The mother.—Ah well! Yulia’s health is not brilliant. I took her for an electrocardiogram at Korma. She was complaining about headaches as well, they said it was because of her adenoids (adenoid hypertrophy) and that they would have to operate.
Q.—But even so, her radiation levels are quite high: 96 Bq. It seems she has accumulated it through her food. It could be the milk. Have you tested it, has it been measured?
The mother.—They told us it was alright.
Q.—Was it the Germans who came?
The father.—Yes.
Q.—They didn’t have anything negative to report?
The mother.—No.
Q.—So where is the contamination coming from?
The mother.—Ruslana, the youngest, also had high levels of radiation last year, and they said that on no account should it be allowed to get any higher. Absolutely not!
Q.—But what can you do? Did they tell you?
The father.—Only eat clean food.
The mother.—But where can we get clean food when we live off what we grow?
Q.—Did they explain what you need to avoid to stop it getting any higher? What you should not eat?
The mother.—Berries, mushrooms, game. It’s written on their leaflets.
The father (looking at the leaflet from Julich).—Ruslana had 7 kBq in the whole of her body. (7000 Bq per 15 kg= 466Bq/kg)
The mother.—Yes.
The father.—You had 30 kBq! (30,000 per 50–60 kg= 600–500 Bq/kg.)
The mother.—So did you…
The father.—about 210 kBq (210,000 for 90 kg= 2333Bq/kg)
Q.—You?
The father.—Yes, all you can say is that at night I don’t need a light. I walk around in the dark and can see quite well. I really shine!
Q.—Do you ever eat game?
The father.—Yes, of course. We live surrounded by forest.
Q.—So you eat it?
The father.—We have to eat something. This year, we haven’t seen the Germans, yet.
The mother.—They told us it was the last year.
The father.—“Everything’s fine. Get back to normal life! Everything will be fine. Absolutely. You will live!”
The mother.—The government says the same. They said; “We have got rid of the radioactivity”. They “got rid” of our pensions too. For example, we were getting 2000 roubles per person per month. We’re not getting that money any more.
Q.—So what you’re saying is that they have taken those allowances away, that financial help?
The mother.—Yes. They took it away from pensioners too.
Q.—But it isn’t because there is less radioactivity?
The mother.—I don’t know why. No-one explained anything to us, no-one came here…We live in wonderland. Where does that money go? Where does it come from? It’s obvious that it’s contaminated here, very contaminated. Look, Yasen is 2 km away from here, and they were evacuated. Zhavunitsa, completely evacuated, Koliudy, half of the village. Over there (she points to the east) everyone. What about us? They say we don’t have the right to be evacuated. We’re all “reported missing”. We don’t exist any more. And it’s even worse because, on this side of the river, we’re cut off. In winter, the bridge is taken away and we’re cut off.
Galina Bandazhevskaya’s conclusions for:
Yulia, born in 1990, aged 12:
- contamination before pectin treatment: 96 Bq/kg;
- contamination after 16 days of pectin treatment: 73.2 Bq/kg;
- heart: no complaints. Systolic heart murmur at the apex;
- ECG (before): Sinus rhythm, regular;
- ECG (after): Sinus rhythm, regular.
5. THE TITOV FAMILY
The mother.—When she comes home from school, she does not start her homework straight away because she is tired. You can see it. After school she has a headache. That never happened, before. Because we weren’t living here before, we’ve moved house. We have been here for two years. We lived in Russia before. It wasn’t contaminated where we lived before.
Q.—What do you eat?
—We have our own vegetable garden. We have goats that give us milk.
—Do you go fishing?
—Absolutely! What would we do without fish?! Live near the Sozh and not go fishing!
—That wouldn’t make sense, would it?
—Of course not! (she laughs)
—Berries?
—Absolutely! Berries, mushrooms, all summer.
—Game? Do you ever eat game?
—Oh no, we don’t go hunting.
—Because your daughter has accumulated a lot of radioactivity?
—A lot?
—She has 149 Bq/kg.
—Oh dear oh dear!
—She should really be below 50Bq.
—Yes, it’s a lot.
—And that could come from the fish?
—Definitely, and the berries, and mushrooms.
—Do you know how to treat food products to eliminate the caesium?
—Well… we cook them… we just cook them, we grill them, but as to eliminating…
—All you have to do is soak them in salt water for two hours, discard the water and do it again.
—We’ve never done that! We didn’t know. No-one told us.
—The Germans come here to measure. Don’t they explain it to you?
—No, they take measurements. They ask us and we give them our milk, fish and, if we have any, mushrooms.
—They ask questions and that’s all they do?
—Yes. They ask questions but they didn’t explain anything, about soaking the food or anything. You are the first person to explain that to me.
—So they are not really taking care of your health?
—No. They just take notes…
—You, yourself, how do you feel?
