Chernobyl's Lethal Legacy Hits New Generations

By Olena Horodetska

KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - More than a decade after the explosion of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power station, the poisonous radioactive legacy of the accident is crippling the health of younger generations, officials said Tuesday.

``Statistics show rising numbers of radioactivity-related diseases,'' Olha Bobyleva, deputy health minister, told a news conference.

``We have also registered a growth in the number of general diseases, especially among children and pregnant women.''

Bobyleva said four children had died of thyroid cancer, with the total number of cases of this disease reaching 1,200 among those who were under 18 in 1986 when Chernobyl's fourth reactor exploded.

The reactor exploded in the early hours of April 26, 1986, spreading a poisonous radioactive cloud over much of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and parts of Western Europe, killing 31 people and affecting thousands more.

Bobyleva said the number of leukemia cases registered among employees who battled the explosion was twice as high as the national average.

Health ministry officials say that food contaminated with radiation brought from the vast high-radioactivity zone surrounding the station and sold in large towns was another danger to public health.

Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Kholosha said the many Ukrainian farmers selling their uncertified products at chaotic markets presented a serious problem.

``I always say that babushkas (old women) selling mushrooms at village roads are the most dangerous phenomenon,'' Kholosha said. ``It is much more dangerous than radiation from Chernobyl, where everything is controlled by professionals.''

Kholosha said cash-short Ukraine had spent about $11 billion to battle the consequences of the accident.

Ukraine has promised Western states it will close Chernobyl's last remaining reactor by 2000 in exchange for financial assistance for finishing the construction of two new reactors in Western Ukraine. It says it may delay the shutdown if funds are not forthcoming.

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