UN Study Suggests Chernobyl Radiation Less Deadly Than Feared

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

UN Study Suggests Chernobyl Radiation Less Deadly Than Feared
  
Washington, Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- A United Nations report suggests 
that fewer people were sickened from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear 
accident than was previously assumed. 

The report says that among 134 workers exposed to high doses of 
radiation following the Chernobyl disaster, 28 died in the first 
three months and two more died soon after. Another 1,800 cases of 
thyroid cancer were reported in children in the region in 1986. 
Earlier reports suggested the disaster was responsible for as many as 
30,000 deaths. 

Researchers had expected to see more cases of leukemia among 
residents exposed to the radiation, according to Dr. John Boice, 
scientific director of the International Epidemiology Institute. 

The risk of leukemia and other cancers in the 200,000 recovery 
workers who cleaned up the reactor site does not appeared to be 
elevated, according to the study. 

``There is a tendency to attribute increases in the rates of all 
cancers over time to the Chernobyl accident, but it should be noted 
that increases were also observed before the accident in the affected 
areas,'' the report says. 

Among children, about 1,800 cases of thyroid cancer were reported in 
Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine due to the Chernobyl 
accident, according to the UN study. 

``The thyroid cancer in children was surprising,'' Boice said. ``We 
thought radioactive iodine was less carcinogenic.'' 

Because the half-life of radioactive iodine is only eight days, 
researchers assumed it would not cause cancer, he added. 

Children near the accident site were exposed to the radiation when 
they drank milk from cows who had in turn eaten contaminated grass, 
he said. 

Officials closed the controversial nuclear plant last week following 
years of talks with the U.S., the European Union and international 
agencies to secure $2.3 billion in aid to finish two replacements for 
Chernobyl and improve the safety of the containment building that 
surrounds the damaged reactor. 

A summary of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects 
of Atomic Radiation report is available at 
{http://www.un.org/Pubs/whatsnew/e23744.htm}. 

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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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