Childhood leukaemia in US may have risen due to fallout from Chernobyl

BMJ 1997; 314 doi: 10.1136/bmj.314.7088.1200 (Published 19 April 1997)
Cite this as: BMJ 1997;314:1200.1

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  1. Joseph J Mangano, Consultant, Radiation and Public Health Projecta
  1. a 786 Carroll Street, #9, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA

    Editor-Although numerous reports have uncovered a sharp rise in the incidence of childhood thyroid cancer starting five years after the accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, no increases have been documented for childhood leukaemia. Children aged under 15 years in Belarus, Finland, and Sweden–countries hit badly by fallout from the disaster–have shown no significant increases in leukaemia after April 1986.1 2 3

    A recent report based on statistics from Greece, which received relatively low level fallout from Chernobyl, uncovered a significant excess of leukaemia in children aged under 1 year exposed to fallout in utero–that is, those …

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