NO PROOF OF MORE CHERNOBYL GRAIN DAMAGE-DIPLOMATS
Western agricultural attaches in Moscow
said they had no evidence to substantiate rumours that last
April's Chernobyl nuclear disaster had a worse effect on Soviet
grain than first reported.
    Current Soviet interest in chartering ships to carry grain
from the U.S. Helped prompt the rumours on world markets. But
the diplomats said they had seen no reports in the state press
and heard no comments from officials to substantiate them.
    The official media was initially slow in reporting the
accident but, under Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign
for openness, gradually gave more and more details.
    Land around the nuclear plant was contaminated to varying
degrees. Some is now being used to grow industrial crops
instead of grain.
 REUTER
