Although people evacuated Chernobyl and the surrounding area, many who were there during the explosion experienced high levels of radiation. World Health Organization. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute or NEI, a policy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. responsible for the nuclear technologies industry, the Chernobyl nuclear accident was caused by a flawed reactor and human error. After Roche’s visit to the exclusion zone, she travels to Belarus, a country bordering the Ukraine, where many children affected by the Chernobyl accident live. For many readers those few sentences were apparently proof that a) a baby died, b) an autopsy was conducted, c) the autopsy found elevated radiation levels in the liver and heart disease… Cesium is a radioactive compound. These birth defects might be linked with radiation from the Chernobyl disaster 30 years ago ... Congenital heart defects (CHD) are common among these children. This Academy Award-winning documentary takes a look at children born after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster who have been born with a deteriorated heart condition. In Gomel, Roche arrives at the Abandoned Babies Home number one where she meets Irina Kolmanovich, a pediatrician. The United Nations estimates that over six million people still lived in the contaminated regions as of 2003. He notes the effect radiation has had on the number of illnesses the infants experienced and the increase of illnesses after the Chernobyl disaster. Alexei has suffered a series of strokes caused by the condition known as Chernobyl heart disease. Roche meets Nikolar M. Burakovsky, a chief physician. Roche explains that her task for the next few days will be to determine where the children came from and their diagnoses. The exclusion zone is a 30-kilometer area that surrounds the Chernobyl reactor. Common Blood Condition Increases Heart Disease In the new study, the researchers took a close look at a common blood condition, called clonal hematopoiesis, that is associated with aging. However, a nationwide study of their effects has not been conducted yet. Chernobyl has become synonymous with human suffering and has brought new words into our lives—Chernobyl liquidators, children of Chernobyl, Chernobyl AIDs, Chernobyl contamination, Chernobyl heart, Chernobyl dust, and Chernobyl collar (thyroid disease), etc. All rights reserved. Add to that the 100,000 to 200,000 terminated pregnancies that were largely the result of fear (rather than fact), and the sensationalism in both Hollywood and the media becomes far more troubling. "Chernobyl Heart" is the name for a hole in the heart condition and the crew visit an American surgeon who repairs this condition with a $300 heart valve patch which … Ingesting cesium can cause cancer and affect the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart. Website design by, Achievement and exhaustion on our sponsored walk, The heartbreaking reality of Chernobyl's legacy. It is the worst accident in the history of nuclear energy. While the debate over the cause of the rise in birth defects, heart disease and cancers continues, Chernobyl’s otherwise voiceless victims had the grace and courage to allow their suffering to be documented solely in the hope that tragedies like Chernobyl be prevented in the future. While in the Novinki Mental Asylum, the documentary shows several children with spina bifida or an incomplete closure of the spinal column, cerebral palsy or a disability that affects posture, coordination, and movement, and malnourishment. 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