The health statistics are not getting better as time goes by. In fact, they are getting worse. A study released last August and reported in the October issue of the British Medical Journal found that children born in affected areas after the Chernobyl disaster had a greater chance of developing thyroid cancer, gastrointestinal and lymphatic disorders and other radiation-related problems than those who were more than 1 year old when the reactor exploded. During the first year of life, the study found, a child is most delicate and susceptible to disease. Babies grow by leaps and bounds in the first 12 months of life.
Cells multiply rapidly.
Infants are more vulnerable. Even if Katia lives a healthy life, the past week's planeload of children will not be the last to arrive at Kfar Chabad. The affects of Chernobyl will not end anytime soon. Radioactive particles will remain in the region's fields and streams for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. That's one of the reasons we say the Chernobyl disaster will get worse with time.