Children of Chernobyl.

The explosion at Chernobyl released a hundred times the radioactive fallout of a nuclear bomb. Twenty years after the worst nuclear accident in history, scientists agree that children were and continue to be its primary victims. But while thousands have become ill, older residents are defiantly returning to their homes in the exclusion zone. The UN attributed 56 deaths to the accident and an estimated 4,000 to the fallout; figures refuted by a number of environmentalist and independent studies. The town of Chernobyl is located 10km south of the plant. In the winter, when snow covers the radioactive dust, it has levels of radioactivity comparable to those of any European capital city. But radioactive dust is colourless, tasteless and odourless, and penetrates into the food chain. Of the 350,000 people displaced, around 400 have returned – including Anastasiya Tchikalovets. Having previously been forced to evacuate her home during World War II, she now refuses to leave. She grows her own food, claiming that if it was dangerous she would have long since succumbed. There are no children in the towns nearest the reactor - the young are most susceptible to radiation. The main illnesses associated with the accident are thyroid cancer and diseases caused by iodine deficiencies. Other types of cancer, including leukaemia, cannot currently be directly linked to the radiation. Every year, hundreds of children are sent to Cuba for medical treatment by the International Fund for Chernobyl. ‘The salt water is rich in iodine’, explains its director Alexander Bozhko, which ‘cleans their thyroid’. Sergey Yushchenko was one of them – he is a haemophiliac and has a rare genetic disorder. Although scientists have been unable to find direct links between malformations, genetic mutations and the nuclear disaster, for some, rehabilitation in Cuba has proven beneficial. In the past up to 2,000 children from Chernobyl were treated simultaneously at Tarara, an old commercial port. But nowadays, there are 140 at most. Dermatological diseases are treated through the use of placental histotherapy – a cutting edge treatment practiced only in Cuba. As conditions such as psoriasis, vitiligo and alopecia can be provoked by stress and anxiety, the effects of Chernobyl are also psychological. Many children, like Anastasia, remain in Cuba for years undergoing medical treatment. The irony is that while the region’s children, born decades after the explosion, continue to be affected, there’s talk of turning the exclusion zone into a nature reserve.