wfn.org | Chernobyl worker receives medical evaluation

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (536
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Note 536 by UMNS on Jan. 8, 1998 at 16:25 Eastern (3026 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green					9(10-71B){536}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	Jan. 8, 1998

United Methodist Church brings Chernobyl 
victim to Texas for medical diagnosis

	A former worker at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine got
some much needed medical assistance Jan. 5-7 thanks to assistance from the
United Methodist Church and the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
	Alexander Zagruznyy, now residing in New York, came to  Houston as results of
efforts by Area Bishop Joseph Woodrow Hearn, the churchwide Board of Global
Ministries in New York and the medical college. He received free medical
tests, airfare, meals and accommodations. 
Zagruznyy is a registrant in the Baylor/Chernobyl Registry Project, a study to
identify and register all Chernobyl-area individuals who have relocated to the
United States and Canada. 
He came to the Baylor College of Medicine to receive a medical evaluation,
including genetic and psychological testing to diagnose medical problems he’s
suffered from since working at Chernobyl. He is afflicted with heart and
intestinal problems.
	On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl power station,
killing many people and crippling others. Since the nuclear accident many
people were exposed to and have died from radiation-induced conditions.
	Through an interpreter, Zagruznyy expressed his happiness at being able to
receive a medical evaluation. "This is a dream come true," he said. "I will
follow the medical recommendations and I am very thankful to the people of the
United Methodist Church and Baylor College for helping me."
	Leif Peterson, a cancer specialist at the medical college, said the accident
at Chernobyl in 1986 had a devastating health impact on children and adults.
He said the incidence rate of thyroid among children exposed to high levels or
radio-iodine is 100 to 200 times greater than expected. The illnesses in
children began to appear three to four years after the explosion.
	At Chernobyl, there was a special population called "liquidators" or clean-up
workers. They extinguished fires and cleaned up the land.  Peterson said these
people have a radiation dose equivalent to 2000 chest x-rays. Therefore, he
said, there would be two-fold increases in radiation-induced leukemia,
occurring 10 to 15 years after an accident like Chernobyl. In later years, he
said, the medical community could see a 50 percent increase in
radiation-induced solid cancers.
	"Because Zagruznyy was a liquidator, he could possibly be at increased risk
of radiation-induced leukemia and solid cancers for the remainder of his
life," Peterson said.
	For this reason, he said, "it is of interest to study cancer among
liquidators."
	Peterson said he is grateful to the United Methodist Church for the
opportunity to examine and diagnosis Zagruznyy.
	"It is our sincere hope that we continue this dialogue to pursue radiation
and psychosocial affects of radiation among liquidators."
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