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What have we learned from Chernobyl as we approach its 25th anniversary, especially in the light of Japan’s current nuclear meltdown at Fukushima? As the nuclear energy debate is reignited, opinion is divided as ever. The world’s leading scientists give conflicting theories but who do we believe? And more importantly, who can we trust? This book concentrates on the HIDDEN LEGACY of Chernobyl, the cover-ups by UN organisations, the fraudulent pact beween the World Health Organisation and the International Agency for Atomic Energy, and the pioneering cure for radiation in children that was denied so they could be human ‘guineapigs’ to the effects of radiation. ‘Chernobyl – The Hidden Legacy’ by Pierpaolo Mittica was published by Trolley in 2007. Mittica, a dentist from Spilimbergo in Italy where the children of Chernobyl still go on holiday, spent over four years visiting the area around the nuclear power plant, studying all available scientific research and documenting what he aw through photography. His striking black and white images show the lives of those people still living in the exclusion zone around Pripyat, and in 2006 were chosen by the Chernobyl National Museum of Kiev in Ukraine for the official exhibition for the 20th anniversary of the disaster. For the 25th they have been chosen by the Fotografiska photography museum in Sweden, which will run from April 1st to May 1st in Stockholm.

The book meanwhile includes essays by leading scientists Dr Rosalie Bertell and Wladimir Tchertkoff, revealing the UN agency cover-ups, and the true cost of the legacy of Chernobyl. The irony is not lost that with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl looming, the smoking chimneys at Fukushima act as a reminder to us all the potential legacy nuclear energy gives us. In the 1960s the U.S. Government told their people that their atomic energy plants were completely safe as they had the very best equipment and safety procedures that were beyond reproach. After Three Mile Island at Pennsylvania in 1979, the Russians came to look at the site and told their people it could never happen in Russia as they had different equipment and better safety procedures. After Chernobyl, The Japanese came to look at the site and told their people it could never happen in Japan as they had different equipment and better safety procedures….Where does this leave the world and nuclear energy today?

THE FRAUDULENT PACT

Pages 16-18 The book details the agreement between the WHO and the IAEA to not reveal the true effects of Chernobyl to the world, culminating in 2005 with the ‘Chernobyl Forum’s non-findings, that contradict hundreds of other independent scientific investigations. The essay was based on an article written by Michel Fernex, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Extracts:

…. “The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the WHO (World Health Organisation) are two agencies of the UN. The IAEA is an agency for the development and sponsorship of the utilisation of atomic energy as an energy resource, while the WHO is an agency for the protection of the physical, mental and social health of individuals all over the world…… In 1959 the IAEA had persuaded the WHO to sign an agreement (law WHA12-40 of 05-28-1959) in which the silence concerning the effects of radiation on human health was extended worldwide. In practice the agreement prevents the WHO from publishing data or studies that could damage the image of the IAEA…….

In 2005 the “Chernobyl Forum” met in Vienna. This body consisted of the IAEA, the WHO and other organisations of the UN, in collaboration with the governments of Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. The report was entitled “The Legacy of Chernobyl: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact”. This study maintained that the nuclear incident at Chernobyl, in these twenty years, had caused the death of only 50 people among the firemen and operators of the power plant in the days immediately following the catastrophe, 200 cases of cancer from acute irradiation and 4000 cases of thyroid cancer, of which only 9 were fatal. The total number of deaths attributable to Chernobyl might reach 4000, at most. Furthermore it denied any increase in the various pathologies of the population affected, and where an increase existed, it was not to be attributed to the radiation but to the poverty and psychological stress that these people are subjected to because of the “persistent myth of the presence of radiation that determines a paralysing fear and fatalism in the population affected”.

There have been literally hundreds of scientific studies (backed up by numbers 1-112 in the book’s footnotes) by independent scientists and institutions that demonstrate the opposite of the IAEA and WHO reports.

THE GUINEA-PIGS OF CHERNOBYL

by Wladimir Tchertkoff

p.184-193

Professor Vassili Nesterenko, who since the book was published died in 2008, was a physicist from Belarus and a former director of the Institut of Nuclear Energy at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. His findings of Chernobyl were not welcome by the authorities and he was sacked with two later assassination attempts. His discovery that apple pectin could dramatically reduce radiation in children, was a treatment that was denied whilst they used Chernobyl as an experiment on the effects of nuclear radiation for humans whilst simultaneously denying their existence. The effects were instead said to be caused by ‘radiophobia’ and stress.

