Chernobyl not to blame for cancer

THE only children whose health was affected by the Chernobyl accident (News, 11 November) were some who contracted thyroid cancer, which could have been prevented by medication. Unfortunately nine died but the rest survived after surgery. No children’s immune system has been affected by radiation, nor is it the cause of birth defects.

There is no evidence that radiation has caused an increase in cancers in the area and it is scaremongering to claim that the so-called “Chernobyl children” have been damaged by radiation.

See the UN’s Chernobyl ­Forum report.

Steuart Campbell, Edinburgh