Twenty-six years ago this week, a botched reactor safety test in a corner of

what was then the Soviet Union set off the worst nuclear accident in history.
The radiation effects of the April 26, 1986, reactor explosion were about 400
times more potent than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II,
and nearly 14 times greater than the disaster last year at the Fukushima plant in
Japan.
Fast forward to today, and even in the exclusion zone, plants have re-grown,
animals are flourishing and Chernobyl has been opened to tourists.
But Chernobyl refuses to be relegated to the past. Indeed it may still be
devastating the lives of millions who continue to live in the fallout zone.
Aside from the potential health hazards of living in an area contaminated with
radiation, domino socioeconomic effects have caused multiple problems in
these regions.

Chernobyl Children International, or CCI, works to help kids in the region whose
lives have been impacted by a disaster that happened years before they were
born. Many suffer from physical problems such as congenital heart defects.
Many kids have chronic illnesses or disabilities, and many live full time in
institutions.
To help them, CCI sends surgical teams who in turn help train local doctors.
CCI nurses teach institution staff techniques, and volunteers renovate facilities.
One of CCI's main goals going forward is a program they call "Home of Hope,"
which uses money from donations to place institutionalized kids with nearby
families.
For many severely disabled children there, the future is uncertain. CCI works to
build community centers in affected areas, in the hopes that there will be some
support system for them after they are too old to remain in institutions.
Decades after the meltdown, the mission of CCI is complicated by the fact that
there is no real consensus on how many of the region's current problems can
be directly attributed to Chernobyl.
Only 30 people died in the immediate aftermath, either from the explosion or
acute radiation syndrome. But the disaster sent a cloud of radioactive fallout
over hundreds of thousands of square miles of what is now Russia, Belarus and
Ukraine that would have an impact on the health of many more.
More than 200,000 people were evacuated, never to return. However, a
2005 report by "The Chernobyl Forum" (the most comprehensive to date)
estimated more than 5 million remain in what have been termed "contaminated
territories," and a quarter-million live in "highly contaminated territories."
Ten years after the explosion, a CNN team visited Chernobyl to ascertain the
long-term effects of radiation exposure for those living near Chernobyl during
the accident, for cleanup workers or "liquidators," or for those who continued to
live in areas that were classified as polluted. They found more questions than
answers.
Research funds were scarce. Economies of affected countries were decimated
by the disaster and by the subsequent breakup of the USSR.
Years later, there aren't many more definitive answers than there were then, to
the question of how exactly Chernobyl has affected the lives, not just of those
who lived through it, but of subsequent generations still living in these
"contaminated' areas"
Many of us have certain mental images that spring to mind when thinking of the
effects of radioactive contamination: mutated animals, children with deformities
and birth defects, for example. But the 2005 Chernobyl Forum report found
scant evidence that this was the case.
In fact, other than a marked increase in thyroid cancers in those living near the
exclusion zone, the report found few definitive links to increased instances of
disease or birth defects.
Their conclusion; in the 600,000 people they studied, they might expect around
4,000 extra deaths that could be directly linked to Chernobyl.
The report created fierce debate among some who felt it grossly
underestimated the impact of the disaster. A subsequent study titled "The Torch
Report," commissioned by the European Green Party, put the number of extra
cancer deaths alone at a much higher rate -- somewhere between 30,000 and
60,000.
Figures released by UNICEF in 2010 showed that more than 20% of adolescent
children in Belarus suffered from disabilities and chronic illness. Belarus
absorbed 70% of Chernobyl's fallout.
But the truth is, no one really knows where to lay the blame for these figures.
One of the main challenges for anyone attempting to ascertain the health
effects of Chernobyl radiation is that there is so much background radiation in
the atmosphere to begin with. But more specifically, Chernobyl was so much
more than an explosion.
"When we think about Chernobyl, most people think about the medical
consequences of living with radiation," said Kathy Ryan, a spokesperson for
Chernobyl Children's International (CCI). "But it's important to understand that
people are still being affected by the social and economic fallout."
After the Chernobyl disaster, millions living on previously prime farmland found
that no one would import their "contaminated" produce. The high cost of
cleanup from the accident, which cost Belarus alone well over $200 billion, is
thought to have contributed to the breakup of the Soviet Union and further
crippled affected region's economy.
With diminished ways to make a living, many were -- and still are -- forced to eat
food and drink water from the polluted areas where they live. Whether radiation
in produce is or is not harmful, what's certain is malnutrition is common, which
often can result in illnesses and birth defects. Another factor is a sense of
defeatism in Chernobyl-affected people, many of whom had to leave homes
their families had lived in for generations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says displacement, poverty and
fear of radiation sickness have contributed to "suicides, drinking problems and
apathy."
It's issues like these -- prenatal alcohol exposure for example -- that have led to
birth defects and illnesses in many children. As a result, many children live in
institutions; UNICEF estimates the number in Belarus alone to be nearly
10,000.
"The children in many cases were removed from their home... because the
parents might have had issues with alcoholism or with poverty," Ryan said.
According to CCI, many kids suffer almost as much from being in an institution
as they do from their disability or illness.
Rebecca Fordham, communications officer from UNICEF, said that finding an
alternative to institutions is a worldwide priority for them.
"It can be impersonal," she said. "They're not getting the dedicated services
they need, not having enough access to proper food or physical activity."
The question now, is how populations can begin to move on from the specter of
Chernobyl?
Reports by the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
(UNSCEAR) and the World Health Organization claim that much of the land
designated as "contaminated" by the former Soviet Union actually contains
radiation levels not much higher than vast areas considered "safe." In fact, by
the USSR's standards, it's not just the former Soviet republics that should be
concerned..
"Some 45,000 square kilometers in Western Europe have measurable levels of
radioactivity in the soil from Chernobyl above the criterion applied in the former
Soviet Union to designate 'contaminated' areas," said UNSCEAR Secretary
Malcolm Crick. And yet, those areas have experienced nowhere near the
alienation and economic impact of much of Belarus and Ukraine.
How many areas are still "contaminated," and what does that mean? Does
lingering radiation adversely affect the health of residents, and is there still a
danger from eating food grown there? These are questions that many not have
answers to for some time to come.
In the meantime, a priority for CCI volunteers is simply to spend time with the
kids, hug them, show them some love, and help them look forward to some kind
of future -- whatever their link to the explosion that so altered their past.
"We're not scientists; we're humanitarians," Ryan said. "We just don't want
these people to be forgotten."