A statement to this effect was made by Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety Yaroslav Movchan when commenting on the results of the Fourth Environment for Europe Conference held in Arhus, Denmark, involving over 50 countries. Mr. Movchan added, "If we do not take urgent steps to correct this situation, the consequences may turn out extremely serious."
These consequences are starting to make themselves felt. The Ministry of Health says that Ukraine's morbidity level remains high, showing noticeable increases in certain regions – mostly in terms of respiratory, circulatory, nervous, and sense organ diseases.
The highest morbidity rate is registered in central and northeastern Ukraine. Endocrine disorders, malnutrition, and metabolic defects in the central region surpass Ukraine's average indices by 25%. There are 743 respiratory cases per 1,000 children in the central and northern areas, and 936 such cases in the southeast.
Children residing in radiation risk areas have shown deteriorating health over the past six years. Statistics from the Institute of Psychology under the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences read that 49% of children living in contaminated areas suffer from serious chronic diseases. Over 60% of older children are unable to make comparisons and analyze things; 75% have problems with their memory, and over 80% are uncommunicative. In Kyiv, only 10% of children can be issued a clean bill of health, the rest having one or another kind of health problem.
The situation that has developed is most vividly described in medical and demographic terms. The Ministry of Health maintains that the birth rate is on a disastrously downward curve and the negative mortality rate is emphasized by a sharp increase in the neonatal death toll. Specialists attribute complications in pregnancy, labor, and in the puerperal period, as well as congenital anomalies to pollution. A physician at Kyiv Hospital No. 2 stressed, "We have especially many such pathologies today."
Medical workers are convinced that all these negative indices will continue to increase until the government steps in, instituting environmental controls. Not a single transgressor of environmental laws has been punished to this day – at least no such record was found at the Chief Ecological Inspectorate of the Ministry of Ecological Safety. The Ukrainian in the street has no information about the environmental situation. People in Ukraine do not know what kind of air they are breathing, water drinking, food eating, or soil working. It is logical to assume that the relevant authorities have such information, but they often do not share it with the general public.
Interviewed by The Day, Minister Yaroslav Movchan said that if the Ukrainian Parliament ratifies the documents signed by Ukraine at the conference, one and all will have guaranteed access to environmental information. In addition, he continued, there will be a legal framework to stop further degradation of the environment and secure the balanced use of natural resources. MES is working on a program under which gasoline with toxic lead admixtures will stop being used in 2002-2005. "Ukraine will have to meet the next conference scheduled for 2002 with certain measures taken to improve its environment," Mr. Movchan concluded.
AP photo:
Technologically caused catastrophes often assail Ukraine's environment







