Chernobyl ... up to the year 2002 about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer reported in children and adolescents who were exposed at the time of the accident, and more cases can be expected during the next decades.

This statistic is not too much different than the suspected results of weapons tests in the US.

The "downwind" drift from Nevada tests is suspected of being the cause of a "thyroidectomy" boom in north Texas and adjacent areas during the 50s and early 60s.

At the time, without knowledge of the effects of radiation, "other explanations" (some of which may have contributed) sort of dismissed it and it seems to have been forgotten now that there's enough real understanding that the link might be shown (or might be refuted).

But quite a number of people from the region still require daily L-thyroxine/synthroid as a result of having their thyroids excised at an early age. I know a couple of them - fairly intimately.

Regarding the use of a push mower: You can only do that successfully if you don't fertilize monthly and water twice per week. It's anti-Yuppie to live like that.

Having some experience "pushing the issue," hand mowing must be done before the grass gets very far ahead of you, or you can't push through it. It also helps if it's not a truly thick/dense carpet of grass, as when it's not over-fertilized and suffers a bit from drying out occasionally.

John