Nuclear power cancer link rejected

Government’s advisory committee says it is time to look elsewhere for causes of leukaemia clusters Nuclear power plants have been cleared of causing childhood cancers by experts from the government’s advisory committee, which says experts should now be looking for other reasons, perhaps infections or even viruses, to explain leukaemia clusters in their vicinity. The 14th report (pdf) from COMARE, the committee on medical aspects of radiation in the environment , reviewed again all childhood leukaemia cases reported around 13 nuclear power plants in the UK. It was a response to a request last year from the department of health and devolved authorities as the UK prepares to build the most ambitious new fleet of nuclear reactors in Europe . Not only did the committee find no increase in cases linked to emissions, but it also found similar numbers of leukaemia in proximity to sites that had been considered for nuclear power plants, but where building did not take place. There were 20 cases of leukaemia in a child under five within a five-kilometre radius of one of the 13 power plants and 430 cases within 25 kikometres. There were 26 cases within five kilometres of one of the seven potential sites and 492 within 25 kilometres. Prof Alex Elliott, chair of COMARE, said it was time to look elsewhere for causes. “We should be keeping a watching brief but we think we should be looking at other places,” he said. There are other theories about the possible causes of cancer near power plants. Socioeconomic links have been established – the young children who develop leukaemia are more likely to be from higher socio-economic groups, which are a larger proportion of the staff working in nuclear installations. Childhood cancer is also less likely in over-populated areas, which is where the UK tends to site its power stations. Among the other possible explanations are the infection hypothesis of Leo Kinlan, which suggests that the cancers are triggered by the arrival of a group of people to work in the plant and their families carrying microorganisms from other parts of the country. A new unpublished US study has suggested a virus may be to blame. The COMARE report will be a blow to the Heysham Anti-Nuclear Alliance, which in March launched a legally aided action against the government’s nuclear expansion programme . Their case centres on a German study, which COMARE was specifically asked to review. The Kinderkrebs in der Umgebung von Kernkraftwerken (KIIK) study found a link between leukemia clusters and German power plants. But COMARE says KIIK was heavily influenced by cancer cases diagnosed between 1980 and 1990 and did not take fully into account later years when the risk was lower. KIIK was a case control study, not a geographical study of the sort COMARE undertakes, said Elliott. Nuclear power Health Cancer Children Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 6, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.