Turkish report consistent with WHO findings on reduced Chernobyl health risk A World Health Organization (WHO) report on the Chernobyl accident published in April claimed that the current and future death toll in three countries of the former Soviet Union - the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine - is significantly lower than originally thought. ... A World Health Organization (WHO) report on the Chernobyl accident published in April claimed that the current and future death toll in three countries of the former Soviet Union - the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine - is significantly lower than originally thought. The same opinion has now been voiced by the authors of a new Turkish study on the effects of Chernobyl in the Black Sea region. 'The estimates point to a total of several thousand deaths over the next 70 years, a number that will be indiscernible from the background of overall deaths in the large population group. The estimates do not substantiate earlier claims that tens or even hundreds of thousands of deaths will be caused by radiation exposures from the Chernobyl accident,' states the WHO report, 'Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident and Special Health Care Programmes'. The report comprises summaries of current evidence on various health impacts, as well as assessments by expert panels. Each section then presents conclusions that the experts feel can be made at this time, as well as the areas where there are gaps in knowledge. Finally, a series of recommendations on future scientific research is provided for each potential health risk covered in the report. The WHO report concludes that registers of those exposed to radiation in the area should continue to be kept, and that they should be used for studies on morbidity and mortality. 'When a new scientific technique or findings are discovered that may play a role in ameliorating potential radiation effects, targeted research studies should be continued or initiated,' the report ends. This view was recently supported by a Turkish Health Ministry study, which concluded that the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in 1986 in the then Soviet Union has not led to an increase in cancer incidences in Turkey. Following the accident, 20 years ago last April, a cloud of radioactive material spread across Turkey's Black Sea provinces. A 10-year monitoring programme has now indicated that this cloud has not raised the cancer risk in the areas affected. 'Our scientists have found that radioactivity in the Black Sea region due to the Chernobyl disaster has nothing to do with cancer cases,' said Health Minister Recep Akdag. 'Certain types of cancer are on the rise, not because of radiation but because the number of smokers is increasing,' he explained. Countries Belarus, Russia, Türkiye, Ukraine
