Originally Posted By: Shannow
Wasn't the direct death toll from Chernobyl less than 100 ?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article563041.ece
Yes there will be some cancers down the track which could laregly have been circumvented by medical intervention early on.
What's the direct death toll due to flouride in tap water?
We had a busload full of bald Russian kids, between the age of 10 and 17, from the Chernobyl area at my high school in the late '80s. They all had leukemia and or bone cancer and had been invited by the Bavarian government as guests and for medical treatment. Many schools and institutions participated in this effort. My school alone hosted about 50 of those students.
In the area from where I am in Bavaria is over 800 miles from Chernobyl, but we were subjected to a fair amount of fallout due to rain. Back in '86 many of us began drinking only imported milk. Kids were advised to not walk barefoot in the grass for months. We still are advised to eat local mushrooms and deer in extreme moderation. This will not change for generations to come.
I left my town a few years after this incident for good. The cancer rate in the area is higher now due to either better detection, or because it is actually higher for whatever reasons. Statistically, the cancer rate there is higher especially in children. It is not far fetched to make a connection between the 1986 Chernobyl incident and a rise in cancer rate in the affected areas, which include significant areas in Central Europe. A similar rise in cancer rates was observed during the lovely times of atmospheric nuclear tests that ended only in the early '60s. It all adds up. Minimizing exposure to, let's just call them nasties, makes absolutely sense. Safe nukes are fine by me as long as they really are safe and located where an accident is more likely to have less of an effect on the population. Dumping nuclear waste in the ocean (see Farallon Islands) is just insane. Storing nuclear waste where it will contaminate groundwater is equally insane.
There are just too many people on the planet. The planet won't care about any of it -- it is a self-correcting system.