Chernobyl check up for kids

The children were brought to England to stay with host families by the charity Sussex Friends of Chernobyl Children, the only UK charity which spends 100 per cent of its funds on bringing orphaned children to this country for a month's holiday.

The 13 children, all aged between seven and ten visited the Princess Royal Hospital, in Haywards Heath, to be given a check up and advice about their health.

Charity committee member Louise Bain said it was important for them to have the check ups here as there were no screening programmes in their home city of Mogilev, Belarus, which took much of the impact from the fallout of Chernobyl.

She said often children only visited the doctors when they already had advanced cancer and it was too late.

She said: "It is heavily polluted. The radiation level in the soil won't return to normal for 26,000 years.

"These children live in pretty dire circumstances. They have a 6,000 times greater risk of leukemia and a 3,000 greater risk of thyroid cancer as well as having an increased incidence of diabetes.

"The idea is if we can get them over to the UK for a month we can help boost their immune systems. We take them at this age because this is when their reproductive systems are developing and there has been a massive rise in birth defects. We are hoping to look after the next generation as well."

Ms Bain wished to thank the pediatric team at the hospital for all the help and time they had given. She said they had really helped to make sure they were in good health and all the children would be sent home with a year's supply of vitamins when they left in October.

The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine, happened in 1986 when one of the reactors blew up. A number of people died in the immediate explosion but the subsequent fallout has led to a massive increase in the number of people in the surrounding area with cancer and other radiation related illnesses.