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Yesterday, we reported that the truth of the terrible radiation damages had been revealed for the first time
through the patients' charts of the victims made right after the Chernobyl accident.
We have Mr. Ryuichi Hirokawa, a photo journalist, again here tonight.
Good evening, Mr. Hirokawa. And for tonight?
Well, I went there to see with my own eyes what actually happens to the health of the residents.
Above all, please take a look at what's happening to children now.
It's been 7 years since the accident.
Long enough for us to forget it as an long-gone event.
However, truly terrible things emerged several years after the accident.
135,000 residents were suddenly told they were in danger and left their homes in a hurry within the first week of the accident.
They never dreamed they wouldn't be able to come back home after that.
Radioactive materials have now accumulated up to 20 centimeters below the soil surface and are slowly going downward.
Estimated numbers of victims are...
Plant-related people and firefighters together: 1,000.
Workers involved in dealing with the aftermath of the accident: 600,000.
Residents in contaminated areas: 5,500,000.
Official death toll announcement: 30.
Radioactive materials that have accumulated 20 centimeters below the soil surface are absorbed through the roots of the plants
and accumulated in the bodies of humans and animals.
Minsk Center for Pediatric Blood Diseases
Incubation period of radiation damages is ending, and they have started to attack people in forms of leukemia and thyroid cancer.
Video and report by Ryuichi Hirokawa: I visited this hospital last year, too, and filmed the inpatient children.
But this time, I wasn't able to see any of them.
Most of them have passed away.
There are many stages in the treatment of leukemia.
Different medicines are needed according to the stages.
Since there has been a sudden increase in the number of patients in this hospital, they are running short of medicines.
When the children are out of medicine, their condition quickly deteriorates.
Picture of her when she was well in September last year.
Around the time she came here? Or taken at home?
She was hospitalized on November 12 last year...
This boy is 14 years old.
He passed away the next day I filmed him.
Dr. Korzov, Vice Chief, Hoiniki Central Hospital: "In 5 to 8 years of the accident, there's an increase in thyroid cancer,"
"then breast cancer will follow, and then bone cancer."
"This is how an increase in cancer will occur."
"We are in the stage of increase in thyroid cancer."
Three years ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 's research mission visited the contaminated areas.
Dr. Shigematsu [Japanese], chairman of the mission, announced "there are no health damages among the residents."
This boy is 5 years old. He has a thyroid cancer.
He's being taken to the operating room without knowing what's happening to him.
In the world of medicine, thyroid cancer is supposed to be an adult disease.
The rate of children getting it is said to be one in 500,000.
However, in the areas around Chernobyl, there has been an explosive increase in pediatric thyroid cancer since 4 years after the accident.
A laser scalpel is placed on his neck and white smoke rises.
In Hoiniki District, located [70km] north of the Chernobyl plant, 27 out of 352 children have been diagnosed as needing attention.
20 percent of them are likely to get thyroid cancer, which is 7,800 times more than the average incidence rate.
Dr. Drozd, Institute of Radiology: "The health condition of children is affected by radiation."
"It's obvious if you look at the distribution map of radioactive iodine."
"Chairman Shigematsu of the IAEA mission doesn't know everything we have investigated."
The doctor's prophecy that there will be an explosive increase in breast cancer, bone cancer and leukemia following thyroid cancer is beginning to come true.
Mr. Hirokawa, after looking at your video, I wonder what it was that IAEA announced there were no health damages among the residents.
Well, as shown in the video, chairman of the mission was Dr. Shigematsu, a scientist in Hiroshima.
June 1991 Chairman of IAEA's Accident Research Committee Dr. Itsuzo Shigematsu
The local people believed a fair research would be done, because IAEA is an agency of the United Nations and a medical scientist from Hiroshima would lead the research.
So, they were astounded that the mission had announced the areas were safe.
But, didn't the mission actually see the situation there?
Well, according to the local doctors, the mission members didn't enter the heavily-contaminated areas.
Besides, they brought their food, sourced from far away, and didn't eat anything local.
Still, they declared it's safe. No wonder the local people are infuriated.
If the mission found local food too dangerous to eat, they should have said it's dangerous.
The very credibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency is seriously challenged, isn't it?
Yes. I hear that when the nuclear industry of the former USSR started to do business with the nuclear industry of the US,
they probably agreed that downplaying the damages by the accident would be beneficial for both sides.
I see. Well, the next part of this "Reports from Chernobyl" series will be about the life in the contaminated areas.