periods, and continued financial support from companies and individuals. She called on the international community to remain vigilant in relief efforts for Chornobyl.

Sherrie Douglas, director of the Chernobyl Children's Project International, focused her presentation on, the affected areas of Belarus. She noted that poor diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Belarus have directly resulted in a lack of U.S. aid to the Chornobyl-affected areas of Belarus.

Ms. Douglas provided the audience with facts regarding the aftermath of the accident, saying that 70 percent of the radiation dust emitted from Chornobyl spread through Belarus, which resulted in the loss of 20 percent of its arable land. She said also that 15 percent of the population of Belarus (approximately 1.5 million to 1.8 million people) lives on contaminated lands. The reason people live on these lands, she said, is that the government had simply raised the level of radiation considered to be safe, though the danger was still present.

With regard to the recent U.N. Chernobyl Forum Report, Ms. Douglas was critical of the WHO for not recognizing thyroid cancer in Ukraine due to the latency of the disease. She also cited the need for long-term solutions for promoting self-sufficiency, partly due to the fact that Belarus never prepared the agrarian people moved off their lands and forced into the foreign world of city life.

Next to speak was Irene Zabytko, author of the novel "The Sky Unwashed," a tale inspired by true events, about a woman living the golden years of her life in the contamination zone, five years after the Chornobyl disaster. The novel traces the family's relocation from the fictional town of Novyi Lis, near Chornobyl, to Kyiv and then to Moscow. During her talk she read excerpts from her book about life in an abandoned village in the Chornobyl zone.

Ms. Zabytko also informed the audience of plans to transform the novel into a major motion picture. She will be traveling to Ukraine to further her research for the film and her upcoming book, a documentary on the villages in Ukraine that are contaminated and the lives of the people who reside there.

After a screening of the documentary "Chernobyl Heart," questions were posed to Dr. Novick and Ms. Douglas. The audience members expressed concerns about the discrepancy between statistics and the "glazing over" of such numbers by organizations like the WHO, UNICEF and other U.N. bodies.

Closing remarks were given by Mykola Riabchuk of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and a Petro Jacyk Visiting Scholar at Columbia University. Mr. Riabchuk's main concern after all of the presentations on Chornobyl was that the "emphasis should be on the human dimension, not only on statistics."

He also stressed the importance of international support for the construction of a new sarcophagus around Chornobyl, the development of alternative energy sources and incentives for Ukraine not to further develop atomic energy. According to Mr. Riabchuk, there continue to be problems with disposing of the world's nuclear waste. He cited Russia's methods of nuclear waste disposal and underlined that this has the potential to turn into another ecological disaster.

Regarding political issues, Mr. Riabchuk also pointed to the ineffectiveness of closed societies like the Soviet system, by pointing to how Mikhail Gorbachev claimed he didn't know about the events at Chornobyl until it was too late. This he said, further de-legitimized the regime. According to Mr. Riabchuk this began "real glasnost" and led to the USSR's break-up. Out of this period, came political mobilization that unified the animosity of both ethnic Russians and Ukrainians in Ukraine toward Moscow.

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