I'm very pleased that they didn't claim direct correlation, as you never can - regardless - it is a possible outcome and that a marked and measurable increase was seen in that area is important. And goes against your statement in the parent comment. Yes a link cannot be proven but birth defects did increase.
"You might be surprised to know that increased birth defects were never detected in the population irradiated by Chernobyl." was what you stated and I've just shown that is not true. The cause is unknown but your statement is provably incorrect.
Sure. I've conceded that birth defects may have gone up. But I've shown that there's no evidence that it's related to radiation, which presumably was the point of your original reply. Birth defects going up because people drank more alcohol as the USSR failed (which is just as or more likely than because of Chernobyl) is irrelevant to this thread.
"You might be surprised to know that increased birth defects were never detected in the population irradiated by Chernobyl." was what you stated and I've just shown that is not true. The cause is unknown but your statement is provably incorrect.