Recent reports on Chernobyl health effects

[andrew_mcewan@nrl.moh.govt.nz]

There have been the usual misleading news media stories regarding health effects of Chernobyl which have appeared recently in news items reporting the
closure of the final operating reactor at the plant.

The following letter was written in an attempt to redress the information balance.



Editor


The article "Chernobyl shut down but legacy lives on" in The Weekend Australian, 16-17 December 2000, was misleading with regard to the health effects
of the nuclear reactor accident which occurred in 1986.


This accident caused the deaths of 30 power plant employees and firemen within a few days or weeks. Acute radiation sickness was experienced by 134
workers but most of them recovered completely.


Apart from these early fatalities among rescue workers who responded to the accident, the main health effect has been an increased risk of thyroid
cancer in children. About 1800 such cases of this generally non-fatal cancer have been diagnosed and, if the current trend continues, there may be
more cases during the next 20 years or so ? perhaps several thousands but certainly not millions. There was also a large negative psychological impact
on thousands of people.


The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) in a further authoritative review published this year has
reported that there is no evidence of any other health effect attributable to radiation exposures. In particular, there have been no increases in
other cancers or any birth defects. The risk of leukaemia, one of the main concerns due to its short latency period (5-10 years after radiation
exposure in adults), is not elevated in the exposed groups, including the recovery workers who received some of the highest exposures.


Certainly, some of these clean-up workers have died in the 14 years since the accident, just as they would have done if there had been no accident or
if they had not become involved in it. They have died from all the usual causes of death, including motor car accidents and illnesses that have no
relationship to radiation exposure.


Dr Andrew McEwan


President, Australasian Radiation Protection Society


Attached to the letter was a copy of the Australasian Radiation Protection Society press release on health effects of Chernobyl (at www.arps.org.au)
_________________________
Andrew C McEwan PhD
National Radiation Laboratory
PO Box 25-099
Christchurch, New Zealand

Ph 64 3 366 5059
Fax 64 3 366 1156
Andrew_McEwan@nrl.moh.govt.nz




Information contained within this email is confidential between the intended recipient and the Ministry of Health.

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html