[ RadSafe ] Childhood leukaemia incidence around French nuclear installations

[goldinem at songs.sce.com]

I get the digest so others may have already seen this but I thought it was
pretty newsworthy.  And no surprise to those of us in the "business."


                                                                                                 
 British Journal of Cancer advance online publication 18 April 2006; doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603111  
                                                                                                 
 Childhood leukaemia incidence around French nuclear installations using geographic zoning based 
 on gaseous discharge dose estimates                                                             
                                                                                                 
 A-S Evrard1,2, D Hémon1,2, A Morin3, D Laurier4, M Tirmarche4, J-C Backe3, M Chartier3 and J    
 Clavel1,2                                                                                       
                                                                                                 
 1INSERM, U754, Villejuif, France                                                                
                                                                                                 
 2Université Paris Sud, IFR69, Villejuif, France                                                 
                                                                                                 
 3Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, IRSN/DRPH/SER/UETP, Fontenay-aux-Roses,    
 France                                                                                          
                                                                                                 
 4Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, IRSN/DRPH/SRBE/LEPID, Fontenay-aux-Roses,  
 France                                                                                          
                                                                                                 
 (Embedded image moved to file: pic30665.gif)                                                    
                                                                                                 
 Correspondence to: Dr J Clavel, INSERM-U754, 16, avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, Villejuif      
 cedex 94807, France. E-mail: clavel at vjf.inserm.fr                                               
                                                                                                 
 Received 11 January 2006; revised 20 March 2006; accepted 27 March 2006; published online 18    
 April 2006                                                                                      
                                                                                                 
 (Embedded image moved to file: pic24476.gif)                                                    
                                                                                                 
 The present study investigated for the first time the incidence of childhood leukaemia (1990-   
 2001) around French nuclear installations using a geographic zoning based on estimated doses to 
 the red bone marrow due to gaseous radioactive discharges. The observed number of cases of      
 acute leukaemia (O=750) in 40 km2 centred on 23 French nuclear installations between 1990 and   
 2001 was lower than expected (E=795.01), although not significantly so (standardised incidence  
 ratio SIR=0.94, 95% confidence interval=(0.88-1.01)). In none of the five zones defined on the  
 basis of the estimated doses was the SIR significantly >1. There was no evidence of a trend in  
 SIR with the estimated doses for all the children or for any of the three age groups studied.   
 This study confirmed that there was no evidence of an increased incidence of childhood          
 leukaemia around the 23 French nuclear sites.                                                   
                                                                                                 
 Keywords: childhood leukaemia; nuclear sites; incidence; estimated dose                         
                                                                                                 




Eric M. Goldin, CHP, Ph.D.
<goldinem at songs.sce.com>