Re: Cancer and NNP

["Frederic Dawson" <ydc90@DIAL.PIPEX.COM>]

Cluster of Childhood Leukaemia and Cancer in Chepstow



List members may wish to be aware that the Low Level Radiation

Campaign Press issued a press release 29th April 2001 about Cluster

of Childhood Leukaemia and Cancer in Chepstow similar to Seascale

http://www.llrc.org/chepstow.htm



The report "Cancer Mortality and Proximity to Oldbury Nuclear Power

Station in Gloucestershire 1995-1999" was commissioned from

consultants Green Audit by Michael Holmes MEP.



In connection with the cancer mortality study an analysis of

childhood leukaemia and cancer incidence in Chepstow has also been

conducted. It has been made possible by the release, in 1995, of

Wales Cancer Registry's entire database of cancer incidence at local

authority ward level to the Low Level Radiation Campaign. Cancer

incidence data are usually only published in a highly aggregated

form, at the level of counties or county districts.



The LLRC report was referred to in an article in the Sunday Times 29

April 2001 by Lois Rogers which reports "Nuclear plant study reveals

cancer cluster, Medical Correspondent EVIDENCE of a new cluster of

childhood cancers linked to radioactive contamination from a power

station has been uncovered by a nuclear biologist."



"The unpublished study is based on data from cancer registries,

covering the period 1974 to 1990, for people living close to the

ageing Oldbury nuclear reactor on the River Severn. Although the

data, which were given inadvertently to the scientist Chris Busby,

cover only a tiny area in and around Chepstow, they record three

cases of myeloid leukaemia in children under four. Busby, a

statistician and adviser to the European parliament's Green group,

has calculated that the odds against such a cluster occurring by

chance are 1,000 to one. His finding mirrors a similar study in

Seascale, close to the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in

Cumbria, where four cases of leukaemia were observed in children

under 14 between 1950 and 1983. He believes that radioactive material

contaminates tidal sediment around power stations. When mud flats are

exposed at low water, particles are carried away on the wind. Similar

work by Busby has suggested that men living near the Oldbury reactor

are at greater risk of prostate cancer and women have a greater risk

of breast cancer. He recently investigated breast cancer cases

occurring in a three-mile area downstream from the old Severn Bridge,

and found that 262 women had died, 50% more than would be expected.

In other published research he has found higher rates of breast

cancer apparently linked to Hinkley Point power station in Somerset

and Bradwell power station in Essex. "I believe proximity to coastal

power stations is a crucial factor in the development of these

diseases," he said. Efforts to expand on his latest research around

Chepstow have been blocked by the refusal of cancer registries to

release any more data to him. There is growing unease among

scientists that safety data for radiation exposure are mainly derived

from research on victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb and that not

enough work has been done on the effects of newer forms of

radioactive material. But even the data available cause some experts

concern. Vyvyan Howard, a senior anatomy lecturer at Liverpool

university and an expert on the effects of toxins on human tissue,

said: "Although you cannot demonstrate any causal linkage from this

study, we know the data are accurate and they do show a significantly

increased incidence of cancer which needs further investigation. "The

incidence of cancer is going up inexorably. It now kills one in three

people, and it has to be something to do with the way we live or the

world we live in." British Nuclear Fuels, the power station operator,

dismissed Busby's findings: "We are not aware of any properly

validated work showing higher rates of cancer occur around power

stations." "





Fred Dawson

3 Barnsbury Close, New Malden

Surrey. KT3 5BP

England.



44( 020)  8287 2176

44 (070)  92108737 Universal (inc FAX)



Personal webb page : http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/drive/ydc90/

Work Email : fred.dawson.modsafety@gtnet.gov.uk



----- Original Message -----

From: "Tom Mohaupt" <tom.mohaupt@WRIGHT.EDU>

To: "RadSafe" <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: 30 April 2001 15:30

Subject: Cancer and NNP





> Greetings all,

>

> Here's British news article on links between cancer and NPP that may

> interest the group. Note: Don't shoot the messenger.

> Tom

>

> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_276857.html?menu=news.latestheadlines

> --

> Thomas Mohaupt, M.S., CHP

> University Radiation Safety Officer

>

> 104 Health Sciences Bldg

> Wright State University

> Dayton, Ohio 45435

> tom.mohaupt@wright.edu

> (937) 775-2169

> (937) 775-3761 (fax)

>

> "An investment in knowledge gains the best interest." Ben Franklin

> ************************************************************************

> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

>



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.