Scary myths of Chernobyl: ghost cities and beast-mutants
Many still perceive Chernobyl as the most hellish place on Earth. What are the myths of Chernobyl?
Chernobyl NPP 31 years after the accident – this is an area accessible to tourists, experts, researchers and even foreigners.
However, even now the ChNPP hides a lot of secrets and questions.
Although almost everyone can see the sarcophagus and breathe the Chernobyl air, in Ukrainian society, and even more so in the world, about this place and everything connected with it, there are many rumors.
Myth # 1: Chernobyl mutants
After the Chernobyl disaster, rumors began to spread more quickly about mutants – mice with three eyes, hares with five paws, giant apples and moles, glowing in the dark.
Although no one ever saw these ghosts, the inhabitants told of the unprecedented size of plants and mushrooms.
As you know, the most contaminated steel are those territories, the territories of which literally absorbed radioactive metals. Since the soils of northwestern Ukraine, unlike chernozems, are poor in potassium and calcium, they quickly “enriched” themselves with analogues-radioactive cesium-137 and strontium-90.
Together with the soils, this Chernobyl gift absorbed the plants. Radioactive metals played the role of super fertilizers. Therefore, for mutants often taken unprecedented for infected regions of the size of cultivated vegetables and harvests.
For the same reason, experts call the Chernobyl disaster devastating for the village and not so terrible for the city. After all, in the first place, vegetables and milk were contaminated. That is, immediately fell into the organisms of the inhabitants of the countryside, consuming contaminated products.
Myth of Chernobyl# 2: Chernobl continues to affect the thyroid gland
Perhaps the biggest myth of Chernobyl was the scale of its influence on the health of the modern young generation. Indeed, the explosion at the Chernobyl NPP in 1986 dealt a devastating blow to human health.
He inflicted the greatest harm on children, residents of contaminated regions and, of course, on liquidators.
Since in the most contaminated regions, residents, especially children, suffered from iodine deficiency, their thyroid gland, like a sponge, absorbed radioactive iodine from the air and through products, often milk.
“A day after the explosion, we learned about the accident, so in an emergency regime, they blocked the thyroid gland in children – gave them a sufficient dose of iodine before the radioactive cloud covered Poland,” says UN expert on Poland Jerzy Osiatinsky.
If such events were conducted in Ukraine, the consequences of the accident for children’s health would be significantly less. The first phase of the decay of iodine begins already after 7 days, for two months and there is no trace of it. That is, the threat of cancer of the thyroid gland due to Chernobyl for modern children – does not exist.
In the risk group, mainly children born before May-June 1986 fell. Now doctors advise them to take a survey more often and enrich their diet with products containing iodine.
Myth # 3: Chernobyl is the main cause of cancer
This statement is also more of a myth. As for other types of cancer, according to Yakov Königsberg, WHO representative and radiation safety expert, it is impossible to prove the direct dependence of the disease with cancer.
Myth lies in the fact that Ukrainians dump the lions of cancer with Chernobyl.
However, according to statistics, people who live not in the affected regions, but in those where the chemical industry is developed, are much more likely to suffer from cancer.
In addition, common causes of cancer are overfatigue, unhealthy diet and untimely examination.
“In the same Rivne region, which is part of the Chernobyl zone, the cancer rate is perhaps the lowest in Ukraine, firstly, after Chernobyl there is a regular examination of the population, and secondly, there are no chemical and other harmful enterprises.”
The exception is the liquidators, who received a large dose of radiation. Most of them can manifest a so-called stochastic effect – cancer due to radiation, as well as inherited problems in children due to mutation of DNA cells.
The probability of the risk and severity of the disease depends on the amount of the dose received.
Myth of Chernobyl # 4: Red wine saves from radiation
Hardly the most common myth was the statement about the rescue use of red wine to prevent radiation exposure.
According to experts, it only acts as a sedative for someone who believes in action.
The same goes for preparations for the release of radionuclides. Experts assure that this is a profanity. And to promote such a process can only improve metabolism.
Myth of Chernobyl # 5: Chernobyl ghost town
Many consider the Chernobyl zone to be an absolute wasteland, and people who have decided to even approach it are kamikazes.
However, even today, personnel working on the decommissioning of the plant are working at the Chernobyl NPP, and some employees even live permanently in the legendary city.
“If it were not for the lack of playing children and grandmothers on benches, Chernobyl could be taken for the most ordinary Ukrainian regional center,” says former employee of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Alexander.
In the villages in the exclusion zone and now continue to return, mostly the elderly.