Turning the pages back... May 22, 1996 (05/21/00)

Turning the pages back...

May 22, 1996

Four years ago on May 22, Rep. Christopher H. Smith, chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, spoke about the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 167, which among other things called for the president of the United States to continue enhanced support for U.S. assistance providing medical relief, humanitarian assistance, social impact planning and hospital development for Ukraine, Belarus and Russia in the aftermath of the Chornobyl nuclear accident.

The resolution, which passed 404 to 0, also urged Ukraine to continue its negotiations with the G-7 to implement the December 20, 1995, Memorandum of Understanding, calling for all nuclear reactors at Chornobyl to be shut down by the year 2000. The Senate companion bill, S. Con. Res. 67, had passed on April 25 by unanimous consent.

Rep. Smith said: "H. Con. Res. 167 is an important and timely resolution which recognizes the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster - the worst in recorded history - and supports the closing of the remaining reactors in that plant."

Rep. Smith pointed out that 10 years ago millions of people were exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation and that since then children, in particular, experienced alarming increases in thyroid cancer and other conditions. He cited one World Health Organization expert's recent forecast that the total of thyroid cancers among children in the contaminated zones may ultimately reach 10,000, that these trends have accelerated since the disaster.

Thus, H. Con. Res. 167 called upon the president to encourage national and international organizations to expand the scope of research into the public health consequences of Chornobyl. The resolution also urged the president to support the process of closing Chornobyl, while recognizing the tremendous costs involved and its impact on a country undergoing the unbelievably difficult transition from communism.

Source: "Houses approves Chornobyl resolution," The Ukrainian Weekly, May 26, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 21.

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