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Re: CHILDREN OF CHERNOBYL
At 01:57 AM 2/28/97 -0600, you wrote:
> A few years ago the Discovery Channel ran a show called "The Children
> of Chernobyl". In the show they discussed the fact that children in
> the area were losing their hair. They indicated that the cause was
> unknown and their was no known cure for it. My question is; does
> anyone have any thoughts on this or any up to date information and
> would like to share it with other subscribers?
>
> Thank you in advance! Steve
>
>
>
============================
There is in Cuba a Center, specially created to take care of children from
Chernobyl, located at Tarara, La Habana.I have the opportunity of visiting
there and talk with several of these children.
Please ask your question to:
Mr. Alexis Lorenzo Ruiz, Psychologist <manolo@screen.sld.cu>
To Radsafers, the following two papers, furnish a broad information on the
health consequences of Chernobyl.
===========================================
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ONE DECADE AFTER CHERNOBYL:
SUMMING UP THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACCIDENT
Topical Session 8: The consequences in perspective: Prognosis for the future
Evaluation of the Chernobyl accident is very complex because of the
following facts:
Assessing the health effects of radiation exposure is difficult since the
precise radiation doses received as a result of the accident are not well known.
Neither is there a clear understanding of the relationship between radiation
dose received and cancer induction. Because of these facts, projections of
future numbers of excess cancer cases (above the normal number expected in
given populations)depends upon a number of assumptions which are at best
crude estimates.
The only health effects to date that are directly attributable to
radiation exposure are the increase in childhood thyroid cancers and the
health effects among the so called "liquidators" (those persons cleaning the
site after the accident).
Even though the widespread psychological effects among the population
are unrelated to radiation effects, they are attributable to the accident.
The increase in the incidence of childhood thyroid cancer has been
dramatic and if it continues to persist, as those affected grow older, it
could result in several thousand cases over the coming decades.
Increases in leukaemia and thyroid cancers among the most highly
exposed groups (the "liquidators" and people who were evacuated from the
exclusion zone - 30 kms around the accident site) may be detectable in the
future but are not yet apparent.
Persons who would benefit from careful monitoring in the future:
1.Children with distinct possibility of incurring thyroid cancer.
2.The most highly exposed of the "liquidators".
3.First workers called upon to tackle the accident.
=============================================
Effects on the Thyroid in Populations Exposed to
Radiation as a Result of the Chernobyl Accident
Principal author:
E.D. Williams
Contributing authors:
D. Becker; E.P. Dimidchik; S. Nagataki; A. Pinchera; N.D. Tronko
ABSTRACT
Four years after the Chernobyl accident on 26 April 1986, an increased
incidence of thyroid carcinoma (cancer) was noticed in children in Belarus
and the Ukraine. The increase has continued, with well over 500 cases
reported from the areas around Chernobyl. Background Paper 2 considers the
size of the increase, with account taken of ascertainment, of the evidence
that the increase is related to radiation exposure due to the Chernobyl
accident, of the isotope or isotopes responsible, and of the likely future
effects.
External radiation is known to cause thyroid cancer, but radioactive iodine
has been used for many years in the treatment of thyrotoxicosis without any
increase in thyroid carcinoma. The majority of cases of thyroid carcinoma
following exposure to X rays were papillary in type, the latent period was
about 5-10 years, sensitivity decreased with increasing age at exposure, and
the increase in the risk of induction of thyroid cancer persisted for decades.
Over 400 cases of thyroid cancer have occurred in children under the age of
15 in Belarus between 1990 and 1995 inclusive. The increase is greatest in
the Gomel oblast, which had relatively high deposition densities. The rate
in Gomel is about 200 times that seen in England and Wales, for example, for
this normally rare tumour in children. About 150 cases have occurred in the
`contaminated' northern oblasts of the Ukraine: an incidence about 20 times
higher than in England and Wales, and 7 times higher than in the southern
Ukraine. The diagnoses of thyroid cancer have been confirmed in over 90% of
the cases available for study (over half of all cases are available);
increased ascertainment of cases from screening has been excluded as a major
contributory factor. Virtually all cases were papillary in type.
The situation in the Russian Federation is less clear. In the oblasts most
affected by radiation, there appears to have been an increase in childhood
thyroid carcinoma, but probably to a lesser extent than in Belarus or in the
Ukraine.
There is strong evidence that the increased incidence of childhood thyroid
cancer is due to radiation exposure as a result of the Chernobyl accident,
based on the geographical and temporal distribution of the cases. In both
Belarus and
the Ukraine they are commonest in the oblasts close to Chernobyl that had high
levels of contamination. The incidence in children born more than 6 months after
the accident drops dramatically to the low levels expected in unexposed
populations.
The evidence that the increase is due to radioactive isotopes of iodine is
at present circumstantial. It is based on the fact that the increase in
cancer in the exposed population is limited to thyroid tumours. The
relatively high thyroid doses are due to the thyroid's ability to
concentrate radioiodine, which was deposited at high levels in areas close
to the Chernobyl plant. Other contributory factors cannot be excluded, but
appear unlikely to have played a major role. The likelihood of developing
thyroid carcinoma is much greater in those who were very young at exposure,
and drops rapidly with age. This is consistent with the known high uptake of
radioiodine in young children and the higher sensitivity of young children
to the carcinogenic effect of X radiation to the thyroid. 131-I was the
major cause of radiation exposure of the thyroid. Short lived isotopes of
iodine could have played a role in the immediate vicinity of the plant. A
reported increase in incidence of hypothyroidism and of thyroid nodules in
Gomel oblast is also consistent with radioiodine exposure.
Future effects are difficult to predict, because of a lack of experience of
exposure at this level of a large population. The cohort made up of those
who were very young at the time of the accident and were exposed at high
levels is likely to carry an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer for
many years. The level of risk could be high; further studies are needed to
establish a dose-response relationship and to improve the prediction of
likely future incidence. Thyroid cancer, if properly treated, does not carry
a high mortality and the observations suggest that targeted screening of
those exposed at high levels at a young age may be effective.
J. J. Rozental
Consultant, Radiadion Safety & Regulation
for developing country
Israel