Chernobyl . It was published in 2009 by the New York Academy of Sciences in their Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences . It presents an analysis of scientific literature and concludes that medical records between 1986, the year of the accident, and 2004 reflect 985,000 premature deaths as a result of the radioactivity released. [ 156 ] Though, it was impossible to precisely determine what dose the affected people received, knowing the fact that the received doses varied strongly from one individual to the other in the population above which the radioactive cloud travelled, and also knowing the fact that one cannot tell for sure if a cancer in an individual from the former USSR is produced by radiation from Chernobyl accident or by other social or behavioral factors, such as smoking or alcohol drinking. [ 157 ] The authors suggest that most of the deaths were in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, though others occurred worldwide throughout the many countries that were struck by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl. The literature analysis draws on over 1000 published titles and over 5000 internet and printed publications discussing the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The authors contend that those publications and papers were written by leading Eastern European authorities and have largely been downplayed or ignored by the IAEA and UNSCEAR. [ 156 ] This estimate has however been criticized as exaggerated, lacking a proper scientific base. [ 23 ] Abortion requests Following the accident, journalists mistrusted many medical professionals