Blame it on the Victims
The newest reports from the UN state that the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster are not as dire as were predicted. Apparently cases of thyroid cancer are way up in those who were kids at the time of the accident, but that's no big deal because it can be treated. Other than that, only 50 or so deaths can actually be attributed directly to the accident. Eventually, the number should be somewhere around 4,000 or so.
According to the New York Times, the biggest problem the victims of Chernobyl have to deal with is their own self-pity. No, really, that's essentially what they said. Here's the article. Dr. Fred Mettler, health effect team leader of the Chernobyl Forum, said that the victims have a "paralyzing fatalism" that leads them to "things like drug and alcohol use, and unprotected sex and unemployment." Basically, they think they're going to die anyway, so they live quite recklessly. Perhaps if their government actually told them what was going on they'd feel a little more secure.
Here's the thing: this is all about the Ukranian government not wanting to pay benefits to these victims. This entire report is based on what can be directly attributed to the accident. The problem is, because all these people went on living their lives, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint the Chernobyl accident as the cause of most of their ailments. The New York Times article says that life expectancy dropped substantially after the fall of the Soviet Union. Mettler says that the effect of Chernobyl "may be difficult to detect against the background noise." So, I guess, since they can't prove anything, they should just pull benefits. If thyroid cancer is treatable, nothing is really that contaminated and mostly it's all in their head anyway, then why should their government support them?
Apparently not everyone will lose their benefits, however:
"The report acknowledged that there was a small core of people, probably numbering 100,000 to 200,000, who continued to be severely affected by the disaster. These include poor rural dwellers who live in the few severely contaminated areas, people with thyroid cancer and citizens who had been resettled in the wake of the disaster but who had never found a home or employment in their new communities."
Oh good. What a relief. Only 100 to 200 thousand people. Wait a minute...last time I checked that was an awful lot of people to be suffering.
According to the New York Times, the biggest problem the victims of Chernobyl have to deal with is their own self-pity. No, really, that's essentially what they said. Here's the article. Dr. Fred Mettler, health effect team leader of the Chernobyl Forum, said that the victims have a "paralyzing fatalism" that leads them to "things like drug and alcohol use, and unprotected sex and unemployment." Basically, they think they're going to die anyway, so they live quite recklessly. Perhaps if their government actually told them what was going on they'd feel a little more secure.
Here's the thing: this is all about the Ukranian government not wanting to pay benefits to these victims. This entire report is based on what can be directly attributed to the accident. The problem is, because all these people went on living their lives, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint the Chernobyl accident as the cause of most of their ailments. The New York Times article says that life expectancy dropped substantially after the fall of the Soviet Union. Mettler says that the effect of Chernobyl "may be difficult to detect against the background noise." So, I guess, since they can't prove anything, they should just pull benefits. If thyroid cancer is treatable, nothing is really that contaminated and mostly it's all in their head anyway, then why should their government support them?
Apparently not everyone will lose their benefits, however:
"The report acknowledged that there was a small core of people, probably numbering 100,000 to 200,000, who continued to be severely affected by the disaster. These include poor rural dwellers who live in the few severely contaminated areas, people with thyroid cancer and citizens who had been resettled in the wake of the disaster but who had never found a home or employment in their new communities."
Oh good. What a relief. Only 100 to 200 thousand people. Wait a minute...last time I checked that was an awful lot of people to be suffering.
posted by Sara Ch. at 8:34 AM
1 Comments:
The 120,000 number is the total number of people to die in the area since 1986, of all causes.
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