Extracts:

p.97 “Professor Vassili Nesterenko, sacked as a member of the Belarus Academy of Science and Director of its nuclear energy institute, then created Belrad, an independent radiation protection institute, to work for children contaminated by radioactive fallout, with the help of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation. He set up 370 Local Radiation Control Centres (LRCCs) in the most highly-contaminated villages of Belarus, where he trained doctors, nurses and teachers in radiation protection.” “In 1996 Nesterenko successfully introduced a food supplement based on apple pectin. Pectin molecules combine with Cs137, and cannot be assimilated by the body; thus Cs137 is eliminated faster. Within a month of treatment, the level of contamination in the body of a child can decrease by 60-70%.”p.188

In anticipation of a major nuclear disaster in the West, a scenario that has not been ruled out by the IAEA, one of the ETHOS objectives was to write a document for the European Union on the management of areas contaminated by long-lasting radionucleides and define a “sustainable model for the management of  radiation and social confidence.”  p.189 The recognition that apple pectin is effective and beneficial to health in that it has the capacity to absorb and speed up the elimination of radionucleides would in effect be tantamount to admitting that mass contamination is not only a fact, but that it is indeed caused by Caesium 137 released during the Chernobyl melt-down, and not by “stress.” What is more, without this absorbing agent that can alter radiation levels in the body, the human guinea-pigs in the hands of the European experimenters have the advantage of remaining biologically “pure.” p.191 From the point of view of medical ethics, it is unacceptable to be recording high levels of Caesium 137 contamination in food and in the bodies of children without supplying them with a course of pectin (at least for those for whom long-term evacuation is not possible). It would be like finding Koch’s bacillus in the mucus of a child and not administering an appropriate treatment for tuberculosis.

Lolita Lark writes for Ralph Mag about Trolley 2007 publication Chernobyl – The Hidden Legacy by Pierpaolo Mittica, urging Ralph Mag readers ‘not to miss it now’ as the world again, suffers from nuclear disaster.

A Million Shillings – Escape from Somalia by Alixandra Fazzina has been selected for an exhibition of highly recommended books from the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Book Awards.  This will be on display for the duration of the World Photography Festival and Exhibition at Somerset House, London from 26 April – 22 May. The exhibition recognises the very best books reviewed by the two judging panels of this year’s awards. They are Mary McCartney (Chair), David Campany and Yuka Yamaji for the photography award and Hugh Hudson (Chair), Peter Bradshaw and Sir Christopher Frayling for the moving image. Only a small number of titles have been selected for display from over 200 international submissions across both categories.

“anything but ordinary” – Jeremy Leslie (Magculture), Creative Review

“Sure to become a collector’s item” – Sean O’Hagan, The Guardian (UK)

Teller is a magazine of stories. Stories told in pictures, in words, in both; short sharp stories, ’so I once heard this story’ stories, stories of pure invention and stories that might just be true.

Teller brings together photography, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and all kinds of graphic art, from well-known names and exciting new talent. It’s beautifully designed by Neue Gestaltung and perfectly printed in Italy on lovely matt paper.

READ MORE OR FUND HERE NOW

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Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter’s work will be exhibited at the Museum of Design and Applied Art in Reykjavik on occasion of ‘Hönnunarmars’ or Design March. Her exhibition ‘In the Gray Area’ will be inaugurated today March 23rd with a Private View from 5 to 7 pm. Shoplifter is to receive the Nordic Award in Textiles this year. Come check her out if you’re in the area!

UPDATE FOR OUR PLEDGERS! The Indiegogo campaign has now ended, BUT you can still pledge and pre-order a copy of Tom’s book via our website. For those of you who have already given THANK YOU SO MUCH we still get to keep what we have raised on Indiegogo, and in the next few months will continue to search for the final funding – our new target is to make $20,000 and print 1000 copies of the book. In the meantime, all of your money will be saved in the book’s dedicated bank account until we go on press in the summer.

Please encourage people who might like to support Tom’s book to visit our website, as every pledge still counts!

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We want to say an enormous thank you to all those who pledged for the publication of The Only House Left Standing – The Middle East Journals of Tom Hurndall The crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo, which ended yesterday raised a fantastic $9,402  For those of you who know people who might still want to make a pledge or pre-order the book at the discounted rate don’t worry, we will be setting this up on our website in next few days…

From April 1st to May 1st 2011 images  from Chernobyl by Pierpaolo Mittica will be a part of the Fotografiska for life exhibition which is a series of digital exhibitions that highlight important subjects through documentary photography. Fotografiska is in Stockholm, Sweden- for more information on the gallery please go to the following link http://en.fotografiska.eu/

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HIGH LINE ROOM
THE STANDARD 3RD FLOOR
848 WASHINGTON STREET
NEW YORK NY 10014
EXHIBITION RUNS
28TH FEB – 2ND MARCH 2011
OPEN DAILY 11-6PM

Photographs courtesy of Wallis Gallery and Ross McNicol, curator

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