No one knows where this road will lead or the long term effects of exposure to radiation. One zone around Chernobyl remains contaminated, but people still live there. While the law says that these children and families should be provided with clean food and milk, they're not, Taran said. They drink the milk from cows in the zone and eat vegetables grown in the soil. Medicine and food, she said, are needed for these people, especially the children, many of whom suffer from thyroid cancer, but the economic situation in the Ukraine is in crisis and it cannot provide adequate care for all its people.
Women are afraid to have children.
The abortion rate is high and the birth rate is now lower than the death rate, she said. Approximately 400 Kiev buses were used to evacuate residents from the area. Now the buses are leaking. Moisture in the soil is penetrating the dust and contaminants deeper and deeper into the ground water. The water, Taran said, eventually finds its way to the Black Sea.