Gudzenko Vasilyevich Portrait - Semipalatinsk Victims Documentation (Kazakhstan: 1999)

Gudzenko Vasilyevich has a tumor on the left side of his brain. He undergoes treatment in the Semipalatinsk hospital. Nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk caused wide spread radioactive contamination in Kazakhstan. Around 1.7 million people have been used as guinea pigs by the military and been severely affected by radiation. The rates of cancers, leukemia, cardio vascular diseases, bone diseases and children born with physical or mental handicaps have increased dramatically since the testing started. In 1999, UNDP declared the region a disaster zone and called for wide spread support for the people living there.