[ RadSafe ] Chernobyl Accident and Increases in Abortions

[Leo M. Lowe]

Hello,

Recent discussions on fear of radiation (relative to airport body 
scanners) included a comment that questioned a reported increase in 
abortions following the Chernobyl accident.  However, a 
post-Chernobyl increase in induced abortions did occur according to 
some published reports.

For example, in 1986, an estimated 2500 extra abortions occurred in 
Greece alone (not the most directly exposed country) because of 
perceived radiation risks from Chernobyl  (Trichopoulos et al, Br Med 
J (Clin Res Ed) 1987;295, 31Oct1987).  In the whole of Western 
Europe, an speculative figure of 100,000 to 200,000 Chernobyl-related 
induced abortions was put forward by the IAEA (idem).  If only a 
fraction of these induced abortions did actually occur, this is still 
a large impact (larger than estimated incremental cancer deaths) 
that  seems to have received little discussion post-Chernobyl.

Regards,

Leo M. Lowe, Ph.D., P.Phys., CRadP