Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment is a translation of a 2007 Russian publication by , Vassily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko, edited by Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger, and originally published by the New York Academy of Sciences in 2009 in their "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences" series. The book presents an analysis of scientific literature and concludes that medical records between 1986, the year of the Chernobyl disaster, and 2004 reflect 985,000 premature deaths as a result of the radioactivity released. The
Effects of the Chernobyl disaster presently 10 to 100 times higher than normal background radiation. Although radiation levels were significantly higher soon after the accident, they have fallen because of radioactive decay. Møller and Tim Mousseau have published the results of the largest census of animal life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It said, contrary to the Chernobyl Forum's 2005 report, that the biodiversity of insects, birds and mammals is declining. Møller and Mousseau have been criticized strongly by Sergey Gaschak, a Ukrainian biologist who did field work for the pair beginning in 2003. He regards their conclusions to be the result of a biased