2011 Nuclear Meltdown in Japan, Chernobyl and Aftereffects of Nuclear Disasters

Last year, in March of 2011, 3 nuclear reactors melted in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami there, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere. There are many aftereffects of a nuclear test, accident or disaster and it is a problem that affects the entire world, not just the immediate area. Never make the mistake in thinking that just because you are or were half a world away you are safe from the aftereffects of radioactive materials being released into the atmosphere.

The Chernobyl disaster (locally Катастрофа Чернобыля, Chornobyl Catastrophe ) was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (officially Ukrainian SSR), which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western USSR and Europe, including Poland where we joked about eating radioactive tomatoes for years. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

My point in writing this article is to share my research and experience of what happened to me following the Chernobyl accident in 1986. It is now many years later and at the time of the accident I was a child living in Poland. The Chernobyl accident was complicated by the Iron Curtain and the communist regime in power in USSR at the time and the information shared with the world back then was sketchy at best. I am going to focus on the health effects as they affected me, Poland and Europe.

The nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl accident included Radio iodine which is absorbed by the body through breathing or consumption. One organ that absorbs and stores radio iodine is the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland of all people but few in particular; girls who were going through puberty as well as young children and infants, collected radio iodine from the nuclear fallout through breathing (it was present in the atmosphere) as well as consumption of especially vegetables. The thyroid gland stores the radio iodine and in the years following the accident a lot of people in Poland and Europe begin showing signs of an unusually high amount of antibodies (White Blood cells). White blood cells include Lymphocytes: T-cells and B-cells. T-cells secrete lymphokines (chemicals that direct immune action). "Cytotoxic" T-cells bind to antigens (any cell with a protein that the body deems foreign or mistakes as foreign) and release toxic compounds. Basically, the immune system attacks the thyroid because of the radio iodine built up in it.

Besides thyroid problems which mainly affected young girls, the Chernobyl accident caused many cancers among the European people (according to many articles I have read over the years, published mainly in the European press), especially Leukemia.

One medication thought to be effective against radiation poisoning is Potassium Iodide (K1). It is thought to work by preventing radiation sickness by stimulating the production of white blood cells in the bone marrow (radiation sickness causes red and white blood cells to decrease drastically). However, Potassium Iodide may have been given at inappropriate doses following the Chernobyl accident in 1986, actually causing an increase in autoimmune diseases, thyroid diseases and cancer and leukemia.

The stimulation of the immune system by chemical drugs such as Potassium Iodide or others may actually cause as much harm as radiation itself. The body, in response to both the radiation and the drugs, produces too many white blood cells, which attack the body's own cells leading to autoimmune dysfunction.