—I get dizzy and I get headaches. Sometimes I get a pain in my heart, but we don’t run to the doctors. With my husband it happens a lot. He works in the forest, at a sawmill. He often has pains in his heart. Yes, it happens often with him. The truth is that a lot of the people around here have got high levels of radioactivity, even the adults. I myself have got more than 300.
—Have you got the yellow leaflet given out by the Germans?
—Oh! No, the children must have lost it somewhere.
—Do you remember how much you measured?
—300 or more.
—It’s much too high. I wish you…
—Thank you. Goodbye.
It is not at all clear what this figure of 300 means. On the yellow cards from Julich, that we had seen and filmed, the contamination is always recorded in kilobecquerels. If this is the case for Mrs Titov, who relishes all nature’s generous gifts, her contamination has reached astronomical levels. She must weigh between 65 and 70 kilos.: 300,000 for 70 kg = 4,286 Bq/kg! “Gut! Gut!” But even 300 Bq/kg is far too much and that was obvious from the symptoms she described.
Galina Bandazhevskaya’s conclusions on:
Cristina, born in 1990, aged 12:
- contamination before pectin treatment: 149.1 Bq/kg;
- contamination after 16 days of pectin treatment: 141.8 Bq/kg156;
156 Practically no effect after 16 days of pectin. It is possible that in this case the pectin was not taken by the child for reasons we were not told.
- heart: no complaints. Muffled heart murmur at the apex;
- ECG (before): partial right bundle branch block. Myocardial metabolism problems;
- ECG (after): partial right bundle branch block. Myocardial metabolism problems.
6. THE SAZONOV FAMILY
The first questions concern Vassili, who was not able to take part in the experiment.
Q.—Has Vassili any heal
th complaints?
The mother.—Dizzy spells. He wakes up in the morning: “Mummy, I don’t feel well”. Either he feels sick or he feels dizzy. He complains of headaches. The older ones complain often as well. They come home from school and straight away: “Mummy, I don’t feel well” and they go to bed. They complain mainly about headaches, and feeling dizzy. And often about the heart as well.
—Do they get out of breath when they run or do sport?
—Yes, after gymnastics:“Mummy, when I run it hurts here and it’s difficult to breathe. I can’t breathe”. I even spoke to my eldest daughter’s PE teacher. I asked her not to ask her to run, because it makes her feel ill… she shouldn’t do it.
—And what about you? And your husband? Do you have the same symptoms? The head, the heart?
—Yes, my husband, mostly it’s his head where he feels very ill, and he has heart problems as well. He is registered at the hospital at Korma. As for me, before everything was alright, but now…I have rheumatism, my joints are beginning to hurt, especially my shoulders.
—Have you been measured by the German team?
—I went last year. My levels weren’t that high: about 13 kilobecquerels… (13,000 for 65 kg = 200 Bq/kg)
—What do you eat at home?
—We have our chickens, our eggs. We raise pigs, our milk… yes. We have a cow, everything is ours, and then there’s the vegetable garden.
—Have you measured the milk?
—The people from Korma tested it. It was alright apparently. Within admissible limits:—40–50 Bq/l. They said it was alright to drink.
—The mushrooms, for example? (she seems to be defensive about her mushrooms)
—Well, you know, we don’t really even collect them. Very rarely.
—Absolutely never?
—Well, sometimes.
—You don’t have dried mushroom soup?
—Well yes, but only the girolle mushrooms…
—“Only!” It’s precisely those that are full of radioactivity. Mushrooms contain enormous amounts. And it accumulates and has an effect on the heart, the eyes… Your two daughters complain of the same things?
—Both of them complain about pains in their joints as well. Their legs hurt. The joints.
Galina Bandazhevskaya’s conclusions on:
Tatiana, born in 1988, aged 14:
- contamination before pectin treatment: 81.9 Bq/kg;
- contamination after 16 days of pectin treatment: 55.9 Bq/kg;
- heart: complains of shooting pains in region of heart.
Systolic heart murmur at the apex;
- ECG (before): partial right bundle branch block.
- ECG (after): partial right bundle branch block.
Elena, born in 1987, aged 15:
- contamination before pectin treatment: 59.6 Bq/kg;
- contamination after 16 days of pectin treatment: 44.2 Bq/kg;
- heart: complains of shooting pains in region of heart. Systolic heart murmur at the top;
- ECG (before): partial right bundle branch block. Myocardial metabolism problems;
- ECG (after): partial right bundle branch block.
Vassili, born in 1992, aged 10157:
157 This child was not included in the group that Galina Bandazhevskaya examined because he had mumps and was in quarantine in a sanatorium.
- contamination before pectin treatment: 112.27 Bq/kg.
Chapter XIII
THE CHILDREN
IN THE HOSPITAL AT GOMEL
June 2001
1. CHILDREN WITH HEART PROBLEMS
The hospital at Gomel. We follow Galina Bandazhevskaya, who takes us into a room where her colleague is working with a group of about twenty children who are ill. They agree to talk to us in a break in the conversation they are all having with the doctor. The doctor addresses a little girl who looks about 7 or 8 years old.
