Childhood leukaemia in the vicinity of German nuclear power plants - some missing links
Titel:
Childhood leukaemia in the vicinity of German nuclear power plants - some missing links
Auteur:
Friedo Zolzer
Verschenen in:
Journal of applied biomedicine
Paginering:
Jaargang 8 (2010) nr. 2 pagina's 67-72
Jaar:
2010
Inhoud:
A recent epidemiological study in Germany, the so-called KiKK study, came to the conclusion that there wasa relationship between a child’s risk of contracting leukaemia in the first 5 years of life and the distance ofits residence from the nearest nuclear power plant. The risk of children inside a 5 km radius was found to be2.19 times that of children outside, with a lower 95% confidence limit of 1.51. The study seems to beepidemiologically sound and solid, and its results agree with earlier evidence about childhood leukaemia inthe vicinity of nuclear installations. It does not show, however, nor does it at all claim to show, that thephenomenon was due to radiation exposure. The measured doses in the area around German nuclear powerplants are at least a factor 1000 smaller than what would be needed to explain the number of leukaemia casesobserved. Additional evidence suggests that the main effect was a shift of the age distribution towardsyounger ages, with the overall incidence for all age groups not affected, which would be rather unexpectedas a radiation effect. Still other studies have shown that elevated risks can even be observed around so-called“planning sites”, where no nuclear facility has ever been built. It thus seems justified to speak of “missinglinks” between the elevated risk of childhood leukaemia around nuclear power plants on the one hand, andthe radiation exposure caused by their normal operation on the other.
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