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Re: Chelyabinsk
Following the excellent recommendations by:
> From: Yarmoshenko IV <ivylist@ECKO.URAN.RU>
> Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 10:14:33 +0600
> Subject: Re: Chelyabinsk
Note that the principal source of the collected data is UNSCEAR 2000.
A recent paper (2000), including Dr. Degteva, is:
Radiation and Environmental Biophysics, Volume 39 Issue 4 (2000) pp 219-225
Mortality in the offspring of individuals living along the radioactively
contaminated Techa River: a descriptive analysis
M. M. Kossenko (1), Y. Ostroumova (1), A. Akleyev (1), N. Startsev (1), M.
Degteva (1), F. Granath (2), P. Hall (2)
Received: 18 August 2000 / Accepted: 22 September 2000
Abstract: From 1949 onwards, radioactive waste was released into the Techa
River in the southern Urals and the population living along the river was
exposed to ionising radiation. Relocation of these people did not start
until several years later, causing many individuals to be exposed to
substantial doses from internal and external radiation. The identification
and follow-up of the exposed individuals started more than 40 years ago and
is still continuing. The Techa River offspring cohort (TROC) that has
recently been established, comprises 10,459 children born to at least one
parent living along the Techa River during the period 1950-1992. Of these
children, 3,897 were born during the period of highest release, i.e. between
1950 and 1956 and might thus have been exposed in utero. A total of 1,103
individuals have since died mainly due to infectious and respiratory
diseases, injury and poisoning. Only 25 cases were identified as having died
of a malignant condition. The radioactive contamination of the Techa River
in the southern Urals gives a unique possibility to study the adverse
effects of protracted exposure to ionising radiation in a large
well-described cohort. The Techa River offspring cohort will make it
possible to study the effects on those exposed in utero or early in life and
the follow-up of the cohort in the future is, therefore, of great
importance. Comparisons with other cohorts of humans exposed early in life,
will increase our knowledge in this field of research.
Refs on the doses/effects to the region are:
24. Krestinina LY, Kossenko MM, Kostyuchenko VA (1991)
Lethal developmental defects in descendents of a population
residing in the area of a radioactive trace. Med Radiol 36:
3032
25. Kossenko MM, Izhevsky PV, Degteva MO, Akleev AV,
Vyushkova OV (1994) Pregnancy outcome and early health
status of children born to the Techa river population. Sci Total
Environ 142: 91100
26. Kossenko MM, Gudkova NV (1996) Leukemia in the progeny
of the exposed parents. (in Russian) Med Radiol Radiat Safety
41: 2328
27. Akleyev AV, Lyubchansky ER (1994) Environmental and
medical effects of nuclear weapon production on the Southern
Urals. Sci Total Environ 142: 18
28. Degteva MO, Vorobiova MI, Kozheurov VP, Tolstykh EI,
Anspaugh IR, Napier BA (2000) Dose reconstruction system
for the exposed population living along the Techa River.
Health Phys 78: 542554
A summary of previous studies from the paper is:
"Fatal congenital malformations have previously been
studied in 33,500 children of parents exposed as a result
of the so-called Kyshtym accident [24]. The average gonadal
dose was 5 mSv and the non-exposed comparison
group included 21,357 individuals. No increase in severe
developmental defects relating to ionising radiation was
seen.
Liquid radioactive waste was discharged into the
Techa River from the Mayak radiochemical facility in
the period 19491956. Pregnancy outcome and health
status of the children born to parents living along the
Techa River has previously been studied [25] and no effect
of ionising radiation could be seen on birth rates,
number of abortions (medical or spontaneous), stillbirths,
congenital malformations, or mortality when children
of exposed and unexposed parents were compared.
A study of leukaemia incidence among offspring of parents
exposed in the Techa River villages has previously
been conducted [26]. During the period 19501998, 13
cases of hematopoetic malignancies were registered in
the offspring. The incidence of haematological malignancies
in the offspring did not exceed that of the comparison
group and no leukaemia incidence related to gonadal
doses of the parents was found.
The aim of the present paper was to describe the newly
established Techa River offspring cohort (TROC), its
structure and potentials, as well as the present status of the
ongoing studies on mortality related to gonadal, in utero
and childhood exposure to ionising radiation. Causes of
death in the TROC have not yet been studied in detail."
In the preliminary childhood mortality data in the paper, there are no
obvious significant effects, but the oldest of this group is only 50 years
old so the group will need to be followed into the cancer-prone years to see
if cancer is increased.
Note the following statement:
"The external
exposure has been found to be substantially lower
because previous calculations were based on the assumption
that all residents in a village received the same dose
as those living closest to the riverbank. Thus, the distance
from the river had not been taken into consideration;
furthermore, the old calculations overestimated the
time spent on the riverbanks."
And, in ref to Alice Stewart's and other studies:
"In utero exposure to ionising radiation,
as a consequence of x-ray exposure during pregnancy,
has been more thoroughly studied but the data
are controversial. Case-control studies have consistently
shown a small increased risk of childhood leukaemia
following a history of prenatal radiation, but most cohort
studies have not supported this association. Early
case-control studies were criticised for selection bias,
since no adjustment was made for potential confounders
such as concomitant diseases in the mother and/or
the fetus, and recall bias, as exposure information was
based on interviews with the parents of affected children.
Little is known about the carcinogenic effect of gonadal
and in utero exposure to ionising radiation after
protracted exposure. The TROC will provide the opportunity
to the scientific community to study carcinogenesis
in a cohort with a fairly reliable follow-up (comparably
few leaving the area under surveillance) and carefully
calculated dosimetry. The population is slowly moving
into the period of life when cancer is most frequently
diagnosed, i.e. the oldest member of the cohort will be
50 years old in 2000, and follow-up is thus needed for
many years to come."
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