Nuclear plant doubles risk of childhood leukemia
The KIKK study by the German Government is the most statistically robust study undertaken to date. It shows a 200% increase in childhood leukemia in the population within 5km of nuclear power plants.
Details
Due to pressure based on previous results, the german authorities made a new, much more detailed study that was published 2007. This study, unlike previous ones, clearly showed that there's an increasig number of leukemia in a 5 kilometer radius around nuclear plants.
The reaction of the authorities was mainly denying and ignoring. The main argument was that there is no medical explanation for such high leukemia rates due to the low radiation caused by nuclear plants.
The more obvious conclusion, that either lower radiation is much more dangerous than known or that it's caused by some unknown effect from nuclear plants, is not investigated further.
- Childhood cancer near nuclear power stations (September 23rd, 2009) English
- New evidence of childhood leukaemias near nuclear power stations (August 1st, 2008) English
- Childhood cancers near German nuclear power stations: hypothesis to explain the cancer increases (July 1st, 2008) English
- Childhood cancers near German nuclear power stations: the ongoing debate (July 1st, 2008) English
Physicians for social responsibility summarised as follows .... A government-sponsored study of childhood cancer in the proximity of German nuclear power plants (German acronym KiKK) found that children < 5 years living < 5 km from plant exhaust stacks had twice the risk for contracting leukemia as those residing > 5 km. The researchers concluded that since “this result was not to be expected under current radiation-epidemiological knowledge” and confounders could not be identified, the observed association of leukemia incidence with residential proximity to nuclear plants “remains unexplained.” This unjustified conclusion illustrates the dissonance between evidence and assumptions. There exist serious flaws and gaps in the knowledge on which accepted models for population exposure and radiation risk are based. Studies with results contradictory to those of KiKK lack statistical power to invalidate its findings. The KiKK study’s ramifications add to the urgency for a public policy debate regarding the health impact of nuclear power generation.