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

[Steven Dapra]

October 12

         According to the paper cited below, "All incident cases [of 
leukemia] (< 15 years of age) were ascertained during 1990-2005 within a 
5-km radius of the Krümmel nuclear power plant."  In 1990, 4667 children 
under age 15 lived within 5 km of the Krummel power reactor.  During this 
time, 14 cases of leukemia were diagnosed in the 5 km radius study 
region.  Seven of the cases resided in the town nearest the reactor.

         Fourteen leukemias out of 4667 children.  (According to another 
paper reporting on these leukemias, "Between 1986 and 1995 the mean number 
of children up to the age of 14 living in the 5-km area surrounding [the 
Krummel reactor] was about 5400.")  This is less than 0.3 of a percent of 
the resident children getting leukemia.  Assuming that the cause is reactor 
emissions, why are so few cases being diagnosed?  The emissions go 
everywhere, (don't they?).  They don't play pick and choose, (do 
they?).  It seems to me this would mitigate against any reactor emissions 
(real or alleged) being the culprit.

Steven Dapra


Environmental Health Perspectives
115(6):947-952; June 2007.

Childhood Leukemia in the Vicinity of the Geesthacht Nuclear Establishments 
near Hamburg, Germany
By: Wolfgang Hoffmann, Claudia Terschueren, and David B. Richardson.

The link to the abstract 
is  <http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/9861/abstract.html>.  At the 
abstract you can get a link to the full text.

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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.''