For ten days following the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Power Plant, the northerly winds carried an unprecedented amount of radioactivity over an unknowing population in Belarus.
Children are especially susceptible to the hazards of even small amounts of radiation.
A child's play, especially outdoors, further intensifies their environmental exposure. Previous studies of populations exposed to radiation have shown that the risk of cancer is greater for those less than 20 years old at exposure. With a longer life before them, children are more likely to develop more of the long-delayed problems associated with radiation. In Belarus, so far, thyroid cancer in children has increased over 200-fold and an estimated 20,000 remain at high risk for developing cancer in the future. Children who were less than 4 years of age at the time of the accident seem to be at highest risk.