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Elevated Childhood Leukemia Near Nuclear Reactors
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by ScienceDave | July 18, 2007 at 08:38 am
429 views | 20 Recommendations | 1 comment
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Nuclear energy appears to be making a comeback in the general public as our fossil fueled world might soon run out of steam. Even in light of a variety of nuclear disasters, the most notable at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, new reactors are being toted as safer and more reliable.
However, a recent review published in the European Journal of Cancer Care suggests otherwise. A meta-analysis of 17 individual research papers investigated leukemia rates near 136 nuclear power plants in the UK, Canada, USA, Germany, France, Spain, and Japan. Their results were startling:
They found that death rates for children up to the age of nine were elevated by between five and 24 per cent, depending on their proximity to nuclear facilities, and by two to 18 per cent in children and young people up to the age of 25.
Incidence rates were increased by 14 to 21 per cent in zero to nine year olds and seven to ten percent in zero to 25 year-olds.
However, what is most surprising about their analysis is that dose-dependency was not observed, indicating that the amount of ionizing radiation present might not be directly responsible for the elevated rates of leukemia.
“Several difficulties arise when conducting dose-response studies in an epidemiological setting as they rely on a wide range of factors that are often hard to quantify” explains Dr Baker. “It is also possible that there are environmental issues involved that we don’t yet understand.
“If the amount of exposure were too low to cause the excess risk, we would expect leukaemia rates to remain consistent before and after the start-up of a nuclear facility. However, our meta-analysis, consistently showed elevated illness and death rates for children and young people living near nuclear facilities.”
...“Although our meta-analysis found consistently elevated rates of leukaemia near nuclear facilities, it is important to note that there are still many questions to be answered, not least about why these rates increase” concludes Dr Baker.
And other potential causes?
“Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the excess of childhood leukaemia in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, including environmental exposure and parental exposure. Professor Kinlen from Oxford University has also put forward a hypothesis that viral transmission, caused by mixing populations in a new rural location, could be responsible.
Something they didn't consider is the effect of non-ionizing radiation. It has long been speculated that overhead powerlines and large power stations increase the rate of childhood and adult leukemia. However, conclusive evidence for such a relationship has been lacking...
According to NIEHS [National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences], "the probability that EMF exposure is truly a health
hazard is currently small. The weak epidemiological associations and
lack of any laboratory support for these associations provide only marginal
scientific support that exposure to this agent is causing any degree
of harm."
However, the NIEHS also suggested to congress that there was some effect, albeit it inconclusive, that was not a negative outcome.[source] Might the same be true near nuclear power plants?
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 12:09 on July 18th, 2007
Great work Dave, I always love your stuff. Good stuff.
indicating that the amount of ionizing radiation present might not be directly responsible for the elevated rates of leukemia.
Crazy, statistically results are higher, but maybe not for the reasons one would assume. Mother Nature at her finest.