—Olechka, tell us, how do you feel?
The little girl smiles, happy to be talking to these foreign journalists. She is sitting down, her feet together, her hands on her knees, with a white ribbon in her hair. She has large eyes.
The little girl (proudly)—I have been ill since I was 7.
Q.—How old are you now?
—I’m already 14… (Her smile disappears. I did not realise I had touched such a sensitive spot.)
—What illness do you have?
—Systemic collagenosis.
An illness that attacks the fibrous protein of the intercellular substance of connective tissue and cartilage. There can be retarded growth. The immune system that should defend the body from viruses, bacteria and cancerous cells, “mistakes” its target and attacks the cells and tissues of the child. These auto-immune diseases including serious cases of Type 1 diabetes in children, have increased in the contaminated territories.
—Where does it hurt? (The little girl looks away. She is ashamed to be so small for her age.)
—It hurt… my heart hurt… (She cries silently. The doctor comes over and strokes her head.)
—Calm down and tell us all about it, don’t be sad…all that’s over now, it doesn’t hurt any more… Don’t cry. (She strokes her.) Olechka, come on now. Wipe your eyes, your eyes are beautiful. You’re a big girl. You were ill, but now you feel better. Tell us again. What was it that hurt you?
—I had headaches, then my knees hurt, so I came back here… Now I’m better…That’s it. (She sighs and begins to cry again, in silence. She hides her face in her hands, pressing her knuckles into her eyes. The little girl next to her, with blonde hair, looks at her furtively, on the verge of tears.)
—And why are you here at the hospital?
—This is the second time I’ve been here. The first time I was eight.
—And how old are you now?
—I’m 9. Before I often had stomach pains… and then I came to the hospital. They told me I have gastritis.
—Do you have any pain in the heart?
—Yes. (She is crying too. Little Olechka steals a glance at the other little girl.158 A little boy with fragile shoulders is sitting next to her.)
158 Olechka died a few months after this meeting.
The little boy.—I have a congenital defect of the heart.
—How does that make you feel?
—How do I feel? Normal.
—Does your heart hurt?
—I get shooting pains.
An adolescent boy.—When I run, it hurts, it stings in my heart.
—Where exactly?
—Here. (He puts his hand on his chest) Then, my head hurts…
An adolescent girl.—I can’t play any more, or run…
—Why?
—I get out of breath. It’s difficult to run… It makes me go dizzy… It goes black before my eyes…
I turn to the doctor who explains:
—There are a lot of children here who need operations.
—From a statistical point of view, is this normal in childhood?
—No, no. First, I’d have to say that there aren’t really any norms for congenital malformation, for anomalies. This illness has no known incidence or frequency. But from a quantitative point of view, it’s true that the percentage is increasing among children.
—Is it still increasing?
—Yes, it’s increasing. In the last few years, children are being born with malformations.
—Is there a link to the area in which they live?
—There are many factors, the causes are multifactorial—heredity, the health of the parents—but ecology plays a role.
—Ecology meaning Chernobyl?
—Of course.
—Before and after Chernobyl—it’s not the same thing?
—No, of course not.
—Has it got worse?
—Yes. It hasn’t improved the health of the children nor of the rest of the population. (She turns towards a little boy who is standing in the doorway.) Come here little one, come! (The little boy comes over to her.) Here, this little boy lives in Gomel. You are nearly 9, aren’t you?
—I was born in 1992.
—Sit down, please, don’t be frightened. (The boy looks round anxiously). He is very emotional. When he was 9, his blood pressure increased significantly, and he began to have seizures. A stroke, like adults have. He was in a very serious condition. He is beginning to get better, but unfortunately, the underlying cause of the initial rise in blood pressure is still the same.
The boy latches on to the last words spoken by the doctor. He addresses us, the visitors.
—I have high blood pressure. I get headaches when my blood pressure is high. In 1998, I had a stroke and hemiplegia and I was in hospital for three months…
—What happened after you had the stroke?
—I had a cyst in the front of my head. It’s still there. My left leg, my left arm and the left part of my face was paralysed. I had cramps in my left leg.
—And how about you? (the doctor addresses his neighbour, a boy with dark rings round his eyes)
—I came to the hospital with polyarthritis in the right hand. Three weeks ago. My hand was swollen. Then my foot started to hurt, I couldn’t press down on my foot. I have pains in my heart as well. I have already had three heart attacks…
—Three?
—Yes, and I have gastritis as well.
—When did you have these three heart attacks?
—When I was little, I was still at primary school.
—How old are you?
—I’m 12.
A timid adolescent boy, sitting near the window.—When I was three months old they discovered I had a heart murmur. I’ve been coming here ever since. I come here all the time to be examined.
My heart hurts but I can play football.
The Crime of Chernobyl- The Nuclear Gulag Page 54
