Mr. Ith got his information at the Leukemia Soceity of America's website.
http://www.leukemia.org
This is the article:
(7/97) Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident Linked to Residents' Leukemia Risk
A survey by investigators from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill showed an increased risk of cancer, including leukemia, for people living near Three Mile Island (TMI), following the nuclear accident at the Pennsylvania facility on March 28, 1979.
Their study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, challenged a 1990 Columbia University study that concluded radiation exposures were too low to cause a cancer increase. The new study says, "Cancer incidence, specifically lung cancer and leukemia, increased more following the TMI accident in areas estimated to have been in the pathway of radioactive plumes than in others areas."
According to the University of North Carolina study, the results provided evidence that people exposed to the most radiation were more than seven times more likely to get leukemia than those least exposed to radiation.
The study examined a population of 160,000 people living within 10 miles of TMI. Cancer incidence was reviewed at 25 local hospitals, from 1975 to 1985. At time of diagnosis, cancer cases were assigned to one of 69 areas in a geographical grid of TMI. The analysis concluded that cancer incidence was associated with accident doses: people exposed to the highest level of radioactivity faced the highest risk of developing cancer.
In the 1990 study, epidemiologists also found increased cancer risks. They concluded these were too small to be statistically significant, and not likely to be associated with the nuclear accident.
Dr. Steven B. Wing, author of the current study, calls for more surveillance of cancer and other possible health effects related to the TMI accident. "The potentially long lag between radiation exposure and cancer diagnosis suggests that studies of cancer incidence in the area should be continued past 1985," he writes. The previous authors of the Columbia study have not suggested that further study is necessary.
(Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 105: pp. 52-55), .
-----Original Message-----
From: Pickett, Bruce D [mailto:Bruce.Pickett@PSS.Boeing.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 1998 7:04 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Leukemia in the news
The following article appeared in the Seattle Times newspaper on June
10, 1998 under the title "Understanding Leukemia". The same article
appears under the title "Strategies Vary In Fight Against Leukemia" on
the Times' web site at:
http://www.seattletimes.com/news/health-science/html98/leuk_061098.html
Note how paragraphs 4 and 5 link TMI with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Strategies vary in fight against leukemia
by Ian Ith Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattle Schools chief John Stanford's battle with leukemia has focused
local attention on advances in treatment of the often-fatal disease -
and on how much remains unknown.
Progress is clear. Three decades ago, a diagnosis of leukemia was
practically a death sentence; survival rates have since tripled. Still,
thousands die of leukemia's many forms every year.
Researchers aren't sure what causes leukemia or how to prevent it. But
they know the disease represents an alteration in the genetic coding
within bone-marrow cells. And they know some things, including radiation
and chemical exposure, are linked to that.
For example, citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, survived the
atomic bomb blasts of August 1945 only to die from leukemia at high
rates.
In the U.S., leukemia rates climbed among people exposed to the 1979
nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Researchers have
also tied industrial exposure to high levels of benzene, a harsh solvent
found in unleaded gas, to leukemia. And children born with some
congenital birth defects, such as Down syndrome, appear to be at higher
risk of developing leukemia.
A recent study suggests children whose fathers smoke are at higher risk
of leukemia because smoking damages sperm.
Still, most cases of leukemia don't have any identifiable cause, said
Dr. Dana Matthews, a researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center.
So for now, researchers are stumped.
Leukemia still kills more American children between ages 2 and 15 than
any other disease.
But the disease strikes 10 times more adults than kids. Age increases
the risk. Most victims are over 60.
But treatment is improving constantly, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center is a world leader in research and treatment, making
Seattle a headquarters for the war on leukemia.
Many recent innovations have improved bone-marrow transplant techniques,
said Beverly Torok-Storb, a Hutchinson researcher. Cancerous marrow is
killed with radiation and drugs, then replaced with healthy donor cells.
Such transplants take patients to the brink of death and then - it's
hoped - bring them back to health.
Still, leukemia is a broad and varied disease, and a transplant isn't
the right option for many patients. It can be too risky for weaker
patients, for example. Some who need a transplant can't find a suitable
marrow donor.
Lately, research is focusing on lower levels of radiation and
chemotherapy to decrease harmful side effects, in hopes of making
transplants an option for more patients.
But even with all the optimism, doctors still can't predict a day when
everyone is cured without a tough fight.
Ian Ith's e-mail address is: iith@seattletimes.com