CRIIRAD
Commission de Recherche

et d’Information Indépendantes

sur la Radioactivité

471avenue V. Hugo – 26000 Valence

Internet : www.criirad.org




Creation of the

"CRIIRAD - Bandazhevsky" Laboratory

in Belarus



An international project in service to the victims of Chernobyl disaster and all people exposed to the radioactive contaminations:



· To install a biomedical laboratory in Belarus, the most contaminated country by Chernobyl fallouts ;

· To pursue researches on the pathological effects of chronic incorporations of radioactive products ;

· A laboratory directed by Doctor Galina Bandazhevskaya and Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky ;

· A laboratory managed by CRIIRAD, based on the same ethical principles of competence and independence as the CRIIRAD laboratory at Valence, in France.



This dream can and must become a reality.



In 1986, a few french citizen, shocked by misinformations that French Official Authorities diffused about the fallouts of the Chernobyl disaster on the French territory and on the contamination level in food, decided to create a laboratory specialized in the measurements of radioactivity which would work independently and would be at the service of all those who would be willing to obtain reliable informations on the state of environment and food contaminations.


This was a bet quite insane, but it was a success



The French population supported this initiative and provided the necessary money. Eighteen years later, the CRIIRAD laboratory intervenes everywhere in France, and more and more frequently everywhere in the world (Japan, Niger, etc.).



In 2005, CRIIRAD begins a as much fundamental project. CRIIRAD received an urgent call from Professor Youri Bandazhevsky and his wife, Doctor Galina Bandazhevskaya, to help them to continue their research works by creating a biomedical laboratory at Minsk, capital of Belarus.







In January, a fax, hand written in French by Yuri, reached us :

Président de la CRIRAD
Cher président !

Je demande vous accepter moi en CRIRAD.

Je voudrais travailler dans le CRIRAD.

Professeur Youri Bandazhevsky. 28.01.05.

During a mission that CRIIRAD organized in Belarus at the end of last January and by regular phonecalls, between Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky and the vice-president of CRIIRAD, the project was specified:



1/ CRIIRAD engages firstly Doctor Galina Bandazhevskaya[1], secondly professor Youri Bandazhevsky as soon as he will be released (or that he will obtain parole), that is to say near the beginning of 2007 at the latest.



2/ CRIIRAD launches an international subscription in direction of all those who have supported the Professor in his struggle for the truth on the medical consequences of radioactive contaminations. The aim is to find the necessary funds to purchase a place for the laboratory, to install it and to equip it ; the provisional cost will be 110 000 euros at least.





Help us to achieve this project. WWW.CRIIRAD.ORG



I. Explanatory text by CRIIRAD

II. Letter of Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky



I.

Since 4 years, CRIIRAD has brought assistance to scientists of Belarus, the country the most strongly wounded by the Chernobyl catastrophe. Several scientific projects have been completed, and some are still in execution, in collaboration with the Institute of Radioprotection BELRAD, directed by Professor Vassili Nesterenko. These projects bring assistance to the populations that are still obliged to live on contaminated territories. A work of information and help has also been completed for Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky, former vice-chancellor of Gomel Medical Institute, condemned without proof to 8 years of prison.(cf. History on our site: www.criirad.org)

Since May 28, 2004, Yuri Bandazhevsky is in relegation and his personal situation can evolve at any moment. Though he is not yet free, Yuri Bandazhevsky still wishes to carry out a scientific research on the medical consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. His convictions and his passion did not leave him. In 1990, four years after the catastrophe of Chernobyl, he practised, as a young Professor in medicine, specialized in pathological anatomy, in the core of the most contaminated areas.

With research groups of the Gomel Medical Institute, that he led until 1999, he made progress on the knowledge about the medical impact of chronic internal contaminations by radionucleides, especially Cesium-137. Using statistical analyses and experimental demonstrations, he clarified the physiopathology of a whole set of diseases, each one being related to an abnormal Cesium-137 concentration in the affected organ (heart, liver, kidney, digestive system, etc).

Much work remains to be done for understanding further 1) the relations between the radioactive contamination and the increase in perinatal mortality and congenital malformations ; 2) the role of the radionuclides in the forming of new genetic diseases and in already known diseases as diabetes, arteriosclerosis, hypertension and myocardial infarction ; 3) the mecanisms by which the cesium can provoke heart and kidneys diseases in the child, and/or deteriorate the central nervous system and the vision. These diseases appear at increasingly early ages, even during infancy.

A few months ago, as soon as he obtained relegation from authorities of Belarus, Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky addressed to CRIIRAD a proposal to begin a scientific collaboration.

After reflexion, the project to recruit Professor Bandazhevsky and to construct a biomedical research laboratory at Minsk in Belarus was born. Despite all difficulties to communicate, considering his current situation in relegation and taking into account the distance, we quickly arrived to a full agreement on the future prospects of Professor Bandazhevsky.

At the end of January 2005, some representatives of CRIIRAD went to Minsk (capital of Belarus) for meeting Professor Bandazhevsky's wife, who is a doctor specialized in pediatry, and for consolidating the ground of our scientific collaborations with the Belrad Institute. Together, we decided to announce to the highest authorities of Belarus (President & Foreign Minister) that: "We are ready to sign a contract with Professor Bandazhevsky to create and finance a scientific laboratory on the territory of the Republic of Belarus" which he will lead.

The achievement of such an ambitious project being very expensive, CRIIRAD launched an International Call to be able to create it, under the best possible conditions.

