Sir, - Can I finally have a straight answer from Dr O'Flaherty on the central issue of this correspondence? Dr O'Flaherty states, in his letter of June 25th, that he is satisfied with the assessment of the health effects of Chernobyl by Dr Waight, the key note speaker at the conference organised by them to mark the Chernobyl anniversary.
Do I understand him to mean that he, and therefore the RPII, is asserting that there are no radiation induced increases in cancer, leukaemia, congenital abnormalities, miscarriages or still births in the affected areas, and that the documented increase in all these conditions are, as Dr Waight asserts, the result of psychological stress? As Dr Waight was the only speaker on the health effects of Chernobyl, and as Dr O'Flaherty says he has full confidence in him, this is the only possible interpretation.
It is a very serious matter to deny the reality of radiation effects on the children of Chernobyl who developed thyroid cancer, and therefore to deny them appropriate treatment and further investigation. The same thing is now, I believe, happening to the clean up workers, many of whom also have children with thyroid cancer.
If Dr O'Flaherty is satisfied with this, he is putting the weight of the RPII behind the position taken by Dr Waight, whose assertions I believe to be misleading. - Yours, etc.,
Greystones, Co Wicklow.