AT LAST, the debate is over. Radioactive iodine-131 from the Chernobyl accident in 1986 really is to blame for the hundreds of thyroid cancers among children in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
Despite evidence of a 90-fold increase in rates of thyroid cancer in the most contaminated region, some scientists questioned whether radiation was the cause. They argued that the doses people received were too low to cause cancer. Now Elizabeth Cardis of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and 35 colleagues have compared 276 children with thyroid cancer with 1300 controls. They found a strong correlation between the dose children received and their risk of developing thyroid cancer (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol 97, p 724).
鈥淭his link has now been unequivocally confirmed,鈥� says Keith Baverstock of the University of Kuopio in Finland, one of the scientists who first highlighted the Chernobyl thyroid cancers. The finding shows that thyroid glands of children are especially sensitive to radiation. In light of this, he suggests, children should not have dental X-rays without good reason.
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In the US, a nuclear plant in Hanford, Washington, released large amounts of iodine-131 in the 1940s. Six people who were children at the time and developed cancer are currently awaiting the decision of a District Court that will determine whether thousands of other plaintiffs can proceed with their cases.
