Radon and the risks of cancer

Article Abstract:

Radon is a radioactive substance which is the decay product of the element radium. Correlations between the average indoor levels of radon in various countries and the incidence of cancer such as leukemia in children and myeloid leukemia, kidney cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer in adults were found by Denis Henshaw and colleagues. Others have also reported regional correlations between radon levels and the incidence of leukemia and lymphoma. However, scientists at the National Radiological Protection Board feel that the records of the incidence of cancer and the estimate of the exposure to radon are not accurate in some countries. When unreliable data are not considered, the correlations between the adult cancer rate and radon exposure is lowered and the findings are not statistically significant. However, the correlation between childhood cancers and exposure to radon are not lowered when inaccurate data are not used. Studies on radiation as a cause of childhood cancer have been inconclusive. An increased incidence of childhood leukemia near nuclear reprocessing plants in Sellafield, Dounreay, and Aldermaston in the United Kingdom have provided evidence for the link between radiation and childhood cancers. However, other possibilities, such as infectious agents, have not been ruled out. Recent studies by Gardner and colleagues show that in Sellafield England the fathers of children with leukemia had been exposed to high doses of radiation, but the available data are inconclusive. However, there are data which provide sufficient enough evidence to indicate that exposure to radon and radiation should be reduced as much as possible. Additional study is needed to clarify the linkage between exposure to radiation and the increased incidence of cancer in both children and adults. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

United Kingdom, Causes of, Physiological aspects, Environmental aspects, Radon, Childhood leukemia, Leukemia in children, Great Britain, Leukemia, Radiation-induced, Radiation induced leukemia

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US cancer epidemiology: no Sellafield effect in US study?

Article Abstract:

The Sellafield effect refers to an apparent increase in the number of cases of childhood leukemia in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear power plant in England. A study of cancer mortality around 107 nuclear plants in the United States has failed to identify a similar effect. The data collected in the study, which began in 1987, provide no reason to conclude that cancer deaths were increased in the vicinity of nuclear plants. However, the researchers warned that the data collected are sufficiently coarse that some real effects might be obscured in the random fluctuations of cancer rates from place to place. The researchers believe that the county is too large a geographical unit upon which to base such a study. While they would have preferred to analyze the data by zip codes, which generally cover much smaller areas, the necessary medical information is rarely available on a zip-code basis, and the county seems to be the smallest geographical unit possible for the maintenance of medical records. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Nuclear power plants, Cancer, Leukemia, editorial

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Delaney's revenge: court rejects US approach to assessing cancer risks in processed foods

Article Abstract:

A federal appeals court in California decided on Jul 8, 1992 that the EPA must strictly enforce the 1958 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act's Delaney Clause, which forbids carcinogens from being present in processed food to any degree. The court held that the EPA's relaxed enforcement constituted a statutory revision for which only Congress has authority. The ruling, which may force the EPA to ban many often used pesticides, bolstered plans in Congress to update the 1958 law using modern knowledge of carcinogenicity. In addition, a White House Office of Science and Technology committee is devising risk-assessment rules.

Standards, Risk assessment, Laws, regulations and rules, United States. Environmental Protection Agency, Carcinogens, Pesticide residues

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