NUCLEAIRE 
CONTROVERSES NUCLEAIRES !Sir:
Your News story "Chernobyl: poverty and stress
pose 'bigger threat' than radiation" (Nature 437, 181; 2005) suggests that
the health and environmental effects of the Chernobyl accident were not
as great as originally suggested.
Writing on behalf of an international group of
researchers in this area (see http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/chernobyl/nature/letter.pdf),
we believe that these suggestions, based on the reports of the UN Chernobyl
Forum, are misleading.
The full estimate, given by the UN report, of
people who could eventually die of factors linked to radiation includes
people in other contaminated areas as well as those within Soviet Contaminated
Zones and is 9,335, not 4,000 as reported. This estimate is similar to
earlier estimates of future cancer mortality prepared by the US government
in December 1987 (Report on the Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Station, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC). Further details
to support our argument that neither of these estimates should be down
played are available at the website above.
As we approach the twentieth anniversary of the
Chernobyl disaster we should be sensitive to the long-term implications.
T. A. Mousseau and colleagues
We believe it is too early to assess the overall
impacts of radionuclide exposure on human health or on plant and animal
populations. In particular, we do not know all the possible consequences
of the multi-generational accumulation of genetic defects. As we approach
the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster we should be more sensitive
to the long-term implications rather than suggesting that the coast is
clear for redevelopment in the contaminated zones.
Up to now, most studies have focused on cancer,
because of funding constraints, with little investment in studies of non-cancer
morbidity or model systems. But model organisms with relatively short lifespans
may provide a clear picture of the multigenerational consequences for human
health, while humans exposed to Chernobyl are a unique population that
must be supported and observed far into the future.
Given the long latency period for many diseases
and the growing interest in rejuvenating the nuclear power industry, it
is imperative that studies of the affected populations continue.
