FREE ESSAY ON CHERNOBYL

CHERNOBYL

La era nuclear empieza a partir de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, a 50 a?os de este suceso
historico, dos ciudades nuevas se han levantado de las cenizas atomicas de esta
catastrofica guerra. En una de estas ciudades, Chernobyl, a diez a?os de la explosion
nuclear, poblaciones enteras han sido abandonadas alrededor del reactor destruido, para
escapar del agua y del alimento contaminados producidos en el suelo que una vez fuera
rico. 
En el mismo periodo desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la mayoria de los bosques tropicales
fueron destruidos. Se encontro una declinacion dramatica en las especies de plantas y de
animales. Los antropologos registraron una catastrofe global tan enorme que probablemente
no sea superada a lo largo de la historia .
Todavia hay una pregunta en cuanto a la supervivencia humana mas alla de la extension
global del plutonio vaporizado Chernobyl. Esto se relaciona no solamente con una etiqueta
de plastico elemental, sino tambien con los efectos geneticos, los cuales son mucho mas
dificiles de comprobar. Los defectos geneticos, el cancer, la leucemia y los problemas de
la fertilidad seran consecuencias probables. La variedad de impactos sobre el sistema
inmune son tambien dificiles de predecir. Sin embargo, la industria nuclear asume con
seguridad que el publico no asociara la enfermedad con la contaminacion. Muchos continuan
diciendo que las 31 personas que murieron luchando contra el fuego en Chernobyl fueron
las unicas victimas de la radiacion. 
Hace catorce a?os, los habitantes de Ucrania, especialmente los del norte de Kiev, la
capital de esta exrepublica sovietica, comenzaban a vivir lo imaginable: explotaba un
reactor de la planta nuclear de Chernobyl.
El desastre, fruto del error humano, sucedio tan rapido que no hubo momento para evitarlo
o correr del peligro. Las autoridades soveticas tardaron en reaccionar y en advertir a la
poblacion sobre los riesgos. 
ECOLOGIA
The most common birth-defects in animals are the absence of one or more extremities,
deformation of the skull or spine,
absence of eyes, overgrowth of the eyelids, lack of hair, exposed internal organs, or
absence of an anus.
The visits of various commissions have not yet resulted in any final conclusion or
evaluation of these animal deformities. The
question remains, What will happen tomorrow?
GENETICA
As a step toward an assessment of the effects of the radio-ecological situation on living
creatures, Belarus scientists havestudied specimens of plants and wild animals within the
contaminated zone and compared their physiology and behavior withthose on control
specimens in special experimental areas outside the 30-km Zone.
The genetic effects of radiation on the chromatin apparatus of plants were revealed in a
study of the frequency of mitotic anomalies in the seedlings of various types of barley
rye and wheat grown at an experimental station in the Khoiniki region. It was established
that different strains reacted differently to radioactive contamination. The cesium-134/7
content of rye and wheat grains grown in Khoiniki was an order of magnitude higher than
that of grain grown in Minsk province, while there was little difference in the case of
barley. An analysis of chromosomal aberrations year by year has shown that the frequency
of mitotic anomalies in plants grown in the contaminated zone in 1987 was little
different from the frequency observed in ecologically clean areas. In 1988, however, in
all types of plants under observation there was a noticeable rise in the frequency
of chromosomal aberrations. Signs of degeneration and destruction have also been noted in
the pancreas, leading to increased permeability of the blood vessels, leucocyte
infiltration, changes in the vessel walls, and the abnormal growth of connective tissue.
At the same time, the immune system has been significantly damaged, as is shown by a
change in the number of differentiated B-lymphocytes in the bone marrow, the reduction of
polyferation, the differentiation and migration of T-lymphocytes, a disequilibrium of the
proportions among thymocytes, etc. Damage to the structure and function of the membranes
of the lymphocytes is evident, as is damage to the peripheral hormonal action machanisms
and to the system of peroxide oxidation of lipids, along with an increased level of
wasteproducts in the blood and an accompanying drop in the activity of the antioxidants
systems. There are marked changes in thefunction of the cell genome, etc.
Conclusion
We challenge the nuclear professionals to
stand on equal ground with the victims. The victims are very much alone, and much of the
public is looking the other way. Getting Americans to look at Chernobyl requires
awareness of the emotional impact including denial. The need to be impartial often
renders people aloof. A climate of insensitivity is fed by competition while the cold
cutting edge works best with a forced
sense of well-being, while the balance of truth is undermined by accusations of false
fears.
In order to make the actions speak, they must be more than symbolic but active. Donations
of baby-food, vitamins, food supplements, antibiotics and pain-killers were requested by
a number of radiation victims groups in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. By helping in these
regards, it is made clear the real level of the problems. Prayers are needed, too. But
action is the
loudest prayer. Healing is an expression of the determination to survive. Medical healing
has its parallels in the structures in which we live. Designs for sustainable living are
necessary for choices for the future. Thousands of people now living in contaminated
zones should be mobilized to move to safe areas and build new cities in balance with
nature, using easily obtained materials, constructed for the long run. Designs such as
those of Buckminster Fuller (geodesic domes), Paolo Soleri (arcologies) and the Center
for Sustainable Cities (Sustainable Village Implantations). Alternative energy sources
need to be tapped, including hydrogen fuel cells and non-imaging optical lens
concentrators (Argonne Labs), wind, photovoltaics and biomass. Options for a non-nuclear
future exist, but they are the best kept secrets of the Nuclear Age. Divulging these
secrets will go a long way to ending the nightmare.
http://www.halcyon.com/blackbox/hw/mutants.html
Bibliography
http://www.halcyon.com/blackbox/hw/mutants.html