Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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good people there, everywhere, and bad people everywhere, and you
have to make sure it's a good model.
Mr. KuzMA. Yes. The only laboratory that I've been familiar with
over the last few years is one under the administration of Dr.
Volodya Tykhy, whose father, actually, was an heroic political prisoner
in the past who died as a result of the abuse he sustained in
a Soviet prison camp.
Dr. Tykhy has been one of the real leaders in helping to monitor
this. He's received support from the American Greenpeace organization.
Apparently, they've been running quite effectively, in recent
years, in tracking contamination of the Dnipro and other watersheds.
Just in conclusion, one other type of contamination, although it
might not seem totally relevant to this, we've been actually very
concerned about the need for additional medical care and additional
surgeries in the coming years. The fact that just the rate of
thyroid cancers is rising indicates that there probably will be surgeries
for other types of cancers.
A critical need for Ukraine, and I'm sure for Belarus, is also to
provide adequate AIDS testing, to prevent contamination of blood
through transfusions. This is a problem that the United States,
having a tragic lead on this issue, can really offer a lot to the people
of Eastern Europe to help prevent the spread of HIV infections.
We've already met with a number of people that have been tracking
this problem. There was an explosion of AIDS in
Dnipropetrovsk this year. There were five pediatric cases in
Donetsk. One of our hospitals also now has the capability to test
for AIDS. That's an area in which we can make a huge contribution
to save tens of thousands of lives in the years to come. It's another
gigantic challenge that we're facing as we try to improve the quality
of medical care in that area.
Mr. Smith. The Commission is most appreciative for your testimony.
I've been in Congress 16 years, and you are perhaps the
most informative panel I have ever heard. I can assure you, we will
provide copies of this record to many Members of Congress, especially
those who are in strategic positions to do something, on my
subcommittee, as well as on the full Committee on International
Relations.
Especially with this tragic milestone approaching on the 26th, we
should look at that as a launching pad to pursue what we haven't
done, and try to backfill, and make sure we are covering all the
bases, especially with the peak period still on the horizon. There's
so much and questions of resettlement are important, so that we
ensure more people won't be contaminated, which would be a terrible
tragedy.
Thank you for your very fine testimony. Each and every one of
you have been an excellent panel. The Commission is adjourned.
Thank you.
The hearing was concluded at 12:04 p.m.
[Written inserts follow.]