Childhood leukaemia rates 'higher near nuclear plants'

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Childhood leukaemia rates 'higher near nuclear plants'

SIMON BAKER

RATES of leukaemia are higher in children and young people living near nuclear

plants, a review of several studies has concluded.

Death rates for children aged nine and under were up to 24 per cent higher,

depending on how near they lived to nuclear facilities, the report said.

 

Researchers reviewed 17 different studies, including seven from the UK,

carried out between 1984 and 1999, to compile the statistics.

The other studies came from Canada, France, Germany, the United States, Japan

and Spain.

Figures from the report, published in the European Journal of Cancer Care,

showed leukaemia rates were elevated by 14 per cent to 21 per cent in children

aged up to nine, and by 7 per cent to 10 per cent in those aged up to 25.

Death rates from leukaemia for children and young people aged up to 25 were

between 2 per cent and 18 per cent higher.

The report's lead author, Dr Peter Baker, from the Medical University of South

Carolina in the US, said the cause of the higher rates was unclear.

" It is important to note that there are still many questions to be answered,

not least about why these rates increase. It is clear further research is

needed, " he said.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1122522007

Last updated: 19-Jul-07 01:37 BST

 

 

 

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