Madam, - In her article on "The Men Who Saved us from Chernobyl", Kathy Sheridan estimates that 25,000 "liquidators" - i.e. those who were called upon to contain the reactor fire and the radiation from it - have died. The impression is that they died of injuries suffered in the course of their heroic work (Life Features, April 26th).
Among such a large number of people (a figure of 800,000 was quoted) and over a period of 19 years no one should be surprised that 25,000 (3 per cent) have died; rather, the question might be: why so few?
Controversy about the effects of the accident still abounds. At the suggestion of the director general of the International Atomic Agency, Mohamed Elbaradei, a forum was established in 2003 on the consequences of Chernobyl in which relevant UN organisations, such as the WHO, FAO, UNDP, UNSCEAR, the World Bank, and governments of the affected countries would deliver a clear and unified message to the people of the region and the public at large. The main objectives of the forum are to produce authoritative consensus statements on both the health and environmental effects of the accident and also those effects that are not directly related to radiation exposure and radioactive contamination.
The work should be completed this year and presented in Vienna in September. I hope The Irish Times will be there and will inform its readers of the findings. This might clear up the misconceptions many readers have about the effects of this tragic accident. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK TURVEY, Greystones, Co Wicklow.