Effects of the Chernobyl disaster of radiation exposure after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, but prior to the disaster the number of children affected by thyroid cancer was relatively low globally. Every year about, “0.1–2.2 individuals per million of all aged under 15 years old world wide” were affected by thyroid cancer. Research has shown after the Chernobyl disaster the level of thyroid cancer, particularly in children near the radiation exposure, has abnormally increased. Although iodine-131 has a relatively short half-life compared to other radioactive isotopes, iodine-131 made its way through the food chain through a milk-to-consumer pathway. 95% of iodine-131 was ingested through milk
Chernobyl disaster a potential for transfer of radionuclides from these disposal sites off-site (i.e. out of the exclusion zone), the IAEA Chernobyl Report argues that this is not significant in comparison to current levels of washout of surface-deposited radioactivity. After the disaster, four square kilometres of pine forest directly downwind of the reactor turned reddish-brown and died, earning the name of the "Red Forest". Some animals in the worst-hit areas also died or stopped reproducing. Most domestic animals were removed from the exclusion zone, but horses left on an island in the Pripyat River from the power plant died when their thyroid