A British study by the British Childhood Cancer Research Center was set up to understand the links between childhood cancers and proximity to a nuclear power plant.
Experts looked at medical and geographic data from 10,000 children under 5 diagnosed with leukemia or other similar cancers in Britain between 1962 and 2007.
Dr John Bithell, a researcher at the British Childhood Cancer Research Center who led the study explains that: “The impact of proximity to nuclear facilities in Britain on leukemia has been a national scientific concern since the 1980s, when an increase in youth cancers near Sellafield was reported on a television broadcast. Since then there have been conflicting reports in the UK and Europe as to whether there is an increased incidence of childhood cancer near nuclear power plants. “. But, he adds, “our case-control study examined birth records for almost all childhood leukemia cases born in Britain and the findings of these analyzes are reassuring. We did not find a correlation between the development of this disease and the proximity of nuclear power plants. “.
Leukemia is the twelfth most common cancer in the UK, and accounts for a third of all cancers found in children. Around 500 new cases were diagnosed in children under 15 in 2010 in the UK.
Following the publication of this study, Hazel Nunn, Chief Information Officer at Cancer Research UK said that “‘It is encouraging to note that this study confirms the conclusions of COMARE (the committee which studies the medical effects of radiation in the environment). But these results cannot exclude any possible risk. It is always necessary and important to continue to monitor both the radiation levels near nuclear power plants and the evolution of cancers in these regions.“.
