Hiroshima group to help nuclear victims in Kazakstan
Aug. 2, Kyodo - A civic group in Hiroshima plans to visit the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan late this month to provide medical equipment and drugs to more than 300,000 people believed to suffer illnesses from nuclear tests conducted in the Kazak town of Semipalatinsk, the group said Monday.Among the assistance the Hiroshima Semipalatinsk Project plans to provide are ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, a vehicle for medical treatment and drawings with the theme of peace by Hiroshima youngsters, the group said.
In Semipalatinsk, where the largest Soviet nuclear testing ground was located, the Soviet Union's first nuclear testing was carried out 50 years ago. It was followed by more than 450 tests, the last being in October 1989.
The group's visit is expected to take place sometime around Aug. 29.
According to a study compiled by last year by the Kazak state-run institute on nuclear medicine and environment, the leukemia-caused death rate per 100,000 residents near the test site is about double the usual level.
The study also learned of reports of local people suffering from thyroid cancer, diseases of the blood and immune systems and malformation of the body. However, it is difficult to determine whether the nuclear tests were responsible.
''Hospitals have been short of needles and other medical supplies'' since the Kazak economy started deteriorating from 1991, said Akiro Kimura, a professor of the Hiroshima University Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine and Biology.
''An increasing number of patients cannot go to hospital due to poverty,'' Kimura added.
Since January this year, the civic group has collected about 6 million yen for nuclear victims in Kazakstan.
The head of the group's secretariat, Chieko Kobatake, said she hopes the planned assistance will provide an opportunity for alliances with nuclear victims elsewhere in the world.
Hiroshima suffered the world's first atomic bomb attack Aug. 6, 1945, followed by the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki three days later.
The U.S. atomic bombings devastated the two western Japan cities and killed a large number of people. Surviving victims continue to suffer physical and mental effects.
(Eds: Group's secretariat can be reached at 082-278-6463)
