Food contamination after the Chernobyl accident: dose assessments and health effects

Abstract

After the Chernobyl accident, a tendency to overestimate its medical consequences was noticed in many scientific publications, a recent example being the volume 1181 of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, entirely dedicated to Chernobyl. In the present paper, several statements from the chapter ‘Radioactive Contamination of Food and People’ are discussed and their reliability questioned. There are many other unfounded statements in different chapters of the above-named volume including the abstracts available online. Taking into account previously published criticism, some chapters of this volume are misleading for the scientific community and should be formally retracted. With regard to the motives, Chernobyl accident has been exploited for strangulation of nuclear energy production. Today, however, there are no alternatives to nuclear power: fossil fuels will become increasingly expensive, contributing to excessive population growth in fuel-producing countries and poverty elsewhere.