Developments in Brief : Chernobyl Accident May Have Loosed Flock of Radioactive Birds on Europe

A recent meeting between European and U.S. scientists at an ornithological convention has raised concerns that migratory birds may be carrying radiation from April’s Chernobyl accident throughout Europe. And now bird-watchers are being asked to become “more actively involved” in determining the effects on birds of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Ukraine.

Chernobyl, it turns out, is in a major migratory flyway. “The birds funnel north from Africa . . . and come up through the Ukraine,” said I. Lehr Brisbin Jr. of the University of Georgia, who led a round-table discussion at the 19th International Ornithological Congress in Ottawa.

The accident, the worst ever involving a nuclear power plant, occurred during the spring migration, Brisbin said. Thus, wildlife may have been more heavily contaminated than livestock and their contamination may threaten more than long-term ecological stability, he said. “Many Third World countries depend on fish and wild game for food,” Brisbin noted.

In several countries, including Italy, where more than 20 million birds are hunted and eaten each year, authorities are considering a ban on bird hunting.