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Novosibirsk (pte049/13.01.2005/15:15) - Children that live close to the world's oldest space launch station are suffering from high rates of hormonal problems and blood disorders, a recent journal suggests. As Nature http://www.nature.com reports, rates of disease close to Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan have more than doubled. Siberian researchers pinpoint the cause of the problems to unburned hydrazine fuel, which is released during the early stages of take-off. The study was originally rejected by the Russian space agency but leaked to Nature magazine.
Built in the 1950s as a missile testing facility, the station, which is rented from Kazakhstan to Russia, is now one of the world's largest launch stations. It is the embarkation point for missions to the International Space Station and in 1961 Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth, took off from the station.
The team from Vector, the State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk, led by Sergey Zykov looked at the effect of the fuel on 1,000 children in the country's Altai Republic, which lies in the path of fuel contamination from the rockets. Children from the worst affected areas were up to twice as likely to need medical attention during 1998 to 2000 compared to the records of 330 children from unpolluted areas. Zykov told Nature that he had discussed the problem with officials from Rosaviakosmos, the Russian space agency, but they have rejected it based on the fact it was a study outside their agency.
According to Fabio Caramelli, an engineer at the European Space Research and Technology Centre, the fuel was "nasty and toxic". "A tablespoon of hydrazine in a swimming pool would kill anyone who drank the water," he said. However, Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for the Russian space agency, told Nature that the agency monitors the health of local populations and has found no problem with the launches. While he admitted pollution did occur, he said regions were compensated. According to Davidenko, any ill health was likely to be due to poor living standards in the region.
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