Vodka produced in the abandoned zone at Chernobyl has been labelled a “propaganda exercise” by a victims’ charity.
The Chernobyl Spirit Company, a social enterprise which creates apple schnapps and vodka from fruit and grain grown in the so-called “Zone Two”, sells the drinks to tourists and in the UK. It launched pear and plum versions of its schnapps in 2022.
While previous scientific inquiries have found that the liquor does not contain radiation, the drinks have faced criticism from victims’ charities for making light of the risk of radiation poisoning.
Linda Walker, executive director at the Chernobyl Children’s Project, which works with people who have disabilities caused by the accident, said the spirit production was “inappropriate”.
She pointed out victims of the disaster are still suffering long-term health effects from the fallout of the 1986 disaster.
Ms Walker said: “It’s just such a bizarre thing to do. It’s so easy to grow apples, apples are grown everywhere, absolutely all over the place in Belarus and Ukraine.
“To choose to grow them in the area heavily contaminated by Chernobyl, it’s to make a point,” adding: “It’s a very strange propaganda exercise.”
Ms Walker said health problems continue in the region, especially in areas where people were hunting and eating contaminated foods.
She elucidated, “Mainly where individuals were hunting and consuming wild boar and rabbits, or people were digesting the edibles from the polluted area.
“This has perpetually led to numerous health issues in both juveniles and grown-ups.”
This happened post the seizure of approximately 1,500 bottles of the apple schnapps by the legal authorities in Ukraine in 2021, and these were only relinquished post a detailed scrutiny.
The conjecture is that the bottles were confiscated because of uncertainty regarding the accurate tax payment on the spirits.
The company’s vodka was inaugurated in 2019, crafted at the Palinochka Distillery in Ukraine, and then exported to the UK.
Profits gleaned from the sales are reinvested into communities still feeling the effects of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe.
As communicated by the 2022 accounts of Chernobyl Spirit, the company yielded a profit exceeding £10,000, following a generous donation of £15,000 towards the Ukrainian military cause.
Championed by Professor Jim Smith, from Portsmouth University in 2019, the social venture is backed by scientific data illustrating the radiation levels in mammals and fish within the area as being no higher than those found in neighbouring locations.
He stated, “In many parts of this semi-deserted region, you could safely cultivate and consume apples. You could safely grow a variety of crops. Farmers understand the crops, they understand the sort of fertilization required to produce crops that are under the Ukraine limit and well under the EU and UK limits.”
The professor continued to say that the Narodychi District, where the crops are grown, is “very lightly contaminated,” equating its level of contamination to the natural radiation found in Cornwall.
He also indicated that the region is severely underfunded, resulting in poor healthcare services and limited job opportunities for those who still reside there.
After the 1986 explosion, a 36-mile wide exclusion zone was established around the radioactive core by the Soviet Union.
A new concrete sarcophagus was placed over the site in 2016, minimizing the remaining radiation in the neighboring region, yet the decision about the abandoned land’s future remains uncertain for the authorities.
In the exclusion zone, Ukraine intends to create one of the biggest wind farms in Europe, supplying energy to about 800,000 households in Kyiv and its surrounding areas.
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