It is the reason why CRIIRAD calls upon all those are willing to support an Independent research on the medical consequences of the Chernobyl disaster (private persons, NGOs, elected officials, local authorities, etc.).

The work that will be completed in this new laboratory falls fully in the topics covered by the fundamental missions of CRIIRAD : Research and Independent Informations. What happens in Belarus, is essential for our future. If one wants to know one day the true impact of the Chernobyl disaster, one must obtain reliable sources of information and data, especially in the most contaminated countries. It is necessary that such a research will be undertaken by scientists independent of industrials. This is not the case today, the assessments of the Chernobyl disaster reach us only through the filter of powerful pronuclear organizations. How could we contribute to establish the true impact of the Chernobyl disaster without reliable scientific data ?

In 1986, CRIIRAD was created by ordinary French citizens to answer this question. To face the systematic lowering by French authorities of the Chernobyl fallouts on the French territory and to face the refusal of the French authorities to protect their own population. At this time, the need for having an independent laboratory specialized in measurements of the radioactivity was obvious.

Today, history is repeating. Thus, the same Will animate us again.

We strongly and deeply wish and hope that the citizen answer to our call will be at the level of such an event.

II.

Letter written by Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky,

(principal extracts – translated from Russian)



February 16, 2005,



"Dear friends!



Today, my projects about my personal and professional life depend directly on my condition as a prisoner under house arrest.



Considering my position about the sentence pronounced against me by the court, and taking into account the attitude of authorities in regard to the respect of the humans right for myself, it is clear that I cannot hope for an improvement of my status in the near future. My penalty finishes on January 6, 2007, and this is the date on which I count. I wish to stress that I still remain faithful to my principles. In spite of the absence of suitable conditions to perform a scientific work, I am undertaking all the possible actions to continue it. I am very grateful to all people and organizations that try to help me.



All my thoughts during these last eight years of my life, are related to the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and on effects of the ionizing radiations on the human organism. One can hardly call this a work, it is rather a cross that is necessary to carry, I consider this as the mission of my life. In prison, as I did not have the possibility of undertaking clinical research, nor experiments on animals laboratory, I focussed all my efforts on writing scientific articles, about the influence of radioactive cesium on the human and animals organisms. They are mainly the analysis of the results of studies made with my students of the Gomel Medical Institute between 1990 and 1999.



In the cell of my prison at Minsk, where I remained from 2001 to 2004, I carefully noted my reflexions in a diary. After my placement under house arrest in a village, I started to write a book entitled "The Philosophy of my life" based on those thoughts. It contains some autobiographical informations, the most significant scientific notes and the articles I wrote in prison. Today, this book is almost completed. I work on its presentation. After this, I intend to present it to my CRIIRAD friends in order that they publish it. I hope that this book will be of interest for people who are not indifferent to the fate of others constantly exposed to the radioactivity.



I would like to outline that CRIIRAD regroups people working, without compromising, for correct interpretations of the results of studies on the medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident. The CRIIRAD's action to inform the public opinion on works showing the harmful effects of the ionizing radiations deserves a large respect. The activity of CRIIRAD is very close to my own convictions. Today, it is with this scientific organization that I want to collaborate, it is with them that I want to continue my scientific research. The creation of a small specialized laboratory in partnership with CRIIRAD would enable me to check my ideas and assumptions, which can become, thereafter, scientific studies of great width. This project gives me the hope, the desire to live, to work, and to fight against the adversities of the life.



By saying this, I hope not to offend other associations and people, which had helped me and still continue to help me in my fight for the truth. But, this question concerns my principal activity, it is about my research on the pathological processes caused in the organism due to absorption of radionuclides. This is not a work that could produce some financial incomes, therefore it will not attract people having commercial projects. Nevertheless, I think that this work is extremely significant, since many other projects and perspectives depend on the results of this research (...)



The refusal of my release on parole [ on last 31 January ] by the direction of the supervised residence, underlines the gravity of the problem on which not only my life is depending, but also the life of several million persons (...) Nowadays, technological progress has turned against humanity, since it is not based on spiritual values, but on the greed of the profit and financial prosperity. The development of atomic energy is a typical example. The run of men towards tangible properties transformed this immense technological progress into means of its own destruction. People are defenseless in front of the atomic danger, as much in front of nuclear weapons as in front of plants producing electricity. Having created the atomic monster, humanity has not yet learned how to control it. Hence, huge physical and moral sufferings affect populations. And it will still increase, if we do not change the behavior of our societies in respect to the atomic energy (...)"



Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky



For more informations :



Contact Persons : Romain Chazel Martial Mazars

Languages : French & Spanish French & English

Mobile : +33(0)688947307 +33(0)681745218

Phone : +33(0)475985801 +33(0)169157613

e-mail :  romain.chazel@free.fr  Martial.Mazars@th.u-psud.fr



To provide a financial support to this project you may contact also :

CRIIRAD / 471, avenue Victor Hugo / 26000 Valence / FRANCE

(e-mail :  bureaucriirad@freesbee.fr or  contact@criirad.org )

Please mention : CRIIRAD/Bandazhevsky laboratory in correspondances.

For weekly advancement of the project, please consult : www.criirad.org





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]The contract has been signed at the beginning of April, when Dr. Galina Bandazhevskaya came to the International Conference « Radioactive contaminations and protection of populations » held at the Conseil Régional de Rhône-Alpes - France.