On the eve of the next anniversary of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP, comments by a well-known doctor, professor, ex-rector of the Gomel Medical University Yuriy Bandazhevsky appear in the press.
From a personal matter
In 1990, 33-year-old Professor Yuriy Bandazhevskyi moved from Grodno to Gomel and headed the newly opened medical institute. He immediately started studying the effects of small doses of radiation on the human body. University scientists, led by the rector, proved a cause-and-effect relationship between the effect of radiation on the human body and the occurrence of a number of serious diseases.
However, in 1999, Professor Bandazhevsky was arrested, found guilty of accepting a bribe and sentenced to 8 years. Human rights activists declared Bandazhevsky a political prisoner, saying that the real reason for the criminal prosecution of the scientist was not a bribe, but his disagreement with the policy of the Belarusian authorities in dealing with the consequences of the Chernobyl accident.
In 2005, Bandazhevsky was released on parole and literally immediately left the country. First to France, then to Lithuania.
Where does the scientist work now? How did you celebrate your 60th birthday? What scientific developments is he engaged in? Does it often happen in the homeland?
Why flaunt your personal life? - Yurii Ivanovych answered the question with a question.
- There was an anniversary and it passed. I will not talk about myself. This is my principle. To say that I suffer, to be sick, is to make enemies happy. Telling about what I am doing now is another conversation.
— I know that you are the head of the Kyiv Coordination Analytical Center "Ecology and Health". How long have you lived in Ukraine?
- I am involved in a large project of the European Commission in Ukraine to provide assistance to the regions affected by the Chernobyl disaster. These are medical examination and monitoring programs, which provide for the assessment of children's health status with the adoption of appropriate measures for the prevention of diseases. The project is serious, with a budget of about 5 million euros. Nowhere in the post-Chernobyl space was anything similar.
— That's why you had to move from Lithuania to Ukraine?
- It took a lot of time and effort until everything was fixed. The project took a long time to organize, it was not easy. I don't want to brag, but to some extent the money was allocated specifically for me, I am responsible from the European Union for the implementation of this project.
— More than 10 years have passed since you left the country. Do you visit Belarus?
- No, I cannot visit Belarus. Such a condition. Of course, unspoken, unofficial.
— Why? You have, as they say, served your term……
- That's not the point. It's about my family, children. They are hostages of the situation, so I don't make such moves so as not to harm my loved ones. They do not want to leave the country, no matter how difficult it may be, they want to live in Belarus.
— Do you miss your homeland?
- No. I miss it - it doesn't fit in my situation. Rather, I miss the places in which I grew up, I miss my children. Is it possible to be bored under the regime that exists in Belarus? I am more annoyed by the passivity of Belarusians who have accepted the situation they are in.
— Maidan is better than passivity?
- What is Maidan for?! Why is it necessary to strike, pick up stones and flood into power?! There are different ways to protest. After all, there is some responsibility for what happens in the country. Well, you can't be so passive! You can't achieve anything lying on the ground, not even sitting on the couch. Belarusians, in my opinion, are in a state of terrible apathy, indifference. I judge how they treat the Chernobyl problem. People are lulled to sleep, told to live in the areas affected by the accident, eat from them, everything is fine - and they agree. After all, in reality, this is a serious problem related to people's health.
Our research conducted in Ukraine indicates that the contaminated territories are not cleaned, new problems appear - the second, third attack of radioactive elements, which cannot be ignored.
— Recently, official statistics were published in Belarus that among those recognized as victims of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, morbidity, including those of the circulatory system, decreased, and there were fewer cases of neoplasms...
- I don't even know how to comment on it………..
Now we are in the fourth year of our project, research is being conducted in the regions of Ukraine located near Chernobyl, and we see that, yes, the amount of radionuclides in the human body has decreased, compared to the huge doses of radiation we observed in the 1990s, but they bring very serious problems.
- We identify the most severe disorders in children of the second post-Chernobyl generation. That is, these are the children of those children who met directly with the accident. But it should not be forgotten that these regions of Ukraine suffered and were less polluted, because in April 1986 the rose of winds was directed at Belarus. That's why I'm even scared to imagine what is happening in Belarus now!
I remember the Chernobyl children well. Branch, Hoyniki, Bragin. We examined them all. And once, when I was living in Vilnius, a businessman from Belarus called me and offered help. It turned out that he was one of those examined children, and he said a terrible thing: of his classmates, only a few girls were left alive, the rest had died. But no one in Belarus is talking about it! Everything somehow dissolved, no one knows about it. This is the government's policy. In my opinion, this is real genocide.
— Is it not like that in Ukraine? Isn't the Chernobyl problem hushed up there?
- If Ukraine has agreed to such large-scale research, which is organized as part of our project, then it probably won't shut up…….. My head hasn't been chopped off yet, but we're talking sharply.
Every year we examine 4 thousand Ukrainian children. And they are forced to admit, speaking Ukrainian, that their health is "bad". The effect of radiation on the body leads to serious problems: the central nervous system is affected, the problem with the thyroid gland has not disappeared anywhere - up to 40 percent of the children examined have a serious pathology of the thyroid gland. And almost 80 percent of the subjects were found to have various kinds of average disturbances (more often arrhythmias)!
Another serious problem that shocked us and Ukrainian endocrinologists - in most of the examined children, we saw a violation of the absorption of substances, namely the main cycle - folic acid, an indispensable vitamin for the body, which is involved in the exchange of the amino acid methionine and on which the level of homocysteine depends. If it exceeds the permissible threshold, this indicates that in a few years children may develop oncological diseases, blood coagulation is disturbed, heart attacks and strokes occur.
— Are the Ukrainian authorities ready to deal with this problem, to help these children?
- I cannot be responsible for the Ukrainian authorities. When we started the project, the reaction of the Ukrainian authorities was positive. Although they did not allocate funds for research. The district hospital, equipped for almost 1 million euros, other measures - this was done with the money of the European Union. Of course, we would like more participation on the part of Ukraine, but we understand that the country is currently going through a difficult period. Therefore, we are trying to convince our partners from the European Union to help continue this work. First of all, preventive measures are important here, it is necessary to prevent the penetration of even small doses of radiation into the body, including with food.
— Is it unrealistic to implement the project in Belarus?
- Belarus has taken a tough stance towards me and my ideas. I was persecuted, repressed, thrown out of the country. And today it is illogical to support Bandazhevsky. The government does not need it. Then, I understand very well, and I know that I was persecuted, not only by the Belarusian authorities, but also by the Russian special services. Maybe not everyone knows, but at first they wanted to accuse me of terrorism, overthrowing state power. I was accused of undermining the current government with my activities, and that I am collecting weapons and money for this purpose. And then, after not finding the weapon described in the denunciation, I was accused of receiving a bribe. Until the verdict, I was kept on the floor in the ITT almost all the time. The showdowns were serious... That's why I have a tough position on Belarus.
— It is felt even by your intonation. Has the offense taken root?
- There is no offense. Whom to take offense at? It is sad that a lot could have been done, but was not done. I specifically came to Gomel in 1990 to deal with the problem of radiation, to study its impact on the human body. And everything that can be taken away was taken from me: they deprived me of the opportunity to live in my country and work.
— But you managed. And now you are doing what you love and is important for everyone.
- Maybe someone wanted to break me, but I did not give such an opportunity. And I will not allow anyone to make fun of me, dissect my brain. I know what I work for and what I do. I don't need any titles or titles or any dividends. When I deprive a person of his homeland, he no longer needs many things. The most important thing is that I have my profession, my idea to help people, and I'm still trying to promote it.
Maria Eismont.
Narodna Volya, May 3, 2017
