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Yablokov: Nonmalignant Diseases after Chernobyl 93system” presents as a combination of a rhinitis,tickling in the throat, dry cough, and difficultybreathing (Chuchalin et al., 1993; Kut’kov,1998; Romanova, 1998; Chykyna et al., 2001;and others).5.5.1. Belarus1. Children born to mothers in the Chernobylcontaminated territories who were pregnantat the time of the catastrophe have twicethe incidence of acute respiratory diseases(Nesterenko, 1996).2. Respiratory morbidity in children bornat the time of the catastrophe in territorieswith contamination levels of 15–40 Ci/km 2was significantly higher than in children ofthe same age from territories with contaminationof 5–15 Ci/km 2 (Kul’kova et al.,1996).3. Respiratory diseases were found in 19%of liquidators’ children up to 1 year of age,and 10% of the children had exudative-mucoiddisease. In older children 60% had documentedrespiratory diseases (Synyakova et al.,1997).4. The number of children hospitalized forbronchial asthma was higher in the more contaminatedterritories and chronic nasopharyngealpathology was seen twice as often comparedto children from less contaminated areas(Sitnykov et al., 1993; Dzykovich et al., 1994;Gudkovsky et al., 1995).5. Among 2,335 surveyed evacuees’teenagers, respiratory morbidity was the thirdcause of overall morbidity 10 years after thecatastrophe: 286 per 1,000 (Syvolobova et al.,1997).6. Among 4,598 children newborn to 4years old at the time of the meltdown fromKormyansk and Chechersk districts, GomelProvince, which had contamination levels of15–40 Ci/km 2 , respiratory system morbiditywas significantly higher than among childrenfrom areas with contamination levels of 5–15 Ci/km 2 (Blet’ko et al., 1995; Kul’kova et al.,1996).7. In the first 3 years after the catastropherespiratory illnesses in children from territoriescontaminated at a level of 15–40 Ci/km 2were 3.5-fold more common than in less contaminatedterritories. From 1990 to 1993 childrenfrom heavily contaminated territorieshad 2.5-fold more illnesses (Gudkovsky et al.,1995).8. Respiratory morbidity among childrenfrom the Luninetsk District, Brest Province, was72.9% from 1986 to 1988, 54.1% from 1989 to1991, and 39.4% from 1992 to 1994. Amongthe most common illnesses were ARV infection,bronchitis, and chronic tonsillitis (Voronetskyet al., 1995).9. Among evacuees, respiratory morbidity in1995 was 2,566 cases per 10,000 compared tothe country average of 1,660 (Matsko, 1999).5.5.2. Ukraine1. In the first months after the catastrophe,more than 30% of children in the contaminatedterritories had breathing difficultiesdefined as a respiratory syndrome (Stepanovaet al., 2003). In 1986–1987, nearly 10,000 childrenfrom contaminated territories that wereexamined had breathing problems: (a) 53.6%had bronchial obstruction mainly of the smallbronchial tubes (controls, 18.9%) and (b) 69.1%had latent bronchospasms (controls, 29.5%;Stepanova et al., 2003).2. Asphyxia was observed in half of 345newborns irradiated in utero in 1986–1987(Zakrevsky et al., 1993).3. Older children irradiated in utero hadrespiratory system pathologies significantlymore often than controls: 26.0 vs. 13.7%(Prysyazhnyuk et al., 2002).4. In 1994 respiratory system morbidityamong children from contaminated territoriesand among evacuees was as high as 61.6% andamong adults and teenagers it reached 35.6%(Grodzinsky, 1999).5. In 1995 respiratory illnesses in childrenfrom the heavily contaminated territorieswere reported twice as often as from less