[ RadSafe ] " German doctor takes anti-nuclear message to western Canada "

[Steven Dapra]

Oct. 9

         I wonder where the study was published.  Or if it *has* been 
published.  (Ha, ha.)

Steven Dapra



At 10:01 AM 10/9/08 -0400, Franta, Jaroslav wrote:
>German doctor takes anti-nuclear message to western Canada
>Canadian Press, 8 October 2008
>
>PEACE RIVER, Alta. _ A German doctor is travelling through western Alberta 
>delivering a message about the dangers of nuclear power.
>
>Dr. Ernst Iskenius says a 2007 study by the German government shows the 
>closer you live to a nuclear power plant, the more likely your children 
>will get cancer.
>
>Iskenius, a member of the international organization Physicians Against 
>Nuclear War, is on a speaking tour that includes visits to Regina, 
>Whitecourt and Peace River.
>
>He says the report found that during the years of 1980 to 2003, children 
>under the age of five living close to a nuclear power plant were 120 per 
>cent more likely to develop leukemia.
>
>He says there were also 60 per cent more likely to develop other forms of 
>cancer.
>
>The report looked at 16 power plants and was funded by the German Federal 
>Radiation Protection Agency.
>
>The several doctors involved in the four-year study were a mixture of 
>those against nuclear plants, and those who were proponents, said Iskenius.
>
>"It is an extraordinary study,'' he said. "The results were quite 
>different than (the government) expected. They expected no evidence like 
>they did in prior studies, but what they found was they took all 16 plants 
>and found there was a significant risk to get cancer (in children).''
>
>The study also observed children downwind from the plants and found 
>similar results.
>
>Despite the findings, there is still uncertainty about nuclear power 
>within Germany.
>
>German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he was perplexed by the 
>findings, as radiation levels are regulated rigorously.
>"The population's radiation exposure due to the operation of a nuclear 
>power plants in Germany would have to be at least 1,000 times higher to be 
>able to explain the observed increase in cancer,'' he said.
>
>Iskenius urged northern Albertans to lobby government to reconsider 
>allowing a proposed nuclear reactor near Lac Cardinal, north of Peace River.
>"If this nuclear plant is too dangerous and there is a risk for all 
>children then we either accept these things as very dangerous or we 
>(raise) the standards,'' he said.
>"On the international level we are fighting to shut down all of these 
>installations because the risk is too great.''