The Children of Chernobyl

Dr. Geraldine Thomas, Director of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank and leading global expert on the impacts of radiation, joins me to discuss the phenomenon of “radiation vacations” for children believed to have been affected by the Chernobyl accident.  Chernobyl Children International (CCI) has organized close to 1 million such trips for children from Ukraine and Belarus with the claim that these vacations extend these children's lives by on average 2 years. It also supports a number of orphanages and social services in Belarus. In Ireland CCI is one of the most successful charities in the country's history having fundraised over 100 million euros to date. https://www.chernobyl-international.com/ Dr. Thomas gives an overview of the science behind transgenerational effects of radiation and assesses the scientific and medical reasoning behind claims specific to Chernobyl. Dr. Thomas also explains the very real impact of thyroid cancer upon a specific age group of children exposed to high levels of Iodine 131 during a narrow time interval after the accident and what their medical treatment involves. It is estimated that 16,000 additional thyroid cancers will occur within this age group with a mortality of 1%.    We discuss the harm that radiophobia is capable of causing, illustrated in part by a critique of the Academy Award winning 2003 documentary, “Chernobyl Heart” which features Adi Roche the founder of CCI. https://youtu.be/jFwGEsJg2MI