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IMPORTANT NEWS ITEM



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NEWS item found at BBS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_630000/630950.stm


The risk to workers at nuclear plants has been under-estimated because
scientists have used the wrong measures, it is claimed. 
Researchers say a reliance on studies into survivors of the A-bombs
dropped on Japan at the end of the Second World War do not give an
accurate picture of the effect on nuclear power workers. 

Scientists from the University of North Carolina claim radiation safety
levels are set too low and would be higher if other studies were taken
into account. 

But the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) in the UK disputed
the claims that only A-bomb studies were used when setting radiation
safety standards. 

Dr Steven Wing, at the university's school of public health, said there
was an "outdated emphasis" on A-bomb survivors. 

He called for lessons learnt from nuclear workers to be taken more
seriously and claimed people were being exposed to greater cancer risks
than was generally accepted. 

'Undue influence' 

Military and industrial interests had an undue influence on research, he
said, and it was difficult to obtain data and funding to carry out
studies. 

He said in scientific journal New Solutions: "As researchers and
policy-makers come to appreciate the unique advantages of studies of
nuclear workers, these studies should make a greater impact on
occupational and environmental exposure standards." 

But the NRPB said a range of studies, including those carried out on
A-bomb survivors, nuclear workers and people affected by the Chernobyl
nuclear accident, were all taken into account by international committees
setting radiation exposure standards. 

And the board challenged the idea that standards would be set at different
levels if studies of nuclear workers were given precedence. 

A spokeswoman said: "Estimates of radiation exposure are made on the basis
of the totality of relevant knowledge and should not rely on individual
studies. 

"However, large studies of UK nuclear workers give risks that are
consistent with other data